Letβs face it, none of us likes to suffer pain, afflictions, or tribulations! Because of this, Godβs 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:
βAnd when he was in affliction, he besought the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathersβ (II Chron. 33:12).
βBefore I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept Thy Wordβ¦.It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn Thy statutesβ (Psa. 119:67,71).
When Godβs people are not afflicted, they tend to forget Him. Speaking of the people of Israel, God said,
ββ¦when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adulteryβ (Jer. 5:7).
βAccording to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted; therefore have they forgotten Meβ (Hos. 13:6).
When God speaks to us in the absence of afflictions, we tend not to listen:
βI spake unto thee in thy prosperity; but thou saidst, I will not hearβ (Jer. 22:21).
Thereβs just something about afflictions that draw us closer to God! No wonder Paul said, βwe glory in tribulationsβ (Rom. 5:3), βknowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hopeβ (Rom. 5:4). Once we learn Godβs grace is sufficient for all our needs, we can say with Paul:
βTherefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessitiesβ¦for Christβs sake: for when I am weak, then am I strongβ (II Cor. 12:9,10). source
