Job 5:6-7 CSB – For distress does not grow out of the soil, and trouble does not sprout from the ground. But humans are born for trouble as surely as sparks fly upward.
AW Tozer, “God never uses anyone greatly until He has hurt him deeply.”
Job 2:9-10 CSB – “Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!”
“You speak as a foolish woman speaks,” he told her.
Job 2:10 CSB – “Should we accept only good from God and not adversity?” Throughout all this Job did not sin in what he said
You’ll find the writers say thing like, “Why does God allow the wicked to prosper?” (Psalm 73)
Why does God allow the righteous to suffer? (Psalm 22)
In 1 Samuel, the infertile Hannah prays bitterly, “Lord, give me a child!”
In loneliness, David cries out, I stay awake; I am like a solitary bird on a roof. (Psalm 107:3)
Worn out, the prophet Elijah prays, “God, I’m whipped. I’m worn out. I’m defeated. I want to die. Just let me die. (1 Kings 19:1-14)
Frustrated by evil people, the prophet Habakkuk groans, (Habakkuk 1:2-3)
O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,
and you will not hear?
Or cry to you “Violence!”
and you will not save?
Why do you make me see iniquity,
and why do you idly look at wrong?
Genesis 1:1 CSB – In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
Genesis 1:26, 27, 31 CSB – Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness….
So God created man in his own image,
He created him in the image of God;
He created them male and female.
God saw all that He had made, and it was very good indeed….
Genesis 3:13 CSB – Then the Lord God said.., ““What is this you have done?
Ezekiel 18:2 CSB – “the fathers eat sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge”
Galatians 6:7 CSB – Don’t be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a person sows he will also reap
Job 42:5 CSB – I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you;
Psalm 119:67 CSB – Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word.
2 Corinthians 1:4-6 CSB – He comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction, through the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.6 If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation.
Romans 5:3-4 CSB – we also rejoice in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, 4 endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope.
Hardships prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary life.” – C.S. Lewis
Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, “The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.”
1 Peter 1:6-7 CSB – You rejoice in this, even though now for a short time, if necessary, you suffer grief in various trials 7 so that the proven character of your faith—more valuable than gold which, though perishable, is refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 ESV – So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
Job 42:5 CSB – I had heard reports about you, but now my eyes have seen you.
Isaiah 53:5 CSB – But he was pierced because of our rebellion,
crushed because of our iniquities;
punishment for our peace was on him,
and we are healed by his wounds.
