That I may Know HIM - A Devotional

Day 38: Why Do The Righteous Suffer?

Is sin the reason for every adversity in life? Does righteousness mean a life without problems? Let’s see Luke 1:5-7:

5 There was... a certain PRIEST named ZACHARIAS [a name which means ‘Jehovah Remembers’], of the cause of ABIA [a LEVITICAL PRIESTHOOD line]: and his wife was of the daughters of AARON [the father of the PRIESTS], and her name was ELISABETH [which means, 'God is my Oath’].

6 And they were BOTH RIGHTEOUS before God, walking in ALL the commandments and ordinances of the Lord BLAMELESS.

7 And [or BUT] they had no child, because Elisabeth was barren....

Was it their sin that prevented them from the blessing of childbearing? Certainly not, for the Bible records that "they were BOTH righteous BEFORE GOD"- even before God.

Perhaps their names held the secret mysteries to their problem. Maybe the names were tied to some gods, or to some Satanic covenants, which needed to be broken. If so, shouldn’t they have changed their names to something more reflecting of their new faith?

No. Their names were perfect. The husband’s name meant ‘Jehovah remembers.’ Won’t Jehovah remember him? The wife’s name indicated that, in fact, she was in an oath or a covenant with Jehovah, not with demons. So, the problem could not have been with their names.

Then, could it have been with the land in which they dwelt? Some cities are cursed lands of bondage, like Jericho after Joshua had captured it and placed a curse upon whoever would venture to rebuild the gates and walls of the city. Even prophets who lived in that city of Jericho in later years suffered from the curse on the land. The inhabitants of the city finally had to cry to prophet Elisha:

Behold, inhabiting of this city is pleasant, as my lord sees, but the water is bad, and the locality [or the land, the environment, the very atmosphere itself] causes miscarriage and barrenness [in all animals] (2 Kings 2:19 - Amplified).

The NIV records: "...the water is bad and the land is unproductive." The land was unfruitful, but it was a pleasant city to dwell in. A city may, therefore, be physically beautiful, comfortable, and attractive, yet be spiritually unconducive or even unsafe.

Was that the condition of the city where Zacharias and Elisabeth lived? No. They were not living in Jericho, but in Jerusalem the city of the temple of God; Jerusalem the Holy City; Mount Zion itself. What, then, was the reason for their problem?

Perhaps it had to do with an ancestral curse. Perhaps it was the consequence of the sins of their ungodly fore-parents. If so, they ought to renounce all the covenants of old and repent from that past. That would make it necessary to go into the records to find out who, for instance, the parents of the barren Elisabeth were.

Hold it! It says "she was of the daughters of Aaron." Aaron? Who was Aaron? Some witch doctor? Some juju chief? Who was Aaron?

Aaron was a priest of the Most High God; the first high priest of Israel. Aaron was a saint (Psalm 106:16). Aaron was an anointed man (Psalm 133:2). Aaron was a man of God.

If the woman is free, perhaps, then, the problem must be with the husband. So, let’s interview him.

"Mr Zacharias, sir, what work do you do, please?"

"I am a priest."

"Whose priest?"

"A priest of Jehovah."

"Where do you minister?"

"In the temple of God at Jerusalem."

"Eh.. eh ... eh ... excuse us a minute, please."

Now, what more questions do we ask him? He is such a fine man who keeps a fine company in a fine place. If the problem is not with the places he has been to, then it could be with his forefathers? But if ...

"Eh, please, Mr Zacharias, come back one more time. Tell us about your parents."

"I am of the course of Abia, or Abijah, if you like. Abijah was the ancestral head of the eighth of the twenty-four groups into which David, in 1 Chronicles 24:10, divided the priests the sons of Aaron."

What more do we say to him? The man is a priest, and the son of priests. The wife also is the daughter of a priest.

Well, we simply do not understand. Righteous people also go through adversity. "MANY are the AFFLICTIONS of THE RIGHTEOUS," the Psalmist says, "BUT the LORD delivereth him out of them ALL" (Psalm 34:19). Let that be our consolation. The Lord shall deliver them from ALL their afflictions, no matter how "many." Amen.

Not long afterwards, God indeed delivers them from all their afflictions. A son was born who became a great prophet and teacher - in fact, the greatest of men until he was born. That son was called John the Baptist; he was the forerunner of Jesus. He moved his whole community so much that men sought after him even in the most unlikely places. His ministerial base was the wilderness, yet that never deterred people from going to him, in their multitudes. His preaching clothes were not conventional. He wore animal skins when civilisation had long passed that ‘primitive’ stage. Yet that never mattered to men. They longed to hear him. His sermons were unpopular. He always had a sword to draw against every group: the hypocritical Pharisees, the oppressive soldiers, the wreckless rulers with their Herodian consorts (Luke 3:1-18), etc. Yet "there went out unto him all the land of Judea" (Mark 1:5).

For Zacharias and Elisabeth, their end became more glorious than their beginning. God had indeed wiped away all their tears. Their sun had begun to shine at last, high, high in the far, far sky, for all to see how the Lord shall always deliver the righteous from ALL their adversities. Amen.

So, why do the righteous suffer?

Postscript ...LET HIM PRAY

For many, affliction is a reason not to pray. But the counsel of God is the exact opposite. "Is any among you afflicted?" asks the Apostle James. What is his counsel or prescription to such? "Let him pray" (James 5:13). As far as God is concerned, affliction is a reason to pray, not to faint; affliction of whatever sort is a call to prayer, rather than a reason to be farther from God.

Paul and Silas were in great physical affliction in Acts 16. For the Gospel, they were severely beaten, bruised, and put into the stocks. On top of all that, the darkness of mid-night came upon them. What did they do? The Scripture tells us that they "prayed and sang praises unto God" in their affliction, and there followed a "great earthquake" (vv.25,26). That earthquake marked the end of their affliction of imprisonment. One earthquake ended all their afflictions. "Is any afflicted? Let him pray!" Amen.