God brings men into deep waters not to drown them, but to cleanse them. ~James H. Aughey
Without a struggle, there can be no progress. ~Frederick Douglass
Adversity borrows its sharpest sting from our impatience. ~Thomas Hartwell Horne
No man can smile in the face of adversity and mean it. ~Edgar Watson Howe
Adversity makes men, and prosperity makes monsters. ~Victor Hugo
Every one of us is experiencing some type of adversity. Adversity is defined as a state, condition,or instance of serious or continued difficulty; hard time, difficulty, trouble,problem, frustration.
Sometimes God permits us to suffer to teach us that pain is a part of life. Nowhere does the Bible say that the Christian will not suffer adversity! Paul points out in Philippians 1:29, KJV, that it is “given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake.” Adversity can be a gift from God.
When we think about it, none of us want to deal with adversity. None of us want to go through a hard time. None of us want to be faced with the inevitable when we just feel like we’re stuck between a rock and a hard place. But know today that there IS hope. Know today that you can actually GET THROUGH.
There are many examples of those who dealt with adversity in the Bible -
One example of adversity is exemplified in the life of Job. Job was a rich, blessed man who feared God and lived righteously. In Job 7, Job said ’my suffering is comfortless’. Verse 1 says - "Is there not a time of hard service for a man on earth? Are not his days also like the days of a hired man?" Job clearly felt like a slave under tyranny of his master, longing for relief and reward.
Then over in Job 17, Job prayed for relief. He said…my spirit is broken, my days are extinguished, the grave is ready for me. Job was going through and dealing with some serious adversity. But he continued to remain steadfast. He continued to be obedient to God. In the end, God answered Job. The Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning and he lived 140 years (Job 42:10,17).
Another example of adversity exemplified in the life of Jeremiah. When Jeremiah questioned God because of the adversity he faced, the Lord said in Jeremiah 12:5 - “If racing against mere men makes you tired, how will you race against horses? If you stumble and fall on open ground, what will you do in the thickets near the Jordan
Life was extremely difficult for Jeremiah despite his love for and obedience to God. When he called to God for relief, God's reply in effect was, "If you think this is bad, how are you going to manage when it gets really tough?" Think about that for just a moment, if you think this little test is something, what are you going to do
with the BIG one comes? I think about Sanford & Son. When Lamont would do
something really crazy or Grady would just spur something on Fred, he’d say, "Oh Elizabeth honey, I’m coming to join ya. This is a big one!" LOL!
You may be going through what seems like ’the big one’, but God is telling us like he told Jeremiah - this is nothing! You’ve got to learn to cope with the little things so you’re able to cope and deal with the big things.
You may still question God sometimes as to why you suffer. Well, this is probably the only way God gets some of our attention sometimes! In suffering, we give our all to God because we want it to be over. It hurts so bad, and we just want it to stop. But…we suffer, and we are going to continue to suffer.
A lot of times we think we suffer because of what someone else did. In churches a lot of time, we hear about generational curses. But…we may bring suffering upon ourselves. Dissipation and lack of discipline bring unhappy consequences. Long-term abuse of our bodies may bring on sickness. Wrong choices come back to haunt us.
Sometimes God is taking corrective action because of sin and disobedience. God will correct and discipline His own. Through chastening, He proves that He loves us and that we are truly His own (Hebrews 12:5-11).
God may permit suffering so we learn to respond to problems in a Biblical way. Scripture tells us that Jesus “learned obedience from the things he suffered” (Hebrews 5:8).
God may permit suffering for our well-being. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28, NIV).
Let us learn to not frown upon our adversity, but relish in knowing that it will only add integrity to our testimony. Hang in there...we're gonna make it! God will not bring you to it and just leave you there; He's going to bring you through it!
Blessings,
~Tee
