Topics

Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of 1 Kings 8:33, 35, 47–53

When Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against You, and they return to You and confess Your name, praying and pleading with You in this temple, / When the skies are shut and there is no rain because Your people have sinned against You, and they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and they turn from their sins because You have afflicted them, / and when they come to their senses in the land to which they were taken, and they repent and plead with You in the land of their captors, saying, ‘We have sinned and done wrong; we have acted wickedly,’

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of Deuteronomy 4:30, 31

When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the LORD your God and listen to His voice. / For the LORD your God is a merciful God; He will not abandon you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers, which He swore to them by oath.

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of Deuteronomy 30:1, 2

“When all these things come upon you—the blessings and curses I have set before you—and you call them to mind in all the nations to which the LORD your God has banished you, / and when you and your children return to the LORD your God and obey His voice with all your heart and all your soul according to everything I am giving you today,

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of 2 Chronicles 6:28–31

When famine or plague comes upon the land, or blight or mildew or locusts or grasshoppers, or when their enemies besiege them in their cities, whatever plague or sickness may come, / then may whatever prayer or petition Your people Israel make—each knowing his own afflictions and spreading out his hands toward this temple— / be heard by You from heaven, Your dwelling place. And may You forgive and repay each man according to all his ways, since You know his heart—for You alone know the hearts of men—

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of Job 5:6–11, 17

For distress does not spring from the dust, and trouble does not sprout from the ground. / Yet man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward. / However, if I were you, I would appeal to God and lay my cause before Him—

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of Job 23:10

Yet He knows the way I have taken; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold.

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of Psalm 94:12, 13

Blessed is the man You discipline, O LORD, and teach from Your law, / to grant him relief from days of trouble, until a pit is dug for the wicked.

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of Proverbs 3:11, 12

My son, do not reject the discipline of the LORD, and do not loathe His rebuke; / for the LORD disciplines the one He loves, as does a father the son in whom he delights.

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of Hebrews 12:5

And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you.

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of Ecclesiastes 7:2, 3

It is better to enter a house of mourning than a house of feasting, since death is the end of every man, and the living should take this to heart. / Sorrow is better than laughter, for a sad countenance is good for the heart.

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of Isaiah 19:20, 22

It will be a sign and a witness to the LORD of Hosts in the land of Egypt. When they cry out to the LORD because of their oppressors, He will send them a savior and defender to rescue them. / And the LORD will strike Egypt with a plague; He will strike them but heal them. They will turn to the LORD, and He will hear their prayers and heal them.

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of Isaiah 26:9

My soul longs for You in the night; indeed, my spirit seeks You at dawn. For when Your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness.

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of Isaiah 27:9

Therefore Jacob’s guilt will be atoned for, and the full fruit of the removal of his sin will be this: When he makes all the altar stones like crushed bits of chalk, no Asherah poles or incense altars will remain standing.

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of Jeremiah 2:27

say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’ and to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’ For they have turned their backs to Me and not their faces, yet in the time of trouble they beg, ‘Rise up and save us!’

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of Jeremiah 22:22, 23

The wind will drive away all your shepherds, and your lovers will go into captivity. Then you will be ashamed and humiliated because of all your wickedness. / O inhabitant of Lebanon, nestled in the cedars, how you will groan when pangs of anguish come upon you, agony like a woman in labor.”

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of Jeremiah 31:19

After I returned, I repented; and after I was instructed, I struck my thigh in grief. I was ashamed and humiliated because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of Lamentations 3:27, 28

It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is still young. / Let him sit alone in silence, for God has disciplined him.

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of Ezekiel 20:37, 43

I will make you pass under the rod and will bring you into the bond of the covenant. / There you will remember your ways and all the deeds with which you have defiled yourselves, and you will loathe yourselves for all the evils you have done.

