What do you Mean ~ Light Affliction?!

When we go through trials it’s hard to take encouragement from someone whose life seems easy and void of trials.

The Apostle Paul understands suffering.

The Apostle Paul lists his light afflictions in chapter 11. A few mentioned include:

-stripes (39 lashes with a scourge)

-beaten with rods

-stoned

-shipwrecked

-robbed

-cold and naked

Have you ever imagined what it would feel like to be scourged with straps of leather braided together with shards of pottery and stone? Have you ever suffered hunger to the point where it affected your well-being? Have you ever been beaten with a rod?

Paul could endure because the Lord Jesus did.

Hebrews 4:15 “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us come boldly to the throne of grace, to obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”

Time- Paul referred to the time of his suffering as “a moment”?

At times his imprisonments lasted years. How long do you think it took to heal from receiving 39 stripes – five times? How long do you think it took to recover after he was stoned? How long do you think it took to recover from starvation? His beating with rods? How long?

How could he say a moment? Because Paul was spiritually minded enough to compare his time on earth to eternity in Heaven. It is but a moment. In the blink of an eye, the lap of a wave, the extinguishing of a candle, life on earth will be over and we will be facing eternal life or eternal death.

Triumph – Paul understood all these things were working in his life to bring “glory”.

Trials are a very real part of life. We all have them. But, when we look at the lives of Paul and of the Lord Jesus Christ, ours can suddenly seem so small. The emphasis is not to think are trials are irrelevant because they aren’t the same magnitude; the emphasis is to have the same mindset as Paul. Can we lay before the Lord all that troubles our hearts, stumbles our thoughts, and hinders our prayers with this mindset – these are light afflictions and are but for a moment?

The beautiful part is that the Lord knows our heartaches.

He longs to heal our heartaches.

He longs to wipe away our final tears and hold us in His Everlasting arms for all of eternity.

If we ever cry out in agony of soul, wondering when our suffering will end, do you think the Father will tell us the same thing we always tell our impatient children?

“Just another minute…

we’re almost Home…