"Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him." Job 13:15 (KJV)
"The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him." Exodus 15:2 (ESV)
"Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him for the help of His presence." Psalm 42:5 (NASB)
Our afflictions are beneficial to us in many ways. When we are in need, we are more likely to call upon the name of the Lord in prayer. We may go along in life doing things our own way in our own time and as long as things are going well we find ourselves forgetting to spend time with Him, forgetting to seek Him, forgetting to allow Him to lead and guide our lives. When something difficult comes along, we suddenly remember from where our help comes and we finally pray...We turn to the Lord in the storms of life. We seek His help when things are not going as we had planned. If good times make us forget, then surely bad times make us remember...
Afflictions keep us from departing from His presence. We stay close to the Lord when times are tough. We continually seek Him when we have no where else to turn and we do not know what else to do. He would rather that we seek Him first and all of the time, not just when we are in need. We should work on having our lives be focused on Him every day, in the rain and in the sunshine.
Afflictions teach us the will of God. Sometimes when we are afflicted, when things are more than we can bear, we finally look outside of ourselves at the world around us. We notice that there are others who are more afflicted than we are. And if we are seeking God through our afflictions, we can find great solace and reward in serving Him by serving others. The will of God is simple. He wants us to be in a relationship with Him, and He wants us to be transformed into Him image. What better way to become like Him than to serve His people, share His love, be an instrument in His hands.
Afflictions promote the glory of God. God's glory can be seen in us when we handle our afflictions differently than the world may handle them. If difficult times come into our lives and we still serve Him and we still praise Him and we still trust Him and we still give Him the glory; wow...what a powerful testimony to our God who deserves all honor and power and glory forever and ever, amen. If we trust Him openly, no matter what happens in our lives, then we have become living testaments of the Living God and His power to transform our lives into praise even in the rain...
Dear Lord, Help us to know that when trials come, our focus should not need to change if we are living a life of faith in You every day. Please cause us all to daily lift our lives up to You, so that when the storms come, we will be ready because we know where our help comes from. Help us to praise You in the sunshine and the rain...
Photograph Courtesy of Sean Zellmer
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