affliction

The main object of the mission which David received from God for all generations in the church was the composition of the Psalms. Indeed, he composed the Psalms , or a great part of them , in the midst of the most cruel sufferings . Just imagine that , overwhelmed by suffering , physical , moral and spiritual, you were called to write a Psalm , and in the very midst of all these sufferings , and at the very time when they were like those described in Psalm 38. , hymns began to ring out to the glory of God and for the instruction of the church! How David triumphs over himself , and how humiliating it is for us who, in our weakness, are obliged in most instances to wait until our sufferings are past before we can gather the fruit of them , both for ourselves and others! But David in his sufferings writes his Psalms . He writes Psalm 38. while he suffers persecutions , inner torments , the bitterness of sin. I know that one could say that David wrote Psalm 38 in cold blood , by taking himself back in mind to sufferings which he no longer experienced ; as a poet can transport himself into sufferings which he has never experienced at all. But no, this idea is as repugnant to you as it is to me : it was in the furnace , in the very heart of the furnace , that he wrote these lines which were to serve for the encouragement of the church in all time . O power of the love of Christ! O renunciation of self-will !O grace of the true servant of God ! O virtue of the apostle and of the prophet , virtue of Christ in them and of the Holy Spirit !For man would never be capable of such strength of will and of such a triumph over the flesh.
My dear friends, I leave each of you to apply this for himself . It can be done by asking two questions : are we men of sorrows , and to what extent do we share in the afflictions of Christ ? When we share in the afflictions of Christ can we triumph over them and relate them by the power of love to the glory of God , and the benefit of our neighbour and our brethren; and do they at the same time work even more for our sanctification and spiritual sustenance , and to gather for us the treasure of an excellent glory ? A.Monod.