WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN ADVERSITY COMES INTO YOUR LIFE?

BIBLE PASSAGE:
People of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more.
How gracious He will be when you cry for help! As soon as He
hears, He will answer you. Although the Lord gives you the
bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers
will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them.
Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear
a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”
(Isaiah 30:19-21)

MEDITATION:
Adversity will affect every person at some point in their life.
Adversity is defined as:
    trouble; affliction; opposition; anguish;
    testing; chastening; tribulation.

We never know where our adversity may come from. It could come
to us through our job, our finances, our health, or our families
(it could be a wayward child, parents constantly fighting or divorced,
or from any estranged member of our family for whatever reason).

Adversity is an opportunity for Satan to distract us from
our dependence on the Lord.
    When anyone hears the message about the kingdom
    and does not understand it, the evil one comes and
    snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is
    the seed sown along the path.
    (Matthew 13:19)

When adversity strikes, we can be so consumed with it and the
way the world tells us to respond, that we fail to hear the voice
of the Lord. Imagine not being able to hear His voice!
    The LORD will cause people to hear His majestic
    voice and will make them see His arm coming
    down with raging anger and consuming fire,
    with cloudburst, thunderstorm and hail.
    (Isaiah 30:30)

If we can’t hear His voice, then,
    – We can’t sense anything positive in our adversity.
    – We won’t know how we should react to our problems.
    – We can’t get a full understanding of
       what we should learn from the experience.

If we can’t sense the hand of God during our adversity, and if we
can’t realize He is at work in our lives, then we can be devastated
by the difficulty we are experiencing.

Distress can be a great motivation for growing spiritually, or it can
be one of our deadliest means of discouragement. The difference in
how it affects us depends on our understanding of God’s purpose
and our awareness of His presence.

Adversity can often come in multiples. When we read in the bible
about the man named, Job, we can see how he experienced many
woes that came in waves (one after another). Was Job considered
a sinful person who deserved the problems he experienced?
    In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name
    was Job. This man was blameless and upright;
    he feared God and shunned evil.
    (Job 1:1)

No, he wasn’t a sinful person. Look at how he is described:
    blameless; upright; feared God; shunned evil.
If someone with these character credentials faced adversity, then
we can’t expect to be immune from adversity in our lives, can we?

We may have this thought:
    Job was a righteous man, but when I look at my
    own life, I can’t be considered a righteous person.

If this is what we are thinking, then we should consider this:
    The bible tells us about Job’s characteristics, just prior to,
    and during the adversities in his life. The scriptures do not
    tell us about the years leading up to this point. We don’t
    know if Job was always a Godly man or if God transformed
    him to become who he is. Hopefully, he was always this way,
    but the point is, if we have lived an ungodly life in the past,
    God can transform us into someone more like Job is described.

Adversity could be:
    – God’s way of getting our attention.
    – Our assurance that God loves us and is at work in our lives.
    – God reminding us to conduct a self-examination of ourselves,
       our faith, and our relationship with Him.
    – One of God’s ways of conquering our pride (which He hates).
    – A reminder of our weaknesses without God.
    – Our motivation to cry out to God (who can do what we can’t).
    – Evidence that we are experiencing spiritual warfare.
    – God’s method of removing sinful thoughts and purifying our faith.
       (sanctifying us by replacing our unrighteousness with righteousness).
    – God’s giving us an awareness and hatred for evil.
    – Our reminder for us to pray for our authorities and spiritual leaders.
    – An alert for us to re-evaluate our priorities.
    – God’s way of testing our faith and dedication to Him.
    – A motivation for us to become more like Jesus.
    – Our preparation for comforting others when they face adversity
       in their lives (especially if their adversity is similar to ours).
    – A time of encouragement or discouragement
       (that’s determined by how I react to my issues).

ACTION:
Questions we should consider:
    – Am I experiencing adversity in my life right now?
    – Am I prepared to respond in the right way when I experience adversities?
    – Do I hear God’s voice, and will I listen for Him during adversity?
    – Will adversity be a time of encouragement or discouragement for me?

Pray,
“Heavenly Father, help me to see Your hand and purpose
in all my trials and tribulations. Remind me to listen for
Your voice at all times. Teach me what I need to learn
whenever adversity comes into my life. Thank You for
being near me during the good times and the bad. Help
me to embrace and nourish my relationship with You.
Teach me how to be more like Your Son, Jesus.”

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