WHO GETS AFFLICTED?

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Azariah son of Amaziah king of Judah began to reign. He was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-two years. His mother's name was Jecoliah; she was from Jerusalem. He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father Amaziah had done. The high places, however, were not removed; the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense there.

The Lord afflicted the king with leprosy until the day he died, and he lived in a separate house. Jotham the king's son had charge of the palace and governed the people of the land.

As for the other events of Azariah's reign, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? Azariah rested with his fathers and was buried near them in the City of David. And Jotham his son succeeded him as king.

2 Kings 15:1-7

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

As people perceive life…their own and others…I think there’s a misperception that the only people who end up afflicted are those who struggle…those who are down and out…those who can’t afford to stay in good health because they don’t have the means to do so. The rich get richer…even in health…while the poor get equally poorer in all parts of their life.

While this may be true in some instances, it is not an accurate answer to the question, “Who gets afflicted?” For if the truth be known, affliction is an equal opportunity attacker. It has no sense of finances or status…no sense of gender or race or age…no respect for fitness or physical prowess…no selectivity of wrongdoer over righteous.

Doubt that?

If you do, then we need only take a look at our scripture today.

For as we finished 2 Kings 14, we found Azariah ascending to the throne in place of his father, Amaziah who through his arrogance caused Jerusalem to fall. You’ll recall that Amaziah was killed by conspirators at Lachish and some people might say that he got what he deserved.

So would Azariah decide to follow the wrongs of his father or would he choose to do what was right in the ways of the Lord?

As Chapter 15 opens, we find the answer. For we read where Azariah became king at the young age of sixteen and “did what was right in the eyes of the Lord” even though he failed to remove the high places where the “people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense”.

So Azariah should have been OK right? He did what was in the eyes of the Lord and didn’t make any mistakes that the other kings before him had made. Surely he warranted the Lord’s reward for his actions.

It didn’t quite work that way.

For King Azariah, after doing what was right in the eyes of the Lord, became afflicted with leprosy by that same Lord…and remained that way until the day he died. During that time, he was caused to live “in a separate house” because lepers were outsiders in Old Testament times…considered unclean and not fit to be with those who are not afflicted. In his stead, his son, Jotham, was in “charge of the palace and governed the people of the land”. And this just didn’t go on for a short period of time. No…Azariah “reigned in Jerusalem fifty-two years”. That’s a long time with much of it spent afflicted, isolated and alone.

Friends, affliction is part of the life experience. It happens the moment we emerge from birth into this world. For it is at that moment that we are sinners, defective with a disease that has plagued mankind since Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden of Eden, thus defying God’s command (Genesis 3). It’s an ailment for which there is no cure on earth…one that we can only place into remission through continuously remaining close to the only One who can save us from our sin…our Savior Jesus…the One who suffered for us and bore the penalty for our sins while He hung crucified and dying on the cross of Calvary…the One who is our remedy for sin and will strip us of it when we are ushered into eternal life with him at our death.

So who gets afflicted?

The answer is all of us.

Thanks be to God we have good news in His Son, Jesus Christ…the Author of our Salvation…the One who allows us to rejoice and have hope in the midst of our afflictions.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

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