Mandatory Attendance in The School of Affliction


"There arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but He was asleep. And His disciples came to Him, and awoke Him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish." -Matthew 8:24-25 [KJV]


It was not calm seas nor gentle breezes that forced our Lord’s disciples to flee to the Savior; it was boisterous waves and howling winds. It was only when they feared for their lives that they cried to Him and it was then that they experienced the blessedness of His glorious presence and realized His authority over the forces of nature.

No believer’s life will be exempt from troubles. The Lord never promised freedom from the ordinary discomforts that men experience in this world of sin, sickness and trouble. Lifelong attendance in the school of affliction is mandatory. The Lord has assured, however, His presence to strengthen us and His grace to sustain us. When the disciples were in the boat and the sea grew angry from the storm, they watched in horror as their vessel filled with water.

Fearing for their lives and at their wit’s end they cried out, "Lord, save us: we perish." And yet, HE WHO IS LIFE was in the boat with them; perishing was an impossibility! They were never in any real jeopardy and they should have known that, but they forgot, as we often do. He who of God has been made unto us "wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification and redemption" will "never leave us nor forsake us."

The Lord’s disciples learned valuable lessons from that trial which they could not have learned any other way. Don’t be dismayed in time of trouble; fall back upon the word of the Lord; lean upon thy God. May the Lord enable us to be good students in the school of affliction remembering that "tribulation worketh patience."


-Gospel report by preacher Jim Byrd of Thirteenth Street Baptist church of Ashland, Kentucky USA

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