The Positive Side Of Affliction
We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.
2 Corinthians 4:8–10 RSV
The apostle Paul could write, “With all our affliction, I am overjoyed” (2 Corinthians 7:4 RSV).
In all his sufferings and sorrows Paul experienced a deep, abiding joy. He writes of being “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing” (2 Corinthians 6:10 RSV). With sincerity he declared that for Christ’s sake he was “content with weakness, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities” (2 Corinthians 12:10 RSV).
I have found in my travels that those who keep heaven in view remain serene and cheerful in the darkest day. If the glories of heaven were more real to us, if we lived less for material things and more for things eternal and spiritual, we would be less easily disturbed by this present life.
In these days of darkness and upheaval and uncertainty, the trusting and forward-looking Christian remains optimistic and joyful, knowing that Christ someday must rule, and “if we endure, we shall also reign with him” (2 Timothy 2:12 RSV). As someone has said, “Patience [hupomone] is that quality of endurance that can reach the breaking point and not break.”
At the same time I am equally certain that Christians who have spent years at hard labor or in exile have passed through periods of discouragement—even despair. Those who have seen loved ones die have felt deep loss and intense suffering. Victory for them has not come easily or quickly. But eventually the peace of God does come, and with it His joy.
Our Father and our God, penetrate my heart with Your eternal gladness and hope. Let me face suffering and discouragement with cheerfulness, knowing they are but pathways to Your glory. Fill me up with laughter and rejoicing, Father. Give me deep abiding faith and hope because of Christ, in whom I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).