I utter my complaint and moan,
and he will hear my voice. (Psalm 55:17)
For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of the affliction we experienced in Asia; for we were so utterly, unbearably crushed that we despaired of life itself. Why, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. (1 Cor. 1:8-9)
In Hyperspiritual-Ville, the Psalmist and Paul would've been tarred 'n feathered----maybe even banished or indeed beheaded----for uttering such defeatist talk. "You have no right to whine about your chicken-scratch anthill problems in the face of the Himalayan suffering that Christ endured for you!"
Now, please do not maliciously misconstrue this as some sort of contempt for the unspeakable agony our Savior went thru; far from it. "By His wounds we are healed." I treasure that; it is my only hope. But I despise crypto-dualism as intensely as I cherish the Redemption. The 34 year old crypto-dualist shouts from the pulpit, "You'll know the quality of a man's faith by how he dies!" and "If you took away everything I owned tomorrow, it wouldn't affect my faith one jot!" but then...proceeds to commit adultery some 15 years later.
In Proverbs 25, there's a description of the hyperspiritualist: {Like} one who takes off a garment on a cold day, {or like} vinegar on soda, Is he who sings songs to a troubled heart. (Remove the bracketed words, which are lacking in the Hebrew, and the verse is exceedingly cutting.) He needs to take these verses to heart: "Bear one another's burdens." "Weep with those who weep." "In all their affliction, He was afflicted."
For He hath not despised nor abhorred
the affliction of the afflicted;
neither hath He hid His face from him;
but when he cried unto Him, He heard.
the affliction of the afflicted;
neither hath He hid His face from him;
but when he cried unto Him, He heard.
