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“I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and the right of the poor.” (Ps 140:12 AV)

 This verse is a great example of an O.T. promise applied in an N.T. way.  This promise is obviously made to a people whom God protects and for whom He provides.  This promise is millennial in nature.  God promises to care for His people in a just and benevolent way.  He does not promise to keep them in safety prior to that.  God made several promises to Israel, but Israel broke the covenant and the LORD had to allow enemies into their nation.  These enemies afflicted them and treated them unjustly.  Eventually, they would be scattered for almost two thousand years.  Therefore, this promise will not be realized until Israel accepts their Messiah, Jesus Christ, and they enter the millennial reign together.  Therefore, we cannot realistically take the promise above as our own.  Surely, we will suffer affliction and be unjustly treated.  As God’s people, we have a target on our backs.  The world, the flesh, and the devil conspire to make our lives difficult.  How we can apply this is spiritually.  God will protect us from spiritual affliction and unjust charges from the adversary if we allow Him to.  The answer is the same answer Jesus had.  The truth of God’s word.

We are spiritually afflicted in many ways.  Discouragement, self-condemnation, anxiety, despair, etc all work to bring us down in spirit and demeanor.  Confusion, life changes, and simple exhaustion can wear us down.  Failure to be what God wants us to be can bring with it baggage that we carry everywhere we go.  Add to this affliction the words and charges of the adversary and you have real trouble.  Like Joshua the priest, we stand condemned.  And rightfully so.  The Devil will not let us forget that.  By the way, what gives someone who is the most wicked of all any moral standing to bring any charges against God’s elect?  The adversary loves to remind you just how much you have failed.  He loves to remind you that you will never be what God wants you to be.  At least not in this life.  He loves to bring up the past.  He loves to use the facts against you.  His charges are valid only in the sense they are true.  What he never reminds us of is the forgiveness and mercy of God.  He wants us to live in constant defeat to the flesh and any way he can make that happen, he is more than happy to try.

We cannot claim the promise above as a promise God has made us in the physical nature of this life.  Affliction and persecution are part of the package we signed up for.  With faith comes a battle.  That battle is relentless and unyielding.  What God has promised us is the strength to endure through whatever our adversary can dish out.  Spiritually, we should be consistence victors.  Just something that should be obvious:  God cannot promise to meet our needs in times of affliction and persecution if they do not exist.  Therefore, the LORD is not promising to remove them completely.  Simply, He is promising to minimize the effects of these times so that we can grow spiritually.  We all want an end to the battle.  But the mature in Christ know these battles will not end until our glorification.  Until that time, the grownup thing to do is to stay in the battle and allow the promise above to empower you through it.