The Internship Includes Suffering—But Not Alone

Psalm 34:19-20

19        Many are the afflictions of the righteous,

                        but the LORD delivers him out of them all.

20        He keeps all his bones;

                        not one of them is broken.

            This is the part of the class that Jesus’ students may not care for too much. This is part of the internship of being a Christian in the Classroom of Christ. The devil will put a lot of situations in our lives that would cause our faith to wilt and wither. The classroom of darkness wants Jesus’ students to focus on the here and now rather than keeping an eye to Graduation Day when Professor Jesus returns.

            St. Paul was a student in Professor Jesus’ classroom 2000 years ago. He writes this concerning his internship—and ours:

2Corinthians 4:7   But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. 11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So death is at work in us, but life in you.

Peter Craigie writes in his commentary:

God’s presence is experienced within these crisis situations; there is no divine guarantee that the righteous will escape the crises and trials of mortal existence. Thus, the psalmist espouses a more sophisticated form of wisdom theology than that of the friends of Job. The “fear of the Lord” (v 16) which was the substance of the psalmist’s instruction could well lead one into a path of life characterized by hardship and difficulty, but it brought with it the divine presence which made possible triumph in the midst of trial. On the other hand, it was equally the case that the fear of the Lord did carry with it the promise of divine protection; God does watch over the physical welfare of his people and protect them (v 20). The wisdom theology offers no easy alternatives with respect to life’s hardships; there may be protection from evil or deliverance in evil, but the only thing common to the lives of the righteous is the continuation of the divine oversight and care.[1]

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[1] Craigie, Peter C. Psalms 1–50. WBC 19. Accordance/Thomas Nelson electronic edition, version 2.0. Waco: Word Books, 1983. 281.