2. To Inspect Us. People are like tea bags…if you want to know what’s inside them, just drop them in hot water! Has God ever tested your faith with a problem? What do problems reveal about you? James 1:2-3 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; [3] Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 3. To Correct Us. Some lessons we learn only through pain and failure. It’s likely that as a child your parents told you not to touch a hot stove. But you probably learned by being burned. Sometimes we only learn the value of something by losing it." Psalm 119:71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes. 4. To Connect Us. When someone dies in the family, loved ones gather from far and near for the funeral. People want to be together when in trouble. When someone is seriously ill, their friends and neighbors gather in to check on them and make sure things are all right. Trouble not only draws people together, but it also draws them to the Lord. David said, "Before I was afflicted, I went astray" (Ps. 119:67). Many a person has called for a preacher in time of trouble to make things right with God. Then trouble also draws people to church. It is not uncommon to see a whole family show up at church after a funeral. Sometimes when people get bad news from the doctor about their physical condition, they take a renewed interest in church. So trouble unifies. 5. To Protect Us. A problem can be a blessing in disguise if it prevents you from being harmed by something more serious. I read about a guy who was fired for refusing to do something unethical that his boss had asked him to do. His unemployment was a problem - but it saved him from being convicted and sent to prison a year later when the management’s actions were eventually discovered. Joseph said to his brothers in Genesis 50:20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. God is the only true “surge protector!” 6. To Perfect Us. [the perfect storm] Problems, when responded to correctly, are character builders. God is far more interested in your character than your comfort. Your relationship to God and your character are the only two things you’re going to take with you into eternity. Romans 5:3-4 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; [4] And patience, experience; and experience, hope. David said in Ps. 71:19-21 O God, who is like unto thee! Thou, which hast shewed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth. Thou shalt increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side." Here we find the effect of trouble. It was a blessing in disguise, a benefit to the life of this good servant of God. Paul emphasized that "all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose" (Rom. 8:28). The graduate degree of spirituality comes from attending the University of Hard Knocks. 7. To Project Us. The surge of trouble focuses us outwardly, on what is most important
Posted on: Sun, 04 Aug 2013 18:10:24 +0000
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