Let's say you're a dedicated believer who has laid down his life for Jesus. You have a burden for a dying world, you weep for the lost -- and you have a clear command to take the good news and win souls. So you tell all your friends you're going to a certain city to testify of God's grace.
Yet after you arrive, your friends back home receive word that you're not being used of God at all. There is no congregation as planned; in fact, your ministry is dead. You have nothing to show for your efforts. And rather than stirring the city up for Christ, you've landed in jail!
How would you react if all you had to show for your dedication, labors and sacrifice was utter failure? How would you behave if God shut you down, bound your hands and left you helpless?
Some Christians would pout. They would doubt God's word to them and question the Spirit's leading. They would give Jesus the silent treatment -- whimpering, doubting, complaining to their friends. And the whole trial of their faith -- the affliction meant to throw them into Jesus' arms -- would be wasted, with no effect whatsoever.
Yet others Christians would respond as Paul did -- rejoicing that they'd been counted worthy to suffer for Christ's sake. Paul did not try to figure out his afflictions. He responded with joy, faith and hope -- because he knew he was in training as God's witness! He wrote to his friends from jail, "My situation is the topic of Caesar's palace. Everyone in Rome is talking about what's happening to me. I'm in jail for Jesus!" He must have been quite a sight in that prison cell -- a scrawny Jew encouraging everyone around him, "Rejoice in your afflictions. God is faithful!"
Paul didn't waste any of his afflictions. He knew each of them had a divine purpose. And the Lord is watching how we behave during our trials as well. Let me give you three ways our afflictions are wasted:
1. We waste afflictions by whiny, murmuring, complaining behavior. This kind of behavior disturbs the Lord. It was the reason every test and affliction Israel experienced in the wilderness was lost on them!
The book of Numbers contains a sad example of wasted afflictions. The five daughters of a man called Zelophehad came to Moses asking for a share in the possession of the Promised Land. They told Moses, "Our father died in the wilderness, and he was not in the company of them that gathered themselves together against the Lord in the company of Korah; but he died in his own sin, and had no sons" (Numbers 27:3). These women were saying, "When all the others rose up against you with Korah, our father wasn't one of them. He wasn't in rebellion. He died in his own sin."
This last phrase struck me as I read it: "He died in his own sin." This meant that although their father had seen incredible miracles -- deliverance out of Egypt, water flowing from a rock, manna coming from heaven -- he died in unbelief with the rest of his generation. Of that generation, only faithful Joshua and Caleb survived the wilderness.
Obviously, these five daughters were born in the wilderness -- and they grew up in a family full of anger toward God. All of Israel's testings and trials produced only hardened unbelief in their father. And all these young women heard growing up was murmuring, complaining and bitterness. At breakfast, lunch and supper, there was constant bellyaching, with never a word of faith or trust in God. Now these women had to tell Moses, "Our father left us with nothing -- no hope, no possession, no testimony. He spent those forty years whining and in bitterness, because life was hard. He died in sin, his life a total waste!"
What a horrible thing to have to say of one's parents. Yet I must warn all parents reading this: Your children are watching you as you're under affliction! And they are being influenced for life by your behavior. So, how are you behaving? Are you wasting your affliction -- not only for yourself, but for the generations that follow? Or, are your heirs being established in Christ as they hear you say, "I don't like this affliction -- but blessed be the name of the Lord. He always delivers!"
I know many Christians who have become more bitter and grumpy with every new affliction. You would think their God is dead. They even look sour; over the years they've become prune- faced. The very afflictions meant to train and sweeten them -- trials designed by God to reveal his faithfulness -- instead turn them into habitual bellyachers, sourpusses, meanies. I wonder as I see them, "Where is their faith, their trust in the Lord? What must their children think?"
I've buried a lot of people in my lifetime, and in that time I've discovered something tragic: Those who become sour and bitter watch helplessly as their loved ones gradually pull away from them. Their children pull away, along with their grandchildren and friends. And those sourpusses end up dying alone. I've conducted some funerals where only one person attended. The deceased were forgotten almost entirely. God allowed them to go out with nobody!
Beloved, don't waste your afflictions! Let them produce in you the sweet aroma of trust and faith in your Lord. All your trials are intended to throw you into his arms, to cause you to say, "I am his, and he is mine. And he will bring me through this affliction!"
2. We waste afflictions when we face new ones without remembering our deliverances from old ones. We have a tendency to forget every good thing God has done for us!
When David stood before Goliath, he rehearsed his past victories in order to build up his faith. He recounted, "When a lion came toward me, I tore it apart. And when a bear came after me, I killed it too. Now the same God who delivered me from the roaring lion and the ferocious bear will deliver me from this giant!"
When David stood before Goliath, he rehearsed his past victories in order to build up his faith. He recounted, "When a lion came toward me, I tore it apart. And when a bear came after me, I killed it too. Now the same God who delivered me from the roaring lion and the ferocious bear will deliver me from this giant!"
Moses reminded Israel of all their past deliverances. Then he warned them: "Take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons" (Deuteronomy 4:9).
Sadly, the Bible says of Israel: "They kept not the covenant of God...and forgot his works, and his wonders that he had shewed them" (Psalm 78:10-11). Like the Israelites, we have the same tendency whenever we face a new trial or affliction. We say, "Oh, God, this time it's too much for me to face." But God answers, "Simply look back, and remember me!"
If need be, keep a journal to remind yourself of God's great deliverances in your life. Jot down a few notes at night before going to bed. Do whatever it takes to remind yourself of all the things he has done for you -- all the heartaches you've been through, from which he has delivered you. Then, when your next affliction arises, open your notebook and say to the devil, "You're not going to deceive me this time. My God brought me out before, and he will do it again!"
3. We waste our afflictions when we refuse to see that God brings us through them in order to teach others. We are to share our experiences with our brothers and sisters to prove God's faithfulness to them. We are to stand and say, "Thank God, I'm a veteran. And I can tell you by experience -- he is faithful!" Paul actually boasted of his afflictions: "...I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus" (Galatians 6:17). He knew each scar bore an eternal purpose!
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