THE WATERS OF AFFLICTION

In recent days, from talking with people and observing on social media, I have become much more aware that there are many Christians who are facing tragedy, challenges and difficult circumstances in their lives, leaving many with questions, confusion and even questioning where God is in all this. 

We are in a society today which is pressured by government instability, financial circumstances and family instability. Sound Kingdom teaching has given way generally to a social gospel designed to give false hopes of financial abundance, happiness and earthly security with little compassion and love ministered by the emerging false shepherds.

Anxiety and depression has become a major medical issue as people try to cope with the insecurities of life.

This is not a new phenomenon on the earth and indeed the scripture talks to us about this.

So I write this message asking God to reveal His Word and to bring answers and peace to the seeking hearts.

I want to look at the experience of David, found in the Psalms which come straight from his heart in the Tabernacle.

Psalm 42

This appears to record a cry to The Lord from David in a time of trouble. Bear in mind that David had troubles politically, in relationships with companions, friends and family, and from Kingdom issues.  Some resulted from his own choices and some resulted from the behavior of others. I’m not being critical of David, but merely looking at his example to learn from.

It’s clear here that his soul is overwhelmed.

In V7, he says that “the rolling waves of God have gone over him”.

In V5, he says that “his soul is bowed down and roaring within his inner man”.

He describes his affliction as “The Waters of God”. In today’s medical scene, he is probably describing a state of depression. What else does he say?

V3  he is crying tears

V6  he is bowed down in his inner man

V9  he is feeling oppressed

V9  he is mourning (lit blackness)

Now – spiritually, V9, he feels forsaken by God. We remember that Jesus too felt like this on the cross. He was expressing the same state as David had.

So friends, it’s not a bad thing to feel like this, in fact it’s an honest heart that confesses this to God.

What we see here is what many today would say of their lives. I have certainly experienced similar in my life.

David doesn’t leave it in a state of despair, but challenges himself to partake of the help of God, and to Praise Him.

In V11, he declares that God is his healer and that this will reflect in his face. The word “health” here is the same Hebrew root as the name of Jesus.

In similar circumstances friends, our help is in Jesus. I see a pattern here for our healing.

Be honest and express our feelings

Cry out to Jesus for His Healing power

Praise Him

We see another example in David’s life in

Psalm 69

The Waters of Affliction have come to his soul. He now describes like sinking into deep mire where he cannot stand. He is weary from crying, his throat is dry, and his eyes fail. So again he expresses both soulish and physical symptoms.

He talks here of oppression from people and his own foolishness. He feels like an alien to his friends and family. He was mocked in the city gates, and became the song of the drunkards. His heart was broken, and he found no comforter.

I would say that at this stage of his life, David was experiencing what we name today as depression. He is in a bad way, perhaps compounded by the feeling of isolation and being lost.

Does this describe your life friend?

Well let’s see what David did.

V14 onward, he cries out to God for Deliverance, and that the Waters of Affliction not swallow him up or the depression pit bury him. He cries out for the Salvation of God.

This of course leads David to Praise, thanksgiving and sacrifice of himself to God.

V32  The heart that Seeks After God WILL LIVE!

Can I encourage us all into what David has taught us here? Cry out to Jesus friend, He will hear your cry, deliver you, set your feet back on solid ground and your face will shine with His Glory.

This is our answer in the Kingdom friends. It’s not some theory but the heart of Father God shown to us in David’s testimony and later in Jesus own life.

I find another experience in

Psalm 88

Where a man, Heman the Ezrahite testifies in David’s Tabernacle.

His soul is full of trouble and he feels like he is going to die.

Have you ever felt like this friend? 

He has no strength and feels like he is in a pit of darkness in his soul. He has felt in this state from his youth.

He sees that the wrath of God is upon him, and describes it as Waters of Affliction.

This has brought him to feeling abandonment, crying, and agoraphobia (fear of going outside). He said that in this state he can’t testify of God.  

In V17, he says that God’s terrors are like the Waters. His friends and acquaintances have also deserted him.

This sounds like another depressed man to me. 

V13, he testifies that he cries to The Lord from the morning.

We are seeing that these feelings which we can suffer have been common to others in God’s Kingdom.

I want to go to David’s testimony in Psalm 124. He says that if it hadn’t been for The Lord’s deliverance, these Waters would have swallowed him up.

From these testimonies in Zion, it is clear that the Waters of Affliction are very real, and that God can use them for us to learn of His Delivering Power. These afflictions affect the mind, the body and health generally. They can affect relationships and bring derision. 

God may leave us in these Waters until we hear what He may want us to hear from Him. He may want to hear our humble cry to Him as well as our Praise and Thanksgiving.

He can separate us to a pit of circumstances in order to reveal the state of the heart and cause the revelation of His Delivering Power.

I do not want to make a doctrine out of this friends. I simply share it that it may bring clarity and open a door in hearts where the Holy Spirit may speak. If you can acquaint with David and Heman, then you can share in the revelation of God’s Mercy to them.

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There is a deeper realm in this subject where I believe that the Waters of Affliction are being used specifically by Father God in the forming of His Sonship Company.

I call this the “One Hundredfold Realm” where a people will come forth in the image of Jesus. This is a deeper working of The Spirit of God in transforming this Company into the Divine image of Jesus. 

In this regard, we are totally in His Hand as in a cocoon. Experientially we will feel the Waters of Affliction, but God is using these for His specific purpose of bringing forth His Sons.

I believe that The Lord has this Word for His Sons:

“The Lord is creating His Temple and chooses to reveal it in the hearts of those who seek His Face, for such hearts shall live by the Glory of God their creator and Saviour. This Temple of the Company of His Sons will be cleansed from the inside outward and The Lord will accomplish this by His overwhelming Waters of Affliction. Be not dismayed and troubled says The Lord, for the affliction is only for a short time. During this time your hearts will be exposed and you will come and cry to me in your depression knowing that nothing can deliver you from the waters and the pit. These things will not kill you although you feel like they could. I send the Waters to deliver you as a perfect people, not to destroy you. Know indeed that I am the Jesus of your countenance, as I was to the inhabitants of David’s Zion. But you have come to Spiritual Zion where I dwell and you are hidden in My Secret Place. So let not your hearts be troubled, but see in My servant David that I am the Deliverer and the One who will lift you up on high in due time. So My Sons sit quietly in your affliction and seek My Face with all your heart and it shall live for I have decreed from the beginning that there would arise a people in your generation who will wear My Name and come forth in great victory. But you ask when? for the Waters seem to deepen. Not one of My Sons shall come forth ahead of another for you are One Temple, and I will reveal you as One. Let My Word encourage and strengthen you for a little time”.

Always for Jesus,  Larry Wilson