Trouble, Sorrow, Need, Sickness, Or Any Other Adversity.

[Marilyn C]

18 hours ago, Michael37 said:

A few years ago as part of the journaling I sometimes do, I narrowed some historical and recent causes of trouble down to these three things:

1. Unrealistic expectations.

2. Unreasonable demands.

3. Unbearable burdens.

The solutions to these are found in the Bible, particularly in the Psalms, the Beatitudes, and Paul's Epistles.

There is a temptation to blame others for causing trouble and sorrow etc., but pondering my past and praying for guidance, I have realised that actually I have caused all three of those things in the list to occur at times.

The Lord has called me to minister spiritual life and growth through various means, and for many years I have led and participated in groups and teams to that end, as well as ministering to employees with that in mind, and I now understand how unrealistic some of my expectations have been. 

So you do a lot of training, study a lot of courses, gain a fair bit of experience, and then make the mistake of thinking that doing the work of ministry should be plain sailing because you have such a passion for it and have an expectation that because the Lord has called you to it everything will go smoothly. When it doesn't the disappointment can stay with you for years, and the memory of difficult demands, and heavy burdens can lead to thoughts of "Where did I go wrong?"

I've been greatly encouraged of late in the knowledge that rather than plain sailing and smooth running leading to spiritual growth, it is the disasters, disappointments, and difficulties that do.

What's your story? 

 

I had the last one. In my 30`s (`80`s) I was teaching, playing music and teaching Sunday School at the meeting, playing sport, flying small aircraft, skiiing, etc. Then I contracted a debilitating sickness, I couldn`t move much. So for a few years I was mainly bed bound. Then over time I have gradually gained some strength but only 4 hours in the morning and 4 in the later afternoon.

Other sickness on top of that, but through it all I would not change a thing for I have learnt that the Lord is very close and taught me so much. Hospital visits are my popular times for I get to talk to doctors and nurses about the Lord. I have had so many opportunities and I delight in having meals prepared and people come and help you. Life surely is exciting with the Lord.

 

[farouk]

6 hours ago, D. Adrien said:

Trouble, Sorrow, Need, Sickness, Or Any Other Adversity.

1. Unrealistic expectations.

2. Unreasonable demands.

3. Unbearable burdens.

 

My three are: People, places and things. I haven't been to an AA meeting since I was still partaking of alcoholic beverages many years ago and this is what they teach. Every problem can be categorized within these three headings.

To me trials reveal how unspiritual I am. If I can practice patience by waiting on the Eternal God to show me the way or outright bail me out as He as so often done, I manage through the ordeal. The trouble with practicing patience is that I'm always in need of some to begin applying it to my situation. When I lack, I see that I also am lacking in other fruits of the Spirit. And this is how I notice that I'm lacking in spirituality. I find that waiting upon the Lord will also humble me and surprisingly, I'm able to bear the burden of the trial.

I am reminded of Isaiah 48.10: "I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction".

[warrior12]

Taken from the 1966 Jerusalem Bible.  The book of Ecclesiasticus.

I know it is a Catholic bible, but it was the first bible I read from cover to cover when I was going through some severe oppression.  the chapter below, use to comfort me and I meditated on it.

The fear of God in time of ordeal"

My son, if you aspire to serve the Lord,
prepare yourself for an ordeal.
Be sincere of heart, be steadfast,
and do not be alarmed when disaster comes.
Cling to him and do not leave him,
so that you may be honoured at the end of your days.
Whatever happens to you, accept it,
and in the uncertainties of your humble state, be patient,
since gold is tested in the fire,
and chosen men in the furnace of humiliation.
Trust him and he will uphold you,
follow a straight path and hope in him.
You who fear the Lord, wait for his mercy;
do not turn aside in case you fall.
You who fear the Lord,'trust him,
and you will not be baulked of your reward.
You who fear the Lord hope for good things,
for everlasting happiness and mercy.
Look at the generations of old and see:

who ever trusted in the Lord and was put to shame?
Or who ever feared him steadfastly and was left forsaken?
Or who ever called out to him, and was ignored?
For the Lord is compassionate and merciful,
he forgives sins, and saves in days of distress.
Woe to faint hearts and listless hands,b
and to the sinner who treads two paths.
Woe to the listless heart that has no faith,e
for such will have no protection.
Woe to you who have lost the will to endure;
what will you do at the Lord's visitation?
Those who fear the Lord do not disdain his words,
and those who love him keep his ways.
Those who fear the Lord do their best to please him,
and those who love him find satisfaction in his Law.d
Those who fear the Lord keep their hearts prepared
and humble themselves in his presence.

Let us fall into the hands of the Lord, not into the hands of men

23 for as his majesty is, so too is his mercy.

Edited May 3 by warrior12

[Marathoner]

18 hours ago, Marilyn C said:

I had the last one. In my 30`s (`80`s) I was teaching, playing music and teaching Sunday School at the meeting, playing sport, flying small aircraft, skiiing, etc. Then I contracted a debilitating sickness, I couldn`t move much. So for a few years I was mainly bed bound. Then over time I have gradually gained some strength but only 4 hours in the morning and 4 in the later afternoon.

Other sickness on top of that, but through it all I would not change a thing for I have learnt that the Lord is very close and taught me so much. Hospital visits are my popular times for I get to talk to doctors and nurses about the Lord. I have had so many opportunities and I delight in having meals prepared and people come and help you. Life surely is exciting with the Lord.

 

The Lord does not approve of complacency on our part. There is something worth writing about, things I do not share otherwise. Have I endured hardship?

