A Benefit Of Adversity

When adversity comes our way, in whatever form, our tendency is to immediately blame God for our misfortune. However, have we ever thought about the idea that perhaps one of the reasons God allows trials and tribulations to come our way, is for the purpose of disciplining us in order to get our attention?

The Scriptures tell us that God loves each one of us (John 3:16-17), but that love includes disciplining us when we go astray from His directives (Hebrews 12:5-11; c.f. Deuteronomy 8:5-6). That discipline being designed to cause us to come to our senses, spiritually speaking (cf. Luke 15:11-17).

After the Babylonian captivity, God had given the directive for the temple to again be rebuilt (Ezra 5:1-2; cf. Haggai 1:2). However, sixteen years after the beginning of the rebuilding process, the people still had not completed the project. The reason was, they had made their own affairs a priority over God's business (Haggai 1:1-6; cf. Matthew 6:33).

In order to get their attention, God through the prophet Haggai, tells them: "Therefore for your sake the heavens withhold the dew, and the earth withhold its fruit. And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the grain, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labor of the hands" (Haggai 1:10-11 ASV). Let us note the following phrase in Haggai 1:10 ASV: "Therefore for your sake....."

God's withholding of the rain, causing a drought upon the land, was actually an act of divine benevolence toward His people, because He had their best interests at heart. It was through this adversity that He got their attention (Psalm 119:67,71; cf. Hebrews 12:10). And as a result, the religious leaders and the people got to work rebuilding the temple (Haggai 1:12-15 ASV).

Dear reader, if God didn't truly love us, He wouldn't discipline us at all (Proverbs 13:24; cf. Deuteronomy 8:5-6). We would be to Him as illegitimate children (Hebrews 12:8), and thus, we would receive no inheritance (cf. Numbers 14:11-12 - note "disinherit" in vs. 12; contrast with 1 Peter 1:3-4). Let us be forever grateful to our loving heavenly Father, that He loves and cares for us enough to discipline us when we go astray from His directives.

Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets

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