How can we know what God is doing in afflictions?

When inward trials and painful providences press upon the soul, how is a Christian to discern whether he is under fatherly chastening, spiritual assault, bodily weakness, or the ordinary sorrows of a fallen world?

There are times when a true Christian is brought very low and begins to ask, “What is this that is happening to me? Is the Lord chastening me, or am I simply passing through temptation, bodily weakness, mental strain, or the ordinary sorrows of this fallen world?” That question must be handled carefully. If answered badly, the bruised reed may be crushed. If ignored, the careless soul may remain hard.

I hope that through these thoughts I can give you, dear friends, some help.

So let us begin where we must begin.

Can God be angry with His children?

Yes, but not as a judge with criminals. If a man is in Christ, God will never punish him with condemning wrath. Never. That wrath has already fallen on the Substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). The curse has been borne. The sentence has been executed. Christ has stood in the law-place of His people.

But can God be displeased with His children, rebuke them, correct them, and chasten them? Most certainly. “For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth” (Hebrews 12:6). The very passage that comforts the Christian also humbles him. The Lord does not indulge His children. He trains them.

The word used in Hebrews 12 for chastening is paideia, the discipline, instruction, and correction of a child. This is not the prison-yard, but the schoolroom. This is not penal wrath, but fatherly discipline. Samuel Bolton states the distinction with great precision in his book, The True Bounds of Christian Freedom. What comes upon the believer is “not penal, arising from vindictive justice, but medicinal, arising from a fatherly love”; it is “his medicine, not his punishment; his chastisement, not his sentence; his correction, not his condemnation.”[1] That is the point to hold firmly. The judge’s sword has fallen on Christ. The Father’s rod remains for His children.

C.H. Spurgeon captured the same truth with one unforgettable line. Speaking on Lazarus, he says, “The man whom the Lord loves is sick.”[2] There is the shock to our flesh. Loved, yet laid low. Loved, yet cast into the furnace. Loved, yet weeping in the dark. Yes. The Lord’s love and the Lord’s chastening are not opposites.

Not every affliction is a rebuke for some particular sin

Here many tender believers make shipwreck.

Every pain is not a secret message saying, “You have committed this particular sin, and now God is striking you for it.” Job’s friends reasoned like that, and they spoke grievously without knowledge. “Not all the afflictions which God brings upon us to exercise us are for sin. Some are inflicted for the prevention of sin… some for the trial of graces.” (Bolton) [3]

A godly mother, worn down by months of nursing a sick child or other family member, begins to tremble inwardly and says, “Surely God is against me.” But that may be entirely wrong. Her affliction may not be a rod for some specific offence at all. It may be a furnace to refine faith, to detach her from self-confidence, and to drive her more wholly to the Lord.

Yet the opposite error is just as dangerous. A man becomes prayerless, sharp-tempered, worldly, and secretive. He neglects the Word, wounds his conscience, and resists reproof. Then the Lord touches his comforts and makes his path bitter. In such a case, why should he hide behind confusion or uncertainly? The hand of God may be very plain.

How, then, may we discern the Lord’s chastening?

First, ask, is there some known sin being tolerated? Not imagined sin only, but known sin. Is there pride? Bitterness? Secret uncleanness? Discontentment? Covetousness? Neglect of prayer? Love of the world? Harshness in the home? If conscience already points to the wound, do not demand a sign from heaven. Repent.

Second, ask, what is this trial uncovering? Thomas Brooks says afflictions “draw out the core of pride, the core of self-love, the core of earthliness, the core of formality, the core of hypocrisy.”[4] Affliction often acts like a fire under a vessel. What lies hidden rises to the top.

A businessman loses a contract and suddenly becomes resentful, hard, and restless. What has happened? The trial may not itself have been sent for a specific sin, yet it has exposed an idol. Reputation, control, success, and self-importance were living where God alone should sit.

Third, ask, is this driving me toward God or away from Him? Satan accuses in order to estrange the soul from God. The Spirit convicts in order to bring the soul back to God. The devil says, “There is no hope for you.” The Lord says, “Return unto me.” These fatherly chastisements proceed “from love displeased, from love offended,” yet their aim is “fuller embraces.” [5] The Lord sometimes wounds so that He may heal more deeply.

Fourth, ask, is there fruit? “Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby” (Hebrews 12:11). Not merely struck by it, but exercised by it. God’s purposes can be summarised in afflicting believers as humbling them, exposing sin, purging corruption, drawing them near, conforming them to Christ, increasing faith, enlarging joy, and weaning them from the world.[6] Affliction “weans their affection from things below and fixes them on Himself,” and “cuts the threads one by one that bind their wavering hearts to earth.”[7]

Errors that must be rejected

One error says, “Every painful inward experience is a sign of God’s anger.” That bruises tender consciences.

Another says, “Since Christ died for me, God never deals sharply with me now.” That makes light of holiness.

A modern charismatic error often says that prolonged affliction proves deficient faith, wrong confession, or failure to claim healing or victory. That is miserable counsel for wounded saints. It leaves them either pretending or despairing. Scripture speaks more truthfully and more pastorally: “whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth” (Hebrews 12:6).

What then should the Christian do?

Search your ways. “Let us search and try [test] our ways, and turn again to the Lord” (Lamentations 3:40).

Confess known sin plainly and particularly. Vague confession is often only polite concealment.

Go at once to Christ. Do not stare only at your pain. The child under the rod must not run from the Father, but to Him through the Son.

Use the means of grace more, not less. When the soul has no appetite, it most needs food. Make gathering for worship and being in fellowship with God’s people a must, and do not wait till you feel better.

Seek wise pastoral counsel if your judgment is clouded. A tender conscience may accuse itself of everything. A sleepy conscience may accuse itself of nothing.

A final word to the tender and to the careless

To the tender soul, trembling under inward trials, do not quickly conclude that God has turned against you. The cloud may be dark, but it is still under His command. The fire may be hot, but it is still measured by a Father’s wisdom. If you are Christ’s, there is no wrath in it.

To the careless soul, do not misuse grace. Do not make the cross you carry an excuse for spiritual laziness, coldness, compromise, or secret sin. The God who justifies His people also sanctifies them, and He knows how to make sin bitter to His own children.

And to both, remember this above all: if you are in Christ, the hand that falls on you is never the hand of a condemning judge. It is your Father’s hand. Painful? Yes. Mysterious? Often. Vindictive? Never. If He uses the fire, it is because He means the gold to shine. If He lays on the rod, it is because He has not given you over. And if He brings you low, it is that He may bring you nearer. Blessed is that trial which empties us of self and drives us afresh to Christ.

Endnotes

1. Samuel Bolton, The True Bounds of Christian Freedom (London, 1645), chap. 4, “Chastisements for Sin”: “not penal, arising from vindictive justice, but medicinal, arising from a fatherly love… his medicine, not his punishment; his chastisement, not his sentence; his correction, not his condemnation.”
2. C. H. Spurgeon, “Beloved, and Yet Afflicted,” in Comfort in Affliction (Chapel Library), on John 11:3.
3. Samuel Bolton, The True Bounds of Christian Freedom, chap. 4: “not all the afflictions which God brings upon us to exercise us are for sin. Some are inflicted for the prevention of sin… some for the trial of graces.”
4. Thomas Brooks, “Good Comes through Affliction,” in Comfort in Affliction (Chapel Library): afflictions “draw out the core of pride, the core of self-love, the core of earthliness, the core of formality, the core of hypocrisy.”
5. Samuel Bolton, The True Bounds of Christian Freedom, chap. 4: afflictions may proceed “from love displeased, from love offended,” yet are “not merely penal, but medicinal,” and their purpose is “fuller embraces.”
6. Joel R. Beeke and Paul M. Smalley, Essentials of Reformed Systematic Theology (Wheaton: Crossway, 2025), chap. 37, “Sin, Suffering, and the Believer.”
7. J. C. Ryle, “Thoughts on Affliction,” in Comfort in Affliction (Chapel Library).