Affliction is Better Than Sin

Tonight Thomas Watson’s book on the Lord’s Prayer, studying the second part of the sixth petition, “but deliver us from evil”, we compare and contrast affliction with sin and see it is better to be afflicted than to sin, because: [I)] Sin is the cause of affliction, and the cause is more than the effect; [2] God is the author of affliction; [3] Affliction reaches the body only, and makes that miserable, but sin makes the soul miserable; [4] Afflictions are good for us but sin is not for our good; [5] In affliction, conscience may be quiet; but when a man commits a presumptuous, scandalous sin, conscience is troubled; [6] In affliction we may have the love of God, but when we commit sin God withdraws his love; [7] There are many encouragements to suffer affliction–God himself suffers with us; [8] When a person is afflicted, he suffers alone; but by sinning openly he hurts others; [9] In affliction the saints may rejoice, but sin is a matter of shame and grief, not of joy; [10] Affliction magnifies a person (more on this in the next study).