Godliness in Adversity
Sewell Hall
Godly and ungodly men differ in the way they view adversity: one draws near to God and the other rejects Him.
Nothing so clearly distinguishes true godliness from pseudo-godliness like adversity. Those who are ungodly see every disaster as an excuse for rejecting God. In Revelation, when bowls of wrath were poured out, ungodly “men blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues; and they did not repent and give Him glory” (Rev. 16:9). By contrast, those who are godly find that “tribulation produces perseverance and perseverance, character; and character hope” (Rom. 5:3,4).
Interestingly enough, mere observation of the suffering of others is enough to destroy the faith of some. It was so with Job’s wife. Seeing Job’s affliction she advised, “Curse God and die.” But the reply of godly Job was, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” Then it is added: “In all of this Job did not sin with his lips” (Job 2:9,10).
For quite a long while, the hymn, Great Is Thy Faithfulness has been a favorite of mine:
Great is Thy faithfulness,
O God my Father,
There is no shadow of turning with Thee; Thou changest not, Thy compassions they fail not;
As Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be.
Great is Thy faithfulness…Morning by morning new mercies I see.
One might suppose that such sentiments originated with one who was enjoying the happiest of times. In fact, they are based on the writings of Jeremiah as he wept over the destruction of his beloved Jerusalem. He had pleaded with the people to repent in order to avert the calamity, but they refused. Now he laments the sad consequences of their failure, but sees God’s faithfulness in keeping His promises and His compassion in preserving a remnant of His people. “Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness” (Lam. 3:22,23).
Adversity Is A Test Of Our Godliness: — When we face calamities we can determine whether our godliness is genuine or not by whether we turn to God or turn from God. When we are rebuked and are made sorry, our response reveals whether our sorrow is the godly sorrow that works repentance or the sorrow of the world that works death (2 Cor. 7:10)
“Now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 1:6-8).
In his book, The Case For Faith, Lee Strobel reports an interview with Charles Templeton, a former colleague of Billy Graham. Templeton claims to have lost his faith as result of a picture in Life magazine. “It was a picture of a black woman in Africa,” he explained. “They were experiencing a devastating drought. And she was holding her dead baby in her arms and looking up to heaven with the most forlorn expression. I looked at it and I thought ‘Is it possible to believe that there is a loving or caring Creator when all this woman needed was rain?’” Templeton, living in luxury, lost his faith because of the suffering of someone in Africa. Interviewing the African woman might well have revealed that her faith in God was stronger than it had ever been.
Strobel quotes Scottish theologian James S. Stewart in this connection: “It is the spectators, the people who are outside, looking at the tragedy, from whose ranks the skeptics come; it is not those who are actually in the arena and who know the suffering from the inside. Indeed, the fact is that it is the world’s greatest sufferers who have produced the most shining examples of unconquerable faith.”
Recent Events: — The tsunami in Asia, recent hurricanes on the Gulf Coast, and the earthquake in Pakistan have been offered as reasons to deny the existence of God. Often such objections come form unaffected individuals and organizations that have done almost nothing to relieve the suffering caused in those disasters, while believers in God have rushed to the assistance of those in need.
Letters and comments from godly souls affected by the storms often expressed an increased faith and are reminiscent of Psa. 77:1, “I cried out to God with my voice–to God with my voice; and He gave ear to me.” They can say with David, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes” (Psa. 119:71). In the aftermath the love shown by Christians elsewhere has “not only {supplied} the needs of the saints, but also is abounding through many thanksgivings to God” (2 Cor. 9:12).