Ten Reasons Why Affliction is Good

At first glance, this seems like an odd thing to say… that affliction is good.  That statement seems to be counter-intuitive; we would not normally put affliction high on our list of things that are good for us.  No one wants to undergo affliction, neither do they seek out hardship; that’s just human nature.

However, the diligent follower of Yeshua knows that affliction is not punishment from YHWH, nor is it judgment; a sign that the afflicted person is out of the will of the Father.  Those who love and obey Yeshua HaMeshiach are fully aware that affliction is never without purpose, and that He works all things for the good of those who love Him and are called to His purpose (Romans 8:28).

The Scriptures are very clear as to why our Heavenly Father chooses to allow those who love and obey Him to undergo hardships, suffering and afflictions.   YHWH does this because one of the ways He reveals Himself to us is through affliction.  Let us examine the Scriptures to see what He does to accomplish this:

The Logic of the Lawless

Many people in the modern church believe that the Law of YHWH has been abolished; that it was nailed to the cross and became null and void when Yeshua HaMeshiach rose on the third day.  This doctrine (“the Law is dead”) is preached from countless pulpits every Sunday, and rigorously defended all across the internet.

I find these sites without even looking for them, and they all have two things in common. First, they truly believe the Law is dead.  Second, they also truly believe that the world is still under the Law.  Yes, that same Law which the modern church believes has been abolished, the church also believes is still in effect today.  How can that be?

The Proper Worship of YHWH

The worship of our Heavenly Father is one of the most important things that believers do in their daily walk, yet the process of worship is misunderstood to the point that the entertainment spectacles put on by many churches every Sunday morning are the only form of worship that people know.  The believer’s worship is of the greatest importance, and so the Ecclesiastes Project will explore the Biblical definition of worship, the correct way to worship, and seek to provide practical application for one’s daily walk with HaShem.

Let us begin by asking; what is the purpose of worship?

A Lesson in Patience and Denying YHWH’s Sovereignty

When I first began my walk with Yeshua, I had a lot of missteps.  I fell down a lot, picked myself up, dusted myself off, resolved to not do that again… and promptly fell flat on my face all over again.  As I mature in my faith and in my obedience to the Word of YHWH, those times that I stumble are fewer, but they still happen.

Please understand; I know that this is basic, Walk 101 for those who have been following Yeshua for a while.  Still, sometimes it helps to be reminded of how easy it can be to lose focus and fall into old ways, and if someone can learn from my mistakes, that’s a good thing.  Please allow me to share a lesson that I learned several years ago.

Why do the Righteous Suffer?

Last week I was having a discussion with fellow true believers.  One of the topics that came up was “why do the righteous suffer, when there is so much sin in the world?”  It seems that there is a common misconception, which I believe comes from the pre-trib rapture doctrine, that there will be no suffering among the righteous.  The question of whether righteous people should suffer is not an unusual question among the faithful, and I believe that this is a good time to approach the subject.

The Ecclesiastes Project was formed, in part, to give encouragement to true believers in addition to exploring the practical application of the Word of YHWH.  One of the ways we do that is to look at situations in light of Scriptural truth.  I am not going to debate the pre-tribulation rapture doctrine, because that debate has been had many times before on other forums.  Instead, the Project will explore the question; what does the Word of YHWH say regarding whether faithful people should endure suffering for the sins of the wicked?

Isaiah 9:8-10 and Ground Zero

Several days ago I was browsing on You-tube, and I saw a video that really got my attention.  The video links a prophecy in Isaiah with the attacks of 9/11; or to be specific, the rebuilding after the 9/11 attacks.  While I was skeptical at first, it quickly caught my attention, and gave me much food for thought.  I want to share this, to illustrate what happens when people who do not know the Word of YHWH attempt to use the Scriptures for their own purposes.

Please allow me a few paragraphs, to set the background.  The Scriptures tell us that at the end of King Solomon’s reign, he had turned away from YHWH and begun to worship the gods of his foreign wives.  As punishment, YHWH would remove the kingdom from his family line.  The prophet Ahijah came to Jeroboam, who was the overseer of Solomon’s labor force, and prophesied that YHWH would divide the kingdom of Israel into two parts (1 Kings 11:29-35).  The smaller part would consist of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and would collectively be known as Judah.  The larger part would consist of the other ten tribes, and would be known as Ephraim.

Talents, Truth, and the Parable of the Three Servants

The modern, worldly church has many false teachings concerning the Word of YHWH.  Their main false belief is that Yeshua wants His followers to worship Him on Sunday, the first-day sabbath; not the seventh-day sabbath that is commanded by YHWH (Exodus 20:8-11).  I’ve been thinking a lot about that lately, how such a simple, basic and (to me, anyway) obvious Truth as what day of the week we are to set apart – that is, make holy – for our Heavenly Father can be clouded, ignored, lied about, and forgotten.

I mention the modern church only because I’ve been considering the prophecy given by the prophet Amos regarding the Truth that is the Word of YHWH.   Amos, writing what the Heavenly Father told him to write, tells us; “‘days are coming,’ declares YHWH Elohim, ‘when I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread or a thirst for water, but rather for hearing the Word of YHWH’” (Amos 8:11).  I believe that a famine of the Word is already occuring in the modern church.

I was pondering the prophetic meaning of that passage in Amos while I was reading the parable of the three servants in Matthew chapter 25, and then something “clicked” for me.  Please allow me to refresh our memories of that parable.  Yeshua is speaking about the kingdom of YHWH: