In Psalms, chapter thirty-four, verse nineteen, in the Old Testament, God promised blessing and prosperity for those who obeyed His law. Yet alongside this promise is the reality that “many are the affliction of the righteous.” In Hebrews eleven, verses thirty-three through thirty-five, “Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.” Through these verses, the believer will experience extraordinary manifestations of God’s work for those who believe in Him.
On the other hand, God permitted some of the faithful to experience great suffering and trouble, as in Hebrews eleven, verses thirty-six to thirty-eight, “And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts and the mountains, and dens and caves of the earth.” Though they enjoyed God’s presence and favor, God did not deliver all of them from suffering and death.
Believing in God and living in righteousness will not keep believers from trouble and suffering. On the contrary, commitment to God often brings testing and persecution, as in Matthew five, verse ten. God has ordained that believers will experience many hardships to enter His Kingdom, as in Acts fourteen, verse twenty-two, First Corinthians five, verse nineteen, and Second Timothy three, verse twelve, respectively. The sufferings of the righteous counteract by the revelation that the Lord wishes to deliver us out of all our afflictions. When His purpose in permitting affliction reaches accomplishment, He then delivers from either direct supernatural intervention in this life, as in Hebrews eleven, verses thirty-three through thirty-five, or by victorious death and transference to the life hereafter, as in Hebrews eleven, verses thirty-five to thirty-seven.
Many believe that if we do right and live right, we will get right. This is true but not always. Each life is different from the other which cannot compare although often people do. God’s will be done for each life as He sees fit because He is God. On the other side: the unrighteous, the ungodly, the unbeliever, their will shall be done too: because whoever they serve has doom looming. Better on the right side than the wrong end.