i know, o Lord, that your rules are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me. [ps 119:75]

 

Lord,

give me understanding. open my eyes to see your love and goodness behind the afflictions you allow and even those you cause. this truth is hard to grasp, yet i believe it is true and spoken by your voice to me in love. i believe you are good and loving, help my unbelief. fight the lies of the enemy, pour out your kindness as you help me hear your voice. speak intimately to your servant. i am listening.

 

before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word. [ps 119:67]

and though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. [isaiah 30:20]

[14] satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. [15] make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil. [ps 90:14-15]

[20] then job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. [21] and he said, “naked i came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall i return. the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” [22] in all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong. [job 1:20-22]

the crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and the Lord tests hearts. [prov 17:3]

[10] behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; i  have tried you in the furnace of affliction. [11] for my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? my glory I will not give to another. [is 48:10-11]

[31] for the Lord will not cast off forever, [32] but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; [lam 3:31-32]

“and I will put this third into the fire, and refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested. they will call upon my name, and i will answer them. i will say, ‘they are my people’; and they will say, ‘the Lord is my God.’ ” [zec 13:9]

[5] and have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “my son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. [6] for the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”  [7] it is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? [8] if you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. [9] besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? [10] for they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. [11] for the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. [heb 12:5-11]

[6] in this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, [7] so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. [1 pet 1:6-7]

those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. [rev 3:19]

 

~ john ryan