Have you ever considered how a vacuum cleaner could be a metaphor for affliction?
Joel Beeke artfully connects a half-dozen mundane moments to the significance of God’s work of sanctification. Here’s one example:
“When suffering affliction, consider the purposes of Christ. He lived to do His Father’s will, to be sanctified through suffering, to merit salvation for His own, to present His church without spot or wrinkle to His Father. In a word, His life was God-centered.
His God-centered goals are numerous for you, too, in sanctified affliction: Sanctified affliction humbles you (Deut. 8:2), teaches you what sin is (Zeph. 1:12), and causes you to seek God (Hos. 5:15). Affliction vacuums away the fuel that feeds your pride.”
Read the rest of Joel Beeke’s excellent post on “Considering Christ in Affliction” on his blog.
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Yes! And it also exposes the rough shape things can be in when everything else is swept away. Humbling indeed. We’ve been blessed to be under Dr. Beeke’s preaching since we were wee ones