Affliction as Opportunity
By bringing our struggles to God and focusing on His promises, we can transform our suffering into an opportunity for spiritual growth and greater joy in our relationship with Him.
Why Choosing to Follow Jesus Means Accepting Suffering and Affliction
Paul’s experience teaches that a life with Christ surpasses all worldly gains and comforts. His willingness to endure suffering reflects a deep understanding that the eternal worth of knowing Christ far exceeds temporary afflictions.
Trusting God's Timing for Justice
The Bible was not just written to help us in our time of suffering. The Bible was written in the midst of the suffering and injustices that its writers were experiencing in their time on earth. I think this is why we can find scripture so relatable.
God will never abandon us
The resurrection of Jesus gives us confidence that all of God’s promises are true.
God will never abandon us!
Look up and out to God where you can be reminded just how powerful and amazing God truly is.
‘Into the wilderness’—comfort for us in the way God used Jesus
I find myself far more comfortable with the Holy Spirit leading Jesus through the wilderness than leading Jesus into the wilderness. But the Scripture suggests both.
Encouragement from a writer who knew what it means to endure
In seasons of struggle, we can wonder if God sees and knows what we are enduring. The author of Hebrews wrote to believers who had the very same thoughts.
Do it yourself. Do it with God. And do it with help from others
Jesus told us that in this world there would be many struggles, and you may have felt you are the poster child for that Bible verse!
Finding comfort in the Scripture’s promise: Someone knows our name!
God will meet us in the silence. He will receive our tears as worship. He will sustain us and strengthen us when we go to him with hands lifted up and offer the simple prayer, “Help me, Lord.”
For this light and momentary affliction, what we see is transient
All that concerns us here—the spiritual as well as the selfish—will eventually disappear. We can trust God to help us see the bigger picture.
A lesson for Job, a principle for everyone: God is God and we are not
God has promised to comfort us. But in his exchanges with Job, we see that God is a God who’s not afraid to challenge and correct.
Consider it a screenplay full of lessons about our suffering
It is a story of a man who appeared to have it all together in every area of life. Then suddenly, unexpected tragedy occurred. Many of us can relate.
A psalm for the suffering: It’s OK to ask God the hard questions
I was 28 or 29 when I first memorized and prayed these verses. And through many seasons of suffering since then, I have come back to them again and again.
Why remember all the times of trouble when the bottom fell out?
Is it worth remembering the times in your life when “the bottom fell out” or when you were in “the bottom of the barrel”? Today’s Psalm says yes.
Words spoken by us all: ‘It has been a struggle all my life’
When you experience affliction for a long season, it is hard to re-emerge without some scar tissue. The writer of Psalm 129 seems to have this in mind.