In John 9:2 we see not all suffering is due to personal sin. Some is, and the person who violates God’s moral laws must not be surprised when those moral laws kick back. In Luke 13:2 Jesus points out that calamities can stem from men’s inhumanity to man or from natural accidents like the collapse of a tower, and the people who suffer because of these are not especially sinful. Since all have sinned (Romans 3:23). Some are just at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Basically Jesus is telling us, “Don’t spend too much time trying to understand the reason for suffering. Instead focus on how you deal with it.” Luke 21: 1-13 gives nine sources of suffering that we are not just to bear up under, but use. The worst thing that can happen to a man – crucifixion – turns out to be the best thing that can happen, since it leads to perfection. This is the attitude we must cultivate if we are not only to face but use suffering.
Imminent judgment and destruction is at hand. The only thing delaying it is God’s willingness to provide one more opportunity for faithfulness (Luke 13:8).
If we will get alone with God, He will reveal the reason for our present pain. And as we learn the Word and do the Word, we will experience His healing and the blessings of freedom as He restores our soul. The battle you are in will soon become a meal for you – an experience that will nourish and build you up spiritually.
Being alone with God through our desert wanderings can be a beautiful experience.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths (Proverbs 3:5-6).
Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through [and for] Him (Colossians 3:17).
As a saint of God, my attitude toward sorrow and difficulty should not be to ask that they be prevented, but to ask God to protect me so that I may remain what He created me to be in spite of all my fires of sorrow… We say that there ought to be no sorrow, but there is sorrow, and we have to accept and receive ourselves in its fires. If we try to evade sorrow, refusing to deal with it, we are foolish. Sorrow is one of the biggest facts in life, and there is no use in saying it should not be. Sin, sorrow, and suffering are. And it is not for us to say that God has made a mistake in allowing them. Sorrow removes a great deal of a person’s shallowness, but it does not always make that person better. Suffering either gives me to myself or it destroys me. You cannot find or receive yourself through success, because you lose your head over pride. And you cannot receive yourself through the monotony of your daily life, because you give in to complaining. The only way to find yourself is in the fires of sorrow. Why it should be this way is immaterial. The fact is that it is true in the Scriptures and in human experience. You can always recognize who has been through the fires of sorrow and received himself, and you know that you can go to him in your moment of trouble and find he has plenty of time for you.. But if a person has not been through the fires of sorrow, he is apt to be contemptuous… If you will receive yourself in the fires of sorrow, God will make you nourishment for others! (Oswald Chambers)
[Do] not trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment (1 Timothy 6:17).
Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops. Then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim with new wine (Proverbs 3:9-10).
So are the ways of everyone who is greedy for gain, it takes away the life of it’s possessor (Proverbs 1:19).
Why do you call Me “Lord, Lord” and not do as I say? (Luke 6:40)
No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and man/money (Matthew 6:24).
Therefore strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. Make level paths for your feet so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed (Hebrews 12:12-13).
Let all the godly confess their rebellion to You while there is time, that they may not drown in the floodwaters of judgment! (Psalm 32:6)
God's Word on That 