Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of

When Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against You, and they return to You and confess Your name, praying and pleading with You in this temple,

When the skies are shut and there is no rain because Your people have sinned against You, and they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and they turn from their sins because You have afflicted them,

…and when they come to their senses in the land to which they were taken, and they repent and plead with You in the land of their captors, saying, ‘We have sinned and done wrong; we have acted wickedly,’ …

When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the LORD your God and listen to His voice.

For the LORD your God is a merciful God; He will not abandon you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers, which He swore to them by oath.

“When all these things come upon you—the blessings and curses I have set before you—and you call them to mind in all the nations to which the LORD your God has banished you,

…and when you and your children return to the LORD your God and obey His voice with all your heart and all your soul according to everything I am giving you today,

When famine or plague comes upon the land, or blight or mildew or locusts or grasshoppers, or when their enemies besiege them in their cities, whatever plague or sickness may come, …

For distress does not spring from the dust, and trouble does not sprout from the ground. …

Blessed indeed is the man whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.

Yet He knows the way I have taken; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold.

Blessed is the man You discipline, O LORD, and teach from Your law,

…to grant him relief from days of trouble, until a pit is dug for the wicked.

My son, do not reject the discipline of the LORD, and do not loathe His rebuke;

…for the LORD disciplines the one He loves, as does a father the son in whom he delights.

And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you.

It is better to enter a house of mourning than a house of feasting, since death is the end of every man, and the living should take this to heart.

Sorrow is better than laughter, for a sad countenance is good for the heart.

It will be a sign and a witness to the LORD of Hosts in the land of Egypt. When they cry out to the LORD because of their oppressors, He will send them a savior and defender to rescue them.

And the LORD will strike Egypt with a plague; He will strike them but heal them. They will turn to the LORD, and He will hear their prayers and heal them.

My soul longs for You in the night; indeed, my spirit seeks You at dawn. For when Your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness.

Therefore Jacob’s guilt will be atoned for, and the full fruit of the removal of his sin will be this: When he makes all the altar stones like crushed bits of chalk, no Asherah poles or incense altars will remain standing.

…say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’ and to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’ They have turned their backs to Me and not their faces. Yet in the time of trouble, they say, ‘Rise up and save us!’

The wind will drive away all your shepherds, and your lovers will go into captivity. Then you will be ashamed and humiliated because of all your wickedness.

O inhabitant of Lebanon, nestled in the cedars, how you will groan when pangs of anguish come upon you, agony like a woman in labor.”

After I returned, I repented; and after I was instructed, I struck my thigh in grief. I was ashamed and humiliated because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’

It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is still young.

Let him sit alone in silence, for the LORD has laid it upon him.

I will make you pass under the rod and will bring you into the bond of the covenant.

There you will remember your ways and all the deeds with which you have defiled yourselves, and you will loathe yourselves for all the evils you have done.

Then in the nations to which they have been carried captive, your survivors will remember Me—how I have been grieved by their adulterous hearts that turned away from Me, and by their eyes that lusted after idols. So they will loathe themselves for the evil they have done and for all their abominations.

Therefore, behold, I will hedge up her path with thorns; I will enclose her with a wall, so she cannot find her way.

She will pursue her lovers but not catch them; she will seek them but not find them. Then she will say, ‘I will return to my first husband, for then I was better off than now.’

Then I will return to My place until they admit their guilt and seek My face; in their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.”

Not only that, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;

…perseverance, character; and character, hope.

And if we are children, then we are heirs: heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ—if indeed we suffer with Him, so that we may also be glorified with Him.

And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.

For our light and momentary affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory that is far beyond comparison.

Now I want you to know, brothers, that my circumstances have actually served to advance the gospel. …

…because I know that through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, my distress will turn out for my deliverance.

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you encounter trials of many kinds, …

Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him.

…so that the proven character of your faith—more precious than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.