The Greatly Afflicted One

The story of the Bible is a story of the affliction of God's people. The faithful by the unfaithful.

Cain kills Abel. Noah is mocked. Abraham wanders homeless. Moses was opposed. The prophets were killed. The Kingdom was exiled. And Jesus suffered it all, and more.

Psalm 129:1-2 sums this up. Greatly they have afflicted me from my youth, let Israel now say, greatly they have afflicted me from my youth. This Psalm is put with the songs of ascent, sung by faithful pilgrims on the way to Jerusalem to celebrate. maybe the psalmist was reflecting on his own difficulties,  when it struck him that his people, God's nation, had been afflicted from the very beginning. And so Psalm 129 is born, and the pilgrims reflect as they sing.

Israel was afflicted by enemies. As soon as David died there was war, and even though that didn't split the Kingdom, David's grandson's foolishness soon did. They were afflicted, they were persecuted, they were sent far from home. Remember these things Israel, and sing of them as you go. 

Then comes Jesus, standing in Israel's place. Surely the tenants will respect the son? But no, the perfect Son of God was arrested, mocked, beaten and killed. He was afflicted, just as God's people have always been. The Bible teaches us these things for our good. It shows us a parade of imperfect man bring used by a perfect God. Imperfect men, afflicted by other imperfect men. And then the perfect man is afflicted too. The Bible can not be all ice cream and sunshine, because the life isn't all ice cream and sunshine. The Bible prepares us for life by showing us the reality of the affliction of God's people.

But verse 2 continues. 'Yet they have no prevailed against me...' From the very beginning God's people have been afflicted, set against, but here is the church, thousands of years later. The hammer of the world smashes itself on the anvil of the church. God's people are afflicted, but God's enemies do not prevail, and they never will.

Sing this, Israel, sing the end of verse two. Remember the affliction, and sing of the victory. Maybe, in Luke 24, Jesus taught His disciples from this Psalm. God's enemies have never prevailed over God's people, just like death did not prevail over Jesus. And we can know, for sure, forever, that God's enemies will not have the final say, because they did not have the final say, they did not prevail over The Afflicted One.