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Let’s face it, none of us likes to suffer pain, afflictions, or tribulations! Because of this, God’s people can often be found on their knees, asking God to shield them from these unpleasant things, or remove them once they become part of their lives.
And yet the overwhelming testimony of Scripture is that afflictions are good for us! Consider just this small smattering of verses that describe the spiritual value of afflictions:
“And when he was in affliction, he besought the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers” (II Chron. 33:12).
“Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept Thy Word….It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn Thy statutes” (Psa. 119:67,71).
When God’s people are not afflicted, they tend to forget Him. Speaking of the people of Israel, God said,
“…when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery” (Jer. 5:7).
“According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted; therefore have they forgotten Me” (Hos. 13:6).
When God speaks to us in the absence of afflictions, we tend not to listen:
“I spake unto thee in thy prosperity; but thou saidst, I will not hear” (Jer. 22:21).
There’s just something about afflictions that draw us closer to God! No wonder Paul said, “we glory in tribulations” (Rom. 5:3), “knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope” (Rom. 5:4). Once we learn God’s grace is sufficient for all our needs, we can say with Paul:
“Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities…for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong” (II Cor. 12:9,10). source
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