Though Poor and Afflicted, We are Rich!

The following excerpt is taken from John Gill’s A Body of Doctrinal and Practical Divinity:

It should be also observed that a good man,
though afflicted, is not so unhappy as is imagined;
he has more peace, satisfaction,
and contentment in what he has, though mean and little,
than the wicked rich man in all his abundance;
see (Psalm xxxvii. 16; Prov. xv. 16, 17).

Besides, the good man, though poor in one sense,
he is rich in a better;
and is not only heir of a kingdom,
but is possessed of one which cannot be moved,
the kingdom of grace;
he is possessed of the riches of grace,
and is entitled to the riches of glory;
and in the meanwhile has the love of God
shed abroad in his heart,
communion with God, and joy and peace unspeakable,
which none can take away;
and even his very afflictions
work together for his good,
temporal, spiritual, and eternal;
and he has the presence of God,
and a rich experience of his grace in them;
so that he has reason to count it all joy
when he falls into temptations, that is, into afflictions;
for though they are not in themselves joyous,
but grievous,
yet they yield to them to whom they are sanctified
the peaceable fruits of righteousness;
so that the balance is now on
the afflicted good man’s side.

Hereafter, in a future state,
this difficulty will be quite removed, and entirely vanish,
when the wicked rich man, that was clothed in purple,
and fared sumptuously every day,
and had his good things here,
will have his evil things;
and Lazarus, the afflicted man,
that was clothed with rags, and covered with ulcers,
and had his evil things, will now have his good things;
the one will be tormented, and the other comforted;
the wicked will go into everlasting punishment,
and the righteous into life eternal;
and then justice will shine in its true luster and glory
(vol. 3, p. 301)