The Sevenfold Purpose of God in Human Affliction–Are you in the middle of a painful season, wondering if any good can possibly come from your current struggles?
In this deeply comforting class, John Barnett reveals the hidden curriculum in God’s “school of affliction”. He walks through the 119th Psalm to demonstrate how God intentionally uses our darkest days to shape, protect, and profoundly bless us.
Here is a summary of the seven life-changing lessons covered in this class:
1. The Divine Push: Driven to the True Source of Comfort–Psalm 119:50
Summary: When tragedy strikes, things like cards, gifts, and distractions only offer temporary amusement. Barnett explains that God uses affliction to push us directly into His Word, because only the Bible has the power to offer true, life-giving relief in our deepest pain.
2. The Spiritual Rumble Strip: Pulled Back to the Path–Psalm 119:67
Summary: Much like children who only call their parents when they need something, we often neglect God until a crisis hits. Affliction acts as a spiritual rumble strip, pulling us back onto the path of seeking the Lord and reminding us of our desperate, daily need for Him.
3. The Master’s Chisel: Etching God’s Blueprint–Psalm 119:71
Summary: There are divine truths we can only learn in the furnace of trouble. God uses affliction to scrape away our earthly security, possessions, and positions so He can deeply chisel His permanent, divine blueprint into our lives.
4. The Personal Guarantee: Discovering True Faithfulness–Psalm 119:75
Summary: It is one thing to believe God is faithful in a general theological sense, but affliction teaches us that His unchanging faithfulness is intensely personal. We learn firsthand that God is faithfully working directly in our specific, painful circumstances.
5. The Ultimate Tutor: Focusing on the Teacher–Psalm 119:92
Summary: Trouble marks the beginning of a deeply personal tutorial with God. In our affliction, our divine Teacher draws closer than ever, becoming our primary delight and keeping us from completely perishing in our struggles.
6. Pulling the Pin: Testing God’s Promises–Psalm 119:107
Summary: A fire extinguisher sitting in the kitchen is useless until you have an actual fire and pull the pin. When we feel completely underwater, affliction forces us to stop just looking at God’s promises and start actively testing them, crying out for Him to revive us.
7. The Divine Delivery: God at Your Doorstep–Psalm 119:153
Summary: God doesn’t just leave His promises hanging out there like a greeting card in the mail. When we cry out for deliverance, God acts like a delivery man, coming right to our doorstep to personally hand us exactly what we need to survive.
To prove the ultimate reality of these promises, Barnett shares the powerful story of Pastor Thomas Obadiah Chisholm. Six years after losing his church, his job, his health, and his savings, Chisholm found himself completely broken in the furnace of affliction. Yet, leaning into these exact biblical truths, he sat down in 1923 and penned the legendary hymn, “Great is Thy Faithfulness”.
From WNS-53g – Living for Jesus Through The School of Suffering (090412PM)
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