Adversity
C.S. Lewis likened God’s use of adversity to walking a dog. If the dog gets its leash wrapped around a pole and tries to continue running forward, he will only tighten the leash more. Both the dog and the owner are after the same end, forward motion, but the owner must resist the dog by pulling him opposite the direction he wants to go. The master, sharing the same intention but understanding better than the dog where he really wants to go, takes an action precisely opposite to that of the dog’s will. It is in this way that God uses adversity.
1 Peter 1:6-7 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: 7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
Romans 5:3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
Isaiah 30:20 And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers:
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Adversity
Handling the Bumps
I was driving down a bumpy country road when I saw a bag of cement beside the road. It appeared to have fallen off a delivery truck as it hit one of the bumps in the rough road. Being a person who does not like to see anything wasted, I stopped to pick up the lost bag of cement. When I reached down to pick up this heavy bag, to my surprise, I discovered it was not soft and limber, as I had expected but had solidified into an immovable piece of cement.
Often our lives are like that bag of cement. They take on shapes that were not intended and become hardened in that shape. That bag of cement was meant to become a part of some beautiful structure but, because it did not reach its place of service, it became a useless rock in the form of a bag of cement.
God wants to make something beautiful of your life. Don’t let this purpose be thwarted by a bump in the road of life.
Proverbs 24:10 If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.
Ephesians 5:15-16 See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, 16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
See also: Eccl 7:14; 2 Cor 11:23-33;
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Adversity
Horatio G. Spafford, a successful Chicago lawyer, lost most of his wealth in the financial crisis of 1873. He sent his wife and four daughters on a trip to France, but on their way, their ship was struck by another, and sank. Of 225 passengers, only 87 of them survived.
Mrs. Spafford was among the survivors, but the four daughters perished. As soon as she reached land, she telegraphed to her husband: “Saved alone. Children lost. What shall I do?”
Spafford left for France to join his wife and return her to Chicago. In the depth of this bereavement, he wrote his only hymn: It is Well With My Soul. Perhaps the words of the first stanza will take on new meaning for you, as you ponder them:
When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrow like sea billow roll;
Whatever my lot,
Thou hast taught me to say,
“It is well, it is well with my soul.”
Psalms 42:1-11 To the chief Musician, Maschil, for the sons of Korah. As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. 2 My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God? 3 My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God? 4 When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday. 5 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance. 6 O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar. 7 Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me. 8 Yet the LORD will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life. 9 I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? 10 As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me; while they say daily unto me, Where is thy God? 11 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.
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Adversity
When God Is More Real
God loves us in good times and bad. But he is even more real in our lives when we are having tough times.
Psalms 119:67 Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.
See also: Job 5:17; Ps 119:67; Heb 12:11; Rev 7:14.
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Adversity
The Advantages of Adversity
We grow and mature spiritually through adversity–not when everything is going smoothly. … [I]n a time of adversity or trouble, the Christian has the opportunity to know God in a special and personal way.
2 Corinthians 4:17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
1 Peter 1:7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
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Adversity
Is Overcoming Adversity Success?
At 42 years of age, Peter Heard quit his job as a sheet rock hanger and took an $800 a month cut in pay in order to become a stock boy for an electronics company. He lost income. His wife became expectant and lost her job as a teacher. Today Peter Heard is considered on of the American success stories in Silicone Valley. He parlayed all of that into a multi-million dollar company. He overcame adversity. We tend to think that overcoming adversity is a mark of success. Is that really what success is?
Job 23:10 But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.
Isaiah 48:10 Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.
1 Peter 4:12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
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