Psalm 138:3
“In the day when I cried out, You answered me, and made me bold with strength in my soul.”

James 4:7-10
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

The Positive Side of Adversity

My troubles turned out all for the best -- they forced me to learn from your textbook. Truth from your mouth means more to me than striking it rich in a gold mine. - Psalm 119:71-72

Here’s the problem in a nutshell: our definition of good is what benefits us in the here and now, not in our eternal life to come. In other words, we are interested in what will benefit us temporarily, but God is interested in what will benefit us eternally. We are interested in what will make us happy for a while, but God is far more interested in what will make us holy.

So here is the key. Jesus loves us, and He wants to be glorified through our lives. In view of that reality, He won’t always remove suffering because it can make us stronger and bring us closer to Him. Even though we would never choose it, suffering can give us a greater platform for glorifying God and pointing others toward Him.

Adversity levels us and keeps us humble. Success or prosperity has a tendency to make people proud and self-sufficient. We may not feel an overwhelming need for God when we have our salary, our investments, our career, our 401k, our homes, our health, and our family. But when the economy goes south or the stock market crashes or our home burns, we have the opportunity to turn back to God with all our hearts, being reminded of what really matters in life.

The truth is, you and I shouldn’t always be so afraid of pain. There’s something worse than pain: it is a prosperity that leads us to forget about God.

Adversity teaches us eternal truths we might not otherwise learn. For most of us, our basic objective in life is to avoid pain at all costs. Bottom line, we just want to dodge pain whenever we can. We want to get into better shape and look cool in our new gym outfit, but we don’t want to sweat and strain.

No pain, no gain? Alas, it’s true. And what is true of the gym or health club is also true of life. Our pain reminds us of a deeper need: the need for God in our lives. And God will teach us lessons in those valleys that we never would have learned on mountaintops.

© Greg Laurie

"My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."
John 15:12-13

1st Peter 5:6-7
6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:
7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

Philippians 3:10-11
I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

"Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him."
Jeremiah 17:7

2 Timothy 1:12
...I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

There is an element of perseverance in prayer. God wants us to not be satisfied until his purposes are established on the earth. What are those purposes? It’s hard to say, but prayer brings us into a journey of discovery with God. Prayer positions us to be aligned with God’s heart for his people. What should you pray for? The goodness inside your heart will dictate that but keep praying until God makes that area the praise of the earth!

Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.