THE SOURCES OF AFFLICTION

 TUESDAY, 25TH APRIL, 2023.

Topic:  THE SOURCES OF AFFLICTION

MEMORIZE: “But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.” 1 Samuel 16:14.

SCRIPTURE READING: 1 Kings 22:20-22 

“And the LORD said, 'Who will persuade Ahab to go up, that he may fall at Ramoth Gilead?' So one spoke in this manner, and another spoke in that manner. 21 "Then a spirit came forward and stood before the LORD, and said, 'I will persuade him.' 22 "The LORD said to him, 'In what way?' So he said, 'I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.' And the LORD said, 'You shall persuade him, and also prevail. Go out and do so.'”

EXPOSITION:

2. EVIL AGENTS 

Yesterday, we studied God as the primary source of affliction, for nothing can happen in heavens or on earth without the consent of the Omniscience God. Yet there are traces of a dualism which assigns a certain vague limit to God's absolute sovereignty, and refer the source of some afflictions to an evil agency acting in quasi-independence of God. There could, however, never be more than a tendency in this direction, for a strict dualism was incompatible with the standpoint of Jewish monotheism. Thus Saul's mental affliction is attributed to an "evil spirit," which is yet said to be "from Yahweh" ( “But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.” 1 Samuel 16:14; 1 Samuel 18:10; 1 Samuel 19:9 ); and the fall of Ahab is said by Micaiah to be due to the "lying spirit" which enticed him to his doom, in obedience to God's command (1 Kings 22:20-22 “And the LORD said, 'Who will persuade Ahab to go up, that he may fall at Ramoth Gilead?' So one spoke in this manner, and another spoke in that manner. 21 "Then a spirit came forward and stood before the LORD, and said, 'I will persuade him.' 22 "The LORD said to him, 'In what way?' So he said, 'I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.' And the LORD said, 'You shall persuade him, and also prevail. Go out and do so.'”). 

In the prologue of Job, Job's calamities are ascribed to the Satan, but even he receives his word of command from God, and is responsible to Him, like the other "sons of God" who surround the heavenly throne. He is thus "included in the Divine will and in the circle of Divine providence". After the prologue, the Satan is left out of account, and Job's misfortunes are attributed directly to the Divine causality. 

In later Judaism, the tendency to trace the origin of evil, physical and moral, to wicked spirits became more marked, probably because of the influence of Persian dualism. In New Testament times, physical and mental maladies were thought to be due to the agency of evil spirits called demons, whose prince was Beelzebub or Satan (“Now there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit. And he cried out,” Mark 1:23; Mark 3:22; Mark 5:2; Matthew 9:32, etc.). Christ gave His assent to this belief (compare the woman under infirmity, Jesus called her daughter of Abraham "whom Satan hath bound," Luke 13:16). Paul attributed his bodily affliction to an evil angel sent by Satan (“And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure.” 2 Corinthians 12:7), though he recognized that the evil agent was subordinate to God's purpose of grace, and was the means of moral discipline (“And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” 2 Corinthians 12:9. Thus, while the evil spirits were regarded as malicious authors of physical maladies, they were not, in a strictly dualistic fashion, thought to act in complete independence; rather, they had a certain place assigned to them in the Divine Providence.

PRAYER POINT: i. Lord, let deliver me from the torment of the agents of affliction in Jesus name.

ii. I rebuke every activity of the agent of affliction in my life and family in Jesus name.

DAILY BIBLE READING IN A YEAR –  1 Chronicles 11-14.