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The Afflictions of the Righteous // Dark Night - Bright Light, Part 9

A Different Perspective Official Podcast

Release Date: 03/20/2025

A Certain Hope for Tomorrow // A Life Eternal, Part 5 show art A Certain Hope for Tomorrow // A Life Eternal, Part 5

A Different Perspective Official Podcast

Life without hope for tomorrow is sad and dark and lonely. If God is God, if He really loves us, then surely, He’d want us to have hope for the future. Wouldn’t He? Have you ever been in a place where you’ve lost all hope? Hope as it turns out is a precious, precious commodity. We all need things in our lives to look forward to; to hope in – the deep sense that we have a future; we know where we are going. When there’s no future, it’s tragic; when you lose all hope, well, it feels like life’s over. And that’s the problem with death, we all die at some point. Some die young,...

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A Different Perspective Official Podcast

If Jesus really rose from the dead all that time ago, if it really happened….well, what does it mean to us today? What’s the relevance? What’s the point? This week on the program we are taking a bit of a look at this whole "resurrection" thing, because on the one hand it’s so central to everything that Jesus talked about, and everything that Christians believe. But on the other hand, well, it can be hard to relate to that. I mean, how does it fit into real life today? I’m not sure where you are in terms of believing in Jesus and in particular in His resurrection. But let’s assume...

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A Different Perspective Official Podcast

There’s not a serious historian alive today who doesn’t acknowledge the life and death of Jesus Christ. But the resurrection…..well that’s another thing entirely. Did it really happen? Over this week on the program, we are looking at and exploring the whole question of Jesus’ resurrection. It can seem fanciful and even irrelevant, something that may or may not have happened a couple of thousand years ago and let’s face it – Jesus was crucified and then they said He’s alive. I mean, it’s pretty hard to believe, you know. What’s the proof, what’s the evidence? I mean, if we...

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A Different Perspective Official Podcast

It turns out that coming to grips with the resurrection of Jesus wasn’t easy for the disciples. And to tell you the truth, it can be difficult to come to grips with it here and now as well. They say that there are two absolute certainties in life – death and taxes. Well, let’s leave taxes for another day – that leaves death. One day, you and I will breathe our last breath on this planet, that’s pretty much certain, despite all the hopes and dreams and plans that we have for next week and next year and the next decade, most of us simply don’t know when that moment will come, when we...

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A Different Perspective Official Podcast

So what was it like that first Easter morning? He’s alive. Is He? I don’t know. The others say they’ve seen Him. Hmm. What do you think? Let me paint you a picture. Just the other day, someone that you loved passed away. You really admired and trusted this person. I mean, you'd seen him in operation and now they're gone! It's a shock! It shouldn't have happened! They're so young and so full of promise ... had a future. And now, that person is gone. Take some time to come to grasp to that – the shock and the sadness, and the deep sense of loss and even anger. We go through so many...

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A Dead Loss // Easter Without Chocolate, Part 5 show art A Dead Loss // Easter Without Chocolate, Part 5

A Different Perspective Official Podcast

People talk about “the real meaning of Easter”.  OK.  So for some people, Easter’s more than chocolates, eggs, bunnies and a long weekend.  But – well, how do you react to the real meaning of Easter? This week we've been looking at Easter which is not surprising since it’s Good Friday today. Jesus, in his last week, spent a good amount of his time encouraging his disciples, here was a man under an enormous pressure, heading to a gruesome death and yet His main concern was on encouraging those twelve men, one of whom would betray Him. But of course on what we now...

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A Different Perspective Official Podcast

You see people wearing gold crosses on chains all the time. Even earrings. But on that first Easter – what really happened on that cross.  I mean, what did Jesus actually go through? It's almost Easter and this week on the program we've been taking a bit of a look at the goings on in the week leading up to the first Easter. There's been nothing about chocolate or eggs or bunnies. Nothing’s wrong with any of those things, they just don't fit into any of the events that first Easter. Today I thought it would be interesting just to have a look at the real physical suffering of Jesus....

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A Different Perspective Official Podcast

When you see the way someone reacts in difficult circumstances, under pressure, when they’re betrayed and rejected – then you discover what they’re really like.  So how did Jesus react? One of the hardest things in life is when we're betrayed and rejected. Basically, we all want relationships of trust, and basically, we all want to be liked, okay some more than others but it's a pretty natural thing, isn't it? What we'd really like is for our life to cruise along with great relationships, people we can depend on, people who like us. But it's not always like that, so often there's...

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Hang In There // Easter Without Chocolate, Part 2 show art Hang In There // Easter Without Chocolate, Part 2

A Different Perspective Official Podcast

That week leading up to the very first Easter was a torrid time for Jesus.  Imagine the stress and the pressure.  So it’s interesting to see how He spent those few days. Let me paint a scenario for a moment. You're dying and you know it and the time is drawing near, you only have a few days, perhaps just a few final hours with the people who mean the most to you. You know something; you know that when you're gone they're going to go through some really tough times, trials, fears, persecution. In those final days and hours what would you talk to them about? I mean, you have a short...

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A Different Perspective Official Podcast

That week leading up to the very first Easter was a torrid time for Jesus.  Imagine the stress and the pressure.  So it’s interesting to see how He spent those few days. Easter means different things to different people. Chocolate, of course there's chocolate, eggs, bunny's, a long weekend, a chance for a bit of a breather and that’s great. We have a funny way though of reinventing holidays, there's something so amazing about Easter, Gods Easter and since we're right now in the week leading up to Easter I thought why don't we have a look at that week leading up to that very first...