Indeed. Hardship was my life in this world until everything except for the life in this body was taken away. This can happen to some in combat zones: the zone changes them so that they can never go home again. There was a soldier during the Gulf War who said this to his section chief: "I can never go home." He never did. Something similar happened to me in this life. 

After the Lord raised me up to be a man again, He promised that nothing would be the same. I didn't understand His words until they started unfolding before my eyes. Whereas in the past I lived life waiting for the hammer to fall --- it always did, sometimes sooner than later --- the opposite was happening. I would wait for the hammer to fall and instead of disaster, blessings would fall like rain all around me. My adopted mother defeated cancer and the damage to her liver was miraculously "rolled back" so that she wasn't in danger any longer. Her heart softened toward the Lord. No one and nothing disturbed the peace on her land again, and this was the promise the Lord made after He poured His Spirit upon me. She would live the rest of her days in peace knowing that she was loved. 

Not long before sudden illness took her, the Lord sent a dream wherein He displayed that my time on her land was coming to an end, and that He would take her. When I woke from that dream, He told me not to despair. Nothing on this earth endures forever, said the Lord. I would not remain on her ranch. 

That's how nothing was the same again. I was no longer ignorant of His will and instead of calamity, the Lord encourages me to stand and walk confident not in myself, but confident in Him. When I said, "Lord, I can be a terrible man." He assured me that I would not lack for a teacher in Him. I continue to overcome the war zone I lived and breathed in for so long, and I learned the wise alternative to expecting the worst:

Accepting that whatever befalls me is according to His will and purpose. 

[Michael37]

Sometimes I listen to OPPs, which is shorthand for Other People's Problems, and often there is a complaint against God included in their commentaries.

Even though the Bible does record complaints against God, these typically are resolved, and in the case of Habakkuk, replaced with triumphant praise and strong commendations of God for providing an upward escape from downward experiences.

[D. Adrien]

The creature behind these hardships has already been judged, it's just that the sentence hasn't yet been carried out. John 16:11, concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. A believer needs to know or remember where in the flow of time one stands and have confidence that there is an end to this trial of physical life.

John 16:33, I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

[Neighbor]

Seems the creature behind my own "hardships" is me. I cannot blame another creature for my own standing before God.  

I have been judged an heir to sin against God, born into it, an heir to the consequential  fall  of the first Adam. I am found to be short of perfection from before my birth even, and yet I am loved by my creator Yeshua whom has reconciled the irreconcilable, making perfection of that which is not perfect, for me personally, to be likened as being perfect in His Father's sight.

Punishment has occurred and yet is still to occur, judgement(s) has occurred and yet is to be faced. Time itself will face it's own end(s). The wrath, the just wrath of God the Father, is before me, and yet my hope is certain, absolute, for it is placed in the faith of Yeshua whose willing sacrifice has covered my sin against God. How do I  maintain certainty of my own hope? I do not even do that  by my own power, but instead by the gift of God the Holy Spirit indwelling within me that I am aware of the certainty that  is hope certain. 

I cannot detach myself from responsibility, as heir of what I am I can only give thanks to God for his perfect provision for my eternity forward. That eternity being a timeless pardon, one without condition except   knowing of it, through the Holy Spirit's reveal,  to delight in it having been  changed by it turned about away from my sin against God. And even that knowledge and or turning itself coming not from me, but from God alone.

No other creature can I blame, no creature can I claim. I am of God, by God alone. His will being done as he wills it from before time itself to after time itself.

 

[Michael37]

1 hour ago, Neighbor said:

Punishment has occurred and yet is still to occur, judgement(s) has occurred and yet is to be faced. Time itself will face it's own end(s). The wrath, the just wrath of God the Father, is before me, and yet my hope is certain, absolute, for it is placed in the faith of Yeshua whose willing sacrifice has covered my sin against God. How do I  maintain certainty of my own hope? I do not even do that  by my own power, but instead by the gift of God the Holy Spirit indwelling within me that I am aware of the certainty that  is hope certain. 

Your thoughts are an excellent commentary on this verse:

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
 

[D. Adrien]

It is Satan that is the deceiver of the whole world and all sin including your personal sin originated with the first rebel. So yes, Satan is the source of your troubles and he has been judged. Granted, once sinful habits have been established within you, they are self perpetuating.

[Neighbor]

1 hour ago, D. Adrien said:

It is Satan that is the deceiver of the whole world

Hi, well I guess I am doomed to be the contrarian yet again. Or at least start there. For I can't help but think of and question then  that God can and does turn some over to their own strong delusion. "God" and "their", where is Satan to be found in this? I cannot blame Satan and be excused because of him. I am accountable for myself.

I  was never innocent. I was born in sin; evidently capable of sin even before my birth, much as has been  shared about  Jacob and Esau wrestling in their mother's womb, jockeying for position; a wrestling (battle) that effects all of us to this day. Well at least me.

I have only that hope that is certain to both fall back on and go forward with in total confidence and joy. That hope is in the faith of Jesus;  His provision for me my eternal security with God  Father Son and Holy Spirit. Satan did evidently deceive the first of wo-man; but the man the first man Adam was he deceived too? Seems  not. The first Adam chose his lot, naively perhaps, deceiving himself perhaps. Satan the ruler over this present world, rails against God for sure, but is limited by God. He influences of course, but he does not foreknow nor predestine. He is a creation fallen, and not the creator.

The question might be would Adam or Eve have eaten of the forbidden fruit if there were no Lucifer?