Luke 6
35 But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.
Matthew 5
45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
More people repent in their distress and sickness than because of God’s blessings. What do we do when God blesses us? Surely, the Lord is showing us something through His goodness. What effect does the goodness of God have in our lives? It should cause us to forsake our sin. Read Romans 2:5: His kindness leads us to repentance.
One can be guilty before God because of misusing His compassion and kindness. Perhaps you are a child from a Christian home – do you realise God’s kindness in that? There are millions of worldly homes full of drinking and fighting. And still you haven’t repented, although you grew up in a blessed, Christian home.
On the other hand one has to consider what effect it has on us when God visits us with affliction and hardships. One doesn’t want to make the same mistake made by Job’s friends, who reasoned that suffering is a result of a person’s sins. Nevertheless, one should ask God what He wants to show you through the tough and difficult circumstances that come upon you – what impurity He might want to remove from you through the furnace of difficulties.
In Genesis 42:21 we read of Joseph and his brothers. They finally allowed their memory and conscience to bring them to the place they should be, when they were in distress in Egypt. Joseph is a picture of our heavenly Brother who brings distress on us to change us.
In 2 Chronicles 33:1-2 we read of king Manasseh who had a God-fearing father, but he brought back the idols which his father had removed (verse 10-13.) This is one of the most amazing stories of the Old Testament, showing us the greatness of God – despite Manasseh’s evil life, God still reached out His hand to save him through distress because he did not listen when God spoke to him. (verse 10).
Plead with God and ask Him that you may have an ear to hear when He speaks. It can save you a lot of distress. Manasseh was a changed man once God worked in his life. He set right what he had done wrong. Did God help you in your trouble? What are you doing today? Do you live a new life like Manasseh did, or are you back in your old ways?
A lesson in history that is closer home to us Afrikaners: Being Afrikaans, I know that my nation suffered a lot during the Anglo Boer war. Once the British realised that they couldn’t easily win on the battlefield they took to the strategy of “scorched earth”. So the women who had supplied the men with food and horses, were put into concentration camps, and their farms burnt down. Men were taken to distant islands as prisoners of war.
Because of the war, many Afrikaners hated the English. In later years when the leading party decided to fight together with Great Britain in the First World War, civil war broke out among the Afrikaners because of their bitter memories.
However, some of the prisoners of war on the islands didn’t just sit and wait for a chance to take revenge, they experienced a spiritual revival. A revival broke out in the camp in Ceylon (now known as Sri Lanka) and in St Helena. In their distress and trouble, they cried out to God, and God blessed them with revival. Many came back and started missions.
Whether we are black, white, Coloured or Indian – why are we in Africa? Is it to the furthering of God’s Kingdom, or self-gain? Do we still give room for hatred, grudges and thoughts of revenge for wrongs suffered in the past? Such will not experience revival unless they repent.
May our country move back to God’s Word. May we not be guilty of trampling on God’s goodness.