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It’s tough when bad things happen to good people – especially when we see good things happening to bad people – God what is going on here?  Why are you letting this happen to me?

There are times in life when bad things happen to good people and perhaps you're someone who believes in Jesus and you've been living your life the best way you know how and just day after day walking with Him and all of a sudden – whamo! Something happens! The sky turns dark and all of a sudden you're in one of those dark, black times that we can go through in life.

A time of loss or pain or sickness or whatever it is and you kind of look around and think, "What is going on here God? I mean I know I'm not perfect but everyday I just get up and I just do my best and I walk with You; now this!"

My hunch is that there are a few people who relate to what I just talked about and so I want to deal with that today because when bad things happen to good people it's such a shock and it seems so unfair especially when we take a look around and we see that there's a whole bunch of good things happening to some really bad people out there that we know. What is going on God?

King David, as I've said over these last couple of weeks, is a man who went through a lot of dark times. You read about his life and sure he made some mistakes but right from the beginning God had him picked as a man after His own heart and yet he lived through so many dark and difficult times, scary times, on the run for his life. Battles with enemies that it looked like he was going to lose and God showed up just at the last minute.

You take a look at his life and if you weigh his life, kind of on our human scale of justice you'd probably come to the conclusion that, well David wasn't perfect but he was definitely one of the good guys. He tried with all his might to honour God even though some days he blew it big time. And I'm sure if David looked at his life he'd come up with the same conclusion and yet this man went through so many difficult things, so many dark and lonely times. Times when people criticised him, times when he was in fear of his life, times when he felt that God had deserted him.

So God, what's going on? Why is that? I mean this guy was a good guy, how come bad things happen to good people? Now I'm not sure I can answer all those questions, God is God and He decides those things but as we walk through Psalm 34, which is what we've been doing over the last couple of weeks, it’s a Psalm where David looks back on those dark times with the benefit of hindsight. Let me share with you David's own wisdom, this is what he writes is Psalm 34, verses 15 to 19. It says that:

Eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are attentive to their cry but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth. The righteous cry out and the Lord hears them; He delivers them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the broken hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivers them from them all.

Well David doesn't even bother with the "why" question does he? When we're hit with those dark times the first question we utter is, "Why me God; why me?" Right, and the second one is, "How long is this going to go on for God; how long?" Well David doesn't carry on with any of that. He looks back, he accepts the sovereignty of God and after all he's been through in his life, he draws this obvious conclusion. Verse 19 of Psalm 34:

Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivers us from them all.

In other words; stuff happens, it just does. Jesus kind of put it this way, He said:

Your Father in heaven causes His Son to rise on the evil and the good and He sends his rains on the righteous and the unrighteous.

In other words; good stuff and bad stuff happens to good people and bad people.

There you go, it's just the way it is and it seems to be a rule that the more a man or a woman turns their lives to following hard after God, to walking in the footsteps of Jesus, the more afflictions they suffer. It's such an incredible contradiction; on the one hand God wants to bless us, He does. All the way through His word, the Bible tells us, He wants to bless us. On the other, when we set our hearts like flint to follow after Him it seems like all hell breaks loose, the world just doesn't want us to do that.

Many are the afflictions of the righteous.

Many! One of the promises of God and you don't hear many people shouting hallelujah to that promise do you? But the Lord delivers us from them all, His eyes are on His people, His ears are attentive to their cry. We cry out; He hears us and He delivers us from our troubles.

You know what I've learnt, He doesn't always deliver me the way I expect Him to, the way I want Him to, when I want Him to. Sometimes we want Him to do one thing and He does almost exactly the opposite. Sometimes, you know, we cry out to Him and we even go to Him in faith and we say, "Lord, I believe you’re here and I believe you’re going to deliver me from this." And things go from bad to worse. Sometimes we want Him to do A and He gives us B. "What are you doing God?"

And sometimes it seems like His solution and His answer means that we lose and someone else wins but in the wondrous fabric of His mighty plan for our lives, He's so much more interested in our character and who we are and our relationship with Him than He is about our perceptions of comfort and need. He's so much more concerned about His glory shining out into this world than He is about some of the things that, at the time, we think are important but in the bigger scheme of things they're really not.

The apostle Paul puts it this way in Romans chapter 5, he says:

Suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character and character produces hope and it's a hope that never disappoints us because Gods love has been poured into our hearts through His Holy Spirit.

And the longer we walk with God, the more afflictions we have to suffer, the more we discover the truth of King David’s words in Psalm 34. The Lord hears our cry, He delivers us from our troubles, He is close to the broken hearted and He saves those who are crushed.

Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivers him from them all.

That is an awesome thing. Now I don't know what afflictions maybe you're walking through right now and can I just encourage you; put away the "why" question, put away the "how long" question and just listen to the word of God again.

The Lord is close to the broken hearted. He saves those who are crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivers us from them all.

I've only been walking with God now for just on 13 years but I look back and I see the things I've had to walk through, I see the afflictions. Even when those afflictions, can I tell you, have come from my own mistakes and I'm living out those consequences and just somehow, in His own good time, God works it so that I learn and that I heal and that He delivers me from this stuff and even if I have to lose my life serving Him I have all eternity to rejoice in Him.

Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivers us from them all.