Topical Bible: Afflictions and Adversities: Often Severe

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Afflictions and adversities are recurring themes throughout the Bible, serving as both a test of faith and a means of spiritual growth. The