Ecclesiastes 7:2 – “It is better to go to a house of mourning Than to go to a house of feasting, Because that is the end of every man, And the living takes it to heart.”
Is it not true that trials and tribulation bring us in closer fellowship to God? Are we not on our knees more, do we not have more humility when we are brought through our toughest difficulties of life?
Look back on your life and think – aren’t the times you’ve walked with Jesus the closest been times of difficulty? For me they have. I’ve never drawn more near to Christ or gained as much wisdom as I have through the hard times.
Psalms 119:71 - “It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.”
The universal Christian church is the bride of the Son of God. This bride is being made pure and spotless for her bridegroom and affliction is that purging fire which cleanses us. Let us bring every trial, struggle, heartache to the Lord Jesus asking that He would give us strength to be victorious, not wasting the opportunity. Then we can come out of the fire cleaner than we were before going in.
This life is not Heaven, God never promised it to be. In this life we will have anguish.
Ecclesiastes 7:14 : “In the day of prosperity be happy, But in the day of adversity consider-- God has made the one as well as the other”
Thank the Lord for the good days as well as the bad. They are both blessings of the Lord. We must attempt not only to accept the troublesome days but on the contrary – joy in them! What a paradox the Christian life is.
"My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing." - James 1:2-4
Our sorrows are blessings from the Lord if we commit them to Jesus. It will build our character like Christ and drive us to the only one who is able to comfort and save us in our affliction.
“Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament; adversity is the blessing of the New.” – Francis Bacon
“Afflictions add to the saints' glory. The more the diamond is cut, the more it sparkles; the heavier the saints' cross is, the heavier will be their crown.” – Thomas Watson