Purpose of Afflictions in the Life of God’s People

When afflictions or calamity comes upon the life of the people of God, the tendency is for others to look at it and assume it is because of some sin in their life and hence the calamity.
This type of thinking was also common in the lives of the Jews during the time of Jesus and different examples show us this thinking in action.
In John 9, the people asked if it was the parents of the blind man that sinned that caused him to b born blind at birth. It was also a common thought in the mind of non-Jews like on the island of Malta when Paul and his companions were shipwrecked, the people of the island, upon seeing the snake fastened upon his hands, said to themselves, in Acts 28:4, “this man must be a murderer, and though he has been rescued from the sea, Justice will not allow him to live” and they expected him to die.
Now we know that there are things people do and bear the reward of their actions; people who use hard drugs should not be surprised when there is damage to their faculties or those that have indulged in sexual immorality to have sexually transmitted related issues. Those are what they are. Instead, we are focusing on those things that happen and cause pain and suffering in the life of God’s people.

In Luke 13:1-5 this understanding was brought before the Lord Jesus about the Galileans that had their blood mixed with their sacrifice. Jesus was clear; it was not because they were the worst sinners in Galilee; unless they all repent, they would perish like them. The Lord gave his example about the eighteen people the tower fell upon at Siloam and asked the same question, do you think they were the worst of sinners in Jerusalem? He concluded the same way unless you repent, you will likewise perish.
When we survey the scriptures, we come across other examples of people who experience pain and suffering that, as observers, we know they did not do anything to deserve it but found themselves in a hard place.

in Dan 3, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego found themselves in the burning furnace because they chose to serve God alone.
In Acts 12, James and Peter found themselves in prison, and James was killed because they were aligned with the word of God
in Acts 16, Paul and Silas find themselves locked in jail because they cast out the demon of divination from the servant girl, and the authorities put them in prison
in Acts 6, Stephen was stoned to death for preaching the gospel.
Across Christian history, we have multiple examples of people suffering affliction due to opportunity and time.

Therefore we ask what is the purpose of afflictions in the life of God’s people.

1. Testing the validity of their faith
2. To learn to depend on God’s provision and not their own
3. To remind people of heaven
4. To reveal to them what they love
5. To teach obedience
6. To show them the compassion of the Lord
7. To prepare them for better usefulness in the work of God
8. To be better equipped to comfort others in their trials

The actual affliction we should worry about is the one with no repentance, which is the ultimate challenge as it leads to a perished soul.