Hello All,
(Just a general disclaimer that I must insert here at the beginning. I am but a lay person, like most of you. And these weekly “thoughts” are but my own. Not the definitive word on this or any topic. Just my own conclusions derived from my own study and faith in God. The greatest hope I have for these weekly “thoughts” is to have them be a springboard for further study on your part. Not to be a weekly treatise to be blindly accepted. So, please read them with this intent, this motive in mind).
This week’s lesson from the “Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide”, is titled “The Birdcage”. Don’t you just love the EGW quote for Sabbath, July 9? What a great imagery for how God teaches us. As it says, we are taught in the “shadows of affliction”. There is a very good reason for this. And the reason is not because our God is a sadistic monster. It has to do with truth and reality.
When we prevaricate, misstate, and downright lie, we are attempting to bend reality to our thinking. And in so doing, we are then living in a false world. A world that does not exist. A world of illusion. And so, it is for those who seek to bend reality to their will. Lying keeps you living in a false world. A world where the natural consequences of our choices are not felt, not realized, and not integrated into our lives. As Jonathan Swift once said, paraphrasing the initial idea posited in the Bible, “There are none so blind as those who will not see”. Lying makes us a blind person who does not see… will not see. How foolish. “Living in a fool’s paradise”, as Shakespeare once said.
For you and me, then, seeing the truth of things is most important. Vital. Hence the adversity. God is allowing us to see and feel the truth… partially. For if we see the whole truth, it would wholly destroy us. We must see the truth about sin, albeit partially. And not primarily see the sin that is done to us. But see the sin that we are, deep inside the recesses of our minds. It is imperative that we see this truth. See the sin that we are. Hence, the adversity. The adversity is but the consequences of sin. The truth about the outworking of our sin. Therefore, the adversity we are allowed to see and feel is really because we are so greatly loved by our loving, truthful Father.
Our God is passionate about truth. He even says things about truth like, “you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). He even states that He is “the truth” (John 14:6). So very important is “truth”. He did not say the truth would be pleasant. He did not say we would like the truth. But He did say it was the only way for us to be truly free. Meaning, facing the truth is the only path to freedom. And denying the truth deprives us of our freedom.
Truthfulness is essential. Truthfulness will show us the immense evil in our hearts. And this evil in our hearts, and the fallout it promotes, is the cause of so much of our adversity. Caused by our sinful selves, resulting in affliction. “The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt” (Isaiah 57:20).
What about the affliction we may incur from our faith in God? This is not affliction. This is a privilege. To be vilified for Christ is not affliction. This is great treasure. “By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward” (Hebrews 11: 24-16). This affliction, this “reproach of Christ” is “greater riches” (ibid).
This truthfulness that we must see is part of the cleansing of our soul temple, as typified by the Old Testament’s “day of atonement”. “The tenth day of this seventh month shall be the Day of Atonement. It shall be a holy convocation for you; you shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire to the Lord” (Leviticus 23:27). Our own antitypical “day of atonement” (since 1844), is a time when our sin affliction is seen, confessed, and turned away from. This affliction we see and feel is the true nature of our sin… of ourselves. In all its heinous and vitriolic reality. And in turning from it to our true God, any reproach from others is seen as a great privilege. A great treasure. Not affliction, but a great honor. Greater riches indeed.
Affliction is the one method to show us truth. To show us the natural consequence of our sinful actions. So vital we see these consequences. So gracious of our God to let us experience them and the resulting affliction. So wonderful of Him to love us this much. Praise His name for the affliction of our selfish sins! A hard way to learn. But fools as we learn no other way.
With brotherly love,
Jim