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of Ezekiel 6:9

Then in the nations to which they have been carried captive, your survivors will remember Me—how I have been grieved by their adulterous hearts that turned away from Me, and by their eyes that lusted after idols. So they will loathe themselves for the evil they have done and for all their abominations.

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of Hosea 2:6, 7

Therefore, behold, I will hedge up her path with thorns; I will enclose her with a wall, so she cannot find her way. / She will pursue her lovers but not catch them; she will seek them but not find them. Then she will say, ‘I will return to my first husband, for then I was better off than now.’

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of Hosea 5:15

Then I will return to My place until they admit their guilt and seek My face; in their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.”

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of Romans 5:3, 4

Not only that, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; / perseverance, character; and character, hope.

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of Romans 8:17, 28

And if we are children, then we are heirs: heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ—if indeed we suffer with Him, so that we may also be glorified with Him. / And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of 2 Corinthians 4:17

For our light and momentary affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory that is far beyond comparison.

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of Philippians 1:12–14, 19

Now I want you to know, brothers, that my circumstances have actually served to advance the gospel. / As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. / And most of the brothers, confident in the Lord by my chains, now dare more greatly to speak the word without fear.

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of Hebrews 12:5

And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you.

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of James 1:2–4, 12

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you encounter trials of many kinds, / because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. / Allow perseverance to finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of 1 Peter 1:7

so that the proven character of your faith—more precious than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of 1 Peter 4:14

If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of, Illustrated Genesis 22:12, 16–18

“Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him,” said the angel, “for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from me.” / saying, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your only son, / And through your offspring all nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of, Illustrated Genesis 32:11

Please deliver me from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid that he may come and attack me and the mothers and children with me.

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of, Illustrated Genesis 42:21

Then they said to one another, “Surely we are being punished because of our brother. We saw his anguish when he pleaded with us, but we would not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us.”

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of, Illustrated Exodus 9:27, 28

Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron. “This time I have sinned,” he said. “The LORD is righteous, and I and my people are wicked. / Pray to the LORD, for there has been enough of God’s thunder and hail. I will let you go; you do not need to stay any longer.”

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of, Illustrated Exodus 10:7, 16, 17

Pharaoh’s officials asked him, “How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the people go, so that they may worship the LORD their God. Do you not yet realize that Egypt is in ruins?” / Pharaoh quickly summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned against the LORD your God and against you. / Now please forgive my sin once more and appeal to the LORD your God, that He may remove this death from me.”

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of, Illustrated Exodus 12:31–33

Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, “Get up, leave my people, both you and the Israelites! Go, worship the LORD as you have requested. / Take your flocks and herds as well, just as you have said, and depart! And bless me also.” / And in order to send them out of the land quickly, the Egyptians urged the people on. “For otherwise,” they said, “we are all going to die!”

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of, Illustrated Numbers 21:7

Then the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the LORD and against you. Intercede with the LORD so He will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses interceded for the people.

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of, Illustrated Judges 10:6–8, 10

And again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD. They served the Baals, the Ashtoreths, the gods of Aram, Sidon, and Moab, and the gods of the Ammonites and Philistines. Thus they forsook the LORD and did not serve Him. / So the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and Ammonites, / who that very year harassed and oppressed the Israelites, and did so for eighteen years to all the Israelites on the other side of the Jordan in Gilead, the land of the Amorites.

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of, Illustrated 1 Samuel 12:9, 10

But they forgot the LORD their God, and He sold them into the hand of Sisera the commander of the army of Hazor, and into the hands of the Philistines and the king of Moab, who fought against them. / Then they cried out to the LORD and said, ‘We have sinned, for we have forsaken the LORD and served the Baals and Ashtoreths. Now deliver us from the hands of our enemies, that we may serve You.’

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of, Illustrated 1 Kings 13:1–10

Suddenly, as Jeroboam was standing beside the altar to burn incense, there came a man of God from Judah to Bethel by the word of the LORD. / And he cried out against the altar by the word of the LORD, “O altar, O altar, this is what the LORD says: ‘A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David, and upon you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense upon you, and human bones will be burned upon you.’” / That day the man of God gave a sign, saying, “The LORD has spoken this sign: ‘Surely the altar will be split apart, and the ashes upon it will be poured out.’”

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of, Illustrated 2 Chronicles 15:4

But in their distress they turned to the LORD, the God of Israel, and sought Him, and He was found by them.

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of, Illustrated 2 Chronicles 33:12, 13

And in his distress, Manasseh sought the favor of the LORD his God and earnestly humbled himself before the God of his fathers. / And when he prayed to Him, the LORD received his plea and heard his petition; so He brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD is God.

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of, Illustrated Ezra 9:5–15

At the evening offering, I got up from my humiliation with my tunic and cloak torn, and I fell on my knees, spread out my hands to the LORD my God, / and said: “O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to You, my God, because our iniquities are higher than our heads, and our guilt has reached the heavens. / From the days of our fathers to this day, our guilt has been great. Because of our iniquities, we and our kings and priests have been delivered into the hands of the kings of the earth and put to the sword and captivity, to pillage and humiliation, as we are this day.

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of, Illustrated Nehemiah 9:32

So now, our God, the great and mighty and awesome God who keeps His gracious covenant, do not view lightly all the hardship that has come upon us, and upon our kings and leaders, our priests and prophets, our ancestors and all Your people, from the days of the kings of Assyria until today.

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of, Illustrated Job 34:31, 32

Suppose someone says to God, ‘I have endured my punishment; I will offend no more. / Teach me what I cannot see; if I have done wrong, I will not do it again.’

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of, Illustrated Job 40:1–5

And the LORD said to Job: / “Will the faultfinder contend with the Almighty? Let him who argues with God give an answer.” / Then Job answered the LORD:

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of, Illustrated Psalm 18:4–6

The cords of death encompassed me; the torrents of chaos overwhelmed me. / The cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me. / In my distress I called upon the LORD; I cried to my God for help. From His temple He heard my voice, and my cry for His help reached His ears.

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of, Illustrated Psalm 66:10–12

For You, O God, have tested us; You have refined us like silver. / You led us into the net; You laid burdens on our backs. / You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but You brought us into abundance.

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of, Illustrated Psalm 78:34, 35

When He slew them, they would seek Him; they repented and searched for God. / And they remembered that God was their Rock, that God Most High was their Redeemer.

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of, Illustrated Psalm 119:67, 71

Before I was afflicted, I went astray; but now I keep Your word. / It was good for me to be afflicted, that I might learn Your statutes.

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of, Illustrated Isaiah 26:16

O LORD, they sought You in their distress; when You disciplined them, they poured out a quiet prayer.

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of, Illustrated Jeremiah 31:18, 19

I have surely heard Ephraim’s moaning: ‘You disciplined me severely, like an untrained calf. Restore me, that I may return, for You are the LORD my God. / After I returned, I repented; and after I was instructed, I struck my thigh in grief. I was ashamed and humiliated because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of, Illustrated Lamentations 3:19, 20

Remember my affliction and wandering, the wormwood and the gall. / Surely my soul remembers and is humbled within me.

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of, Illustrated Hosea 6:1

Come, let us return to the LORD. For He has torn us to pieces, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bind up our wounds.

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of, Illustrated Jonah 2:1–10

From inside the fish, Jonah prayed to the LORD his God, / saying: “In my distress I called to the LORD, and He answered me. From the belly of Sheol I called for help, and You heard my voice. / For You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the current swirled about me; all Your breakers and waves swept over me.

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of, Illustrated Luke 15:11–24

Then Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons. / The younger son said to him, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. / After a few days, the younger son got everything together and journeyed to a distant country, where he squandered his wealth in wild living.

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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of, Illustrated Acts 8:24

Then Simon answered, “Pray to the Lord for me, so that nothing you have said may happen to me.”

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