Make You a Real Doctor

Constant… Incessant… Confession.

The monk would run to his superior begging to do penitence. Fear gripped his soul with great intensity. Sweat poured down his face late into the night as he tried to remember every sin that he had committed so that he could confess it to God. He would open the Scripture searching with all his might. “How canI flee the wrath of God?” he would cry. Day after day, month after month, this monk searched for some solace from the Scripture. Then one day, it came.

“The righteous shall live by faith” Romans 1:17. As he read this verse, his heart welled up with such gladness. God provided atonement for his sin in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Who is this monk? It is none other than Martin Luther, the great protestant reformer. He rediscovered the great doctrine of justification by faith. He knew this doctrine because it was close to his heart. It delivered him from his greatest affliction… indeed mankind’s greatest plight!

This demonstrates a great truth. How does God teach us his Word? One of Martin Luther’s favorite Psalms demonstrates the method of teaching the God uses to teach his children the importance of his Word.

Psalm 119

Verse 25 “My soul clings to dust ; give me life according to your word!

Verses 41-42 “Let your steadfast love come to me O Lord, your salvation according to your promise; then shall I have an answer for him who taunts me, for I trust in your word.”

Verse 50 This is my comfort in my affliction, that your promise gives me life.

Verse 67 Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word.

Verse 71 It was good for me that I was affected that I might learn your statutes.

Verse 75 I know, O Lord, that your rules are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.

Verse 107 I am severely afflicted; give me life, O Lord, according to your word!

Verse 131 I open my mouth and pant, because I long for your commandments.

Verse 143 Trouble and anguish have found me out, but your commandments are my delight.

Verse 153 Look on my affliction and deliver me, for I do not forget your law.

I believe the repetition is clear. God used affliction to teach the psalmist his Word. God allows tribulation in our live so that we will learn to truly yearn for the Word of God. It is in pain that we see the Word as the healing balm to our wounded souls. He, in his grace, allows us to experience want so that we can find our sustenance in Scripture. Suffering can be a gift from God in which He shows us His beauty in His Word.

Luther longed for the Word in his distress. He longed for some answer to his soul’s dilemma. He found comfort in the Word of God. I would exhort you to do the same. See the roadblocks as indicators to jump in the Word of God. He will heal you and give your endurance through the grace of His Word.

Not only will affliction teach you to long for the words of the bible. It will help you to move Scripture from head to heart. No wonder Martin Luther was such a champion of the doctrine of justification by faith. It was not simply something his taught. It was ingrained in his very heart through his affliction. If he had not been terrified by the wrath of God, then his soul would not have been in awe at the fact that Christ Jesus bore his sin of the cross. The same is true for you, beloved Christian. If you read Scripture that teaches you to be patience and you truly want to be patience, then you might have a flat tire in your near future lol. God allows troubling situations in our live so the His Word will come alive in our hearts.

This is not a mere intellectual treatise for me. Last year, I went through a season of deep depression. I would cry to God for deliverance. I would look in his Word for some crumb of joy. I searched with all my might. And every drop of joy from His Word was like a jolt of life to my sad spirit. I began to truly understand why I should have joy in Christ. If Christ Jesus indeed has bore my sin… If He indeed has my whole life planned for his glory and my good, then I can truly rejoice in my suffering. Rejoicing in depression is not simply a theological idea for me. The Lord has afflicted me so that I would know this truth in the depths of my being.

Now you can make sense of this quote:

For as soon as God’s Word takes root and grows in you, the devil will plague you and make a real doctor of you, and by his attacks will teach you to seek and love God’s Word – Martin Luther

I pray that you would see affliction as a means of grace so that you would truly love and depend on God’s Word.