Do you afflictions sour you or work glory in you?
THESE words supply us with a reason we should not faint under trials nor be overwhelmed by misfortunes. They teach us to look at the trials of time in the light of eternity. They affirm that the present buffetings of the Christian exercise a beneficent effect on the inner man. If these truths were firmly grasped by faith they would mitigate much of the bitterness of our sorrows.
“For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” This verse sets forth a striking and glorious antithesis as it contrasts our future state with our present. Here a light affliction, there a mighty glory. In our affliction there is both levity and brevity. It is a light affliction and it is but for a moment but in our future glory there is solidity and eternity! To discover the preciousness of this contrast let us consider both parts in the inverse order of mention.
1. “A far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” It is a significant thing that the Hebrew word for “glory,” kabod, also means “weight.” When weight is added to the value of gold or precious stones this increases their worth. Heaven’s happiness cannot be expressed in the words of earth so figurative expressions are used to convey some aspects to us. Here in our text one term is piled on top of another. That which awaits the believer is “glory,” and when we say that a thing is glorious we have reached the limits of human language to express that which is excellent and perfect. But the “glory” awaiting us is weighted, indeed “far more exceeding” weighty than anything terrestrial and temporal. Its value defies computation; its transcendent excellency is beyond verbal description. Moreover, this wondrous glory awaiting us is not fleeting and temporal, but Divine and eternal (it could not be eternal unless it was Divine). The great and blessed God is going to give us that which is worthy of Himself, indeed that which is like Himself, infinite and everlasting.
2. “Our light affliction, which is but for a moment.”
a. “Affliction” is the common lot of human existence; “Man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward” (Job 5:7). This is part of the result of sin. It is not right that a fallen creature should be perfectly happy in his sins. The children of God are not exempted; “Through much tribulation we must enter into the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). God leads us to glory and immortality on a rugged road.
b. Our affliction is “light.” Afflictions are not light in themselves, often they are heavy and grievous; but they are light comparatively! They are light when compared with what we really deserve. They are light when compared with the sufferings of the Lord Jesus. But perhaps their lightness is best seen by comparing them to the glory awaiting us. As the same apostle said in another place, “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Rom. 8:18).
c. “Which is but for a moment.” Should our afflictions continue throughout a whole lifetime, and that life be equal in duration to Methuselah’s, yet it is momentary compared with the eternity before us. At most our affliction is for this present life, a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. O that God would enable us to examine our trials in their true perspective.
3. Note now the connection between the two. Our light affliction, that is but for a moment, “worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” The present is influencing the future. It is not for us to reason and philosophize about this, but to take God at His Word and believe it. Experience, feelings, observation of others, may seem to deny this fact.
Often afflictions appear only to sour us and make us more rebellious and discontented. But let us remember that afflictions are not sent by God for the purpose of purifying the flesh: they are designed for the benefit of the “new man.” Moreover, afflictions help prepare us for the glory hereafter. Affliction draws away our hearts from the love of the world; it makes us long more for the time when we shall be translated from this scene of sin and sorrow; it will enable us to appreciate by way of contrast the things God has prepared for them that love Him.
Here then is what faith is invited to do: to place in one scale the present affliction, in the other, the eternal glory. Are they worthy to be compared? No, indeed. One second of glory will more than counterbalance a whole lifetime of suffering. What are years of toil, of sickness, of battling against poverty, of persecution, even a martyr’s death, when weighed over against the pleasures at God’s right hand, that are for evermore! One breath of Paradise will extinguish all the adverse winds of earth. One day in the Father’s House will more than balance the years we have spent in this dreary wilderness. May God grant us faith that will enable us to anticipatively lay hold of the future and live in the present enjoyment of it.
Pink, A. W. (2005). Comfort for Christians (pp. 79–81).
Here then is what faith is invited to do: to place in one scale the present affliction, in the other, the eternal glory. Are they worthy to be compared? No, indeed. One second of glory will more than counterbalance a whole lifetime of suffering. What are years of toil, of sickness, of battling against poverty, of persecution, even a martyr’s death, when weighed over against the pleasures at God’s right hand, that are for evermore! One breath of Paradise will extinguish all the adverse winds of earth. One day in the Father’s House will more than balance the years we have spent in this dreary wilderness. May God grant us faith that will enable us to anticipatively lay hold of the future and live in the present enjoyment of it.
Pink, A. W. (2005). Comfort for Christians (pp. 79–81).
