Pastor Eric M. Stevenson
Greater Harvest Church of God in Christ
2119 14th Avenue North
Nashville, TN 37208

 

My affliction is necessary

 

And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation. And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mightily; and the land was filled with them. Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we: come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come pass, that, when there falleth out any way, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land. Therefore, they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharoah treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. Exodus 1:6-12 KJV

 

 

Afflictions happen to all of us at some point in our lives. They come in all shapes and sizes and can happen when we least expect them. They can range from financial to physical. They can be a loss of a relationship, the death of a loved one, transitioning to a new area or challenges on the job. However, they present themselves afflictions or a season of going through is something most of us would rather not think about much less go through. But they are an inevitable part of life. We, however, are not without hope as the Word of God provides insight into how we navigate the afflictions that we may encounter.

 

In Exodus Chapter 1:6, 7, we read that Joseph and his generation has died and the children of Israel are in bondage. Yet they continued to prosper and did so at a steady pace. Even though their leaders had died they grew strong. It makes you wonder how you can prosper when those who held you together are now gone or even how you prosper during times of loss? It would make more sense that they would produce more under the right leadership or during times when everything is going good. But as we read further in Exodus 1:8, we learn that not only had their leaders died but now Egypt was under new leadership as well. The text tells us that a new Pharoah had come into power who did not like how well the Israelites were doing. So, he devised a plan to cut off their prosperity. A plan that would destroy them, along with their hopes and their future. When you think about it the enemy seeks to do the same to us today. His plan is to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10), which he does primarily through setting up strongholds in our minds.

 

This is the exact reason why the bible encourages us to renew our minds daily with God’s word (Romans 12:2). The enemy’s goal is to cloud our thoughts with negativity, resulting in thoughts that make us feel helpless and hopeless. The word says as a man thinketh in his heart so is he (Proverbs 23:7). We act on our thoughts. So, when we give in to a negative mindset we don’t get very far in life. It’s very important that we stay in tune with our thoughts because these contribute to our outcomes. We do not want to work against God and what He is doing in our lives, even in times of affliction. While our prayers may be geared more toward asking God to remove the affliction. There may be seasons where God does not remove it because doing so may stunt our growth. Think about it like this, you cannot build muscle through poor eating habits. You build muscle by lifting weights. We can depend on God to give us the strength and the strategy on how to deal with the difficulty. While the pain we feel may seem like it’s going to destroy us it’s not meant to; it’s meant to build power.

 

When we are going through, we can start to dwell more on the negative or the pain. Instead of dwelling on how bad things are ask the Holy Spirit to show you areas in your life where you may be prospering. We can get so focused on seeing only the negative that we may be missing the work that God is trying to accomplish in us. Consider how the affliction is growing your character, building strength, increasing faith, helping you to become more assertive, setting boundaries in relationships, or pointing out how negative your thoughts are towards yourself and others. These may be areas that God is trying to get your attention in. He wants to provide the strategy and strength you need to deal with these things so that He can mold you into who He created you to be.

 

Of course, the enemy does not want this as we see in the new Pharoah who came into power. The enemy sees our growth and prosperity as a threat because he knows your prosperity brings God glory and this may be what leads others to form a relationship with God. So, Pharoah begins a campaign of affliction to destroy their growth. What’s interesting about this is the harder they were afflicted the more they increased, the stronger they became. The Word of God encourages us to endure hardship as a good soldier (2 Timothy 2:3). We want to give up easily allowing frustration to overtake us. We may then resign ourselves to return to our former life or the things that bring us the most comfort. But this is what the enemy wants.

 

Frustration is a weapon that the enemy can use to steal, kill, and destroy us. Our responsibility as believers is to stay in the fight. The fact that we want to give up so quickly and want things to be easy may be God’s way of letting us know that we need to grow in this area of our lives. Have you ever asked yourself why you’re so quick to give up? During this season yield your frustration to the Lord. Seek God during this time and ask Him to show you the lessons in the affliction. Ask the Holy Spirit to open the eyes of your understanding to determine how you can use this affliction to help others. Yield yourself to the love of God and allow Him to build you up from the inside out. Give Him the glory throughout this season and lean on Him for all you need. He isn’t trying to destroy you. But just like the children of Israel He is working out your story to bring you out in a mighty way that lets those around you know who He is and draws others close to Him.

 

 

Ponder further:

• How are you prospering through your times of affliction?

• How have you prospered during difficult seasons in your life?

• What was God trying to develop in you during those times?

• What areas do you need to grow?

• What are you doing to grow these areas of your life?

• How does frustration or other emotions get in the way of you growing?

• How can your afflictions be used to help others?

• What’s a plan you can put into place to help you better manage the things that may be getting in the way of what God may be trying to teach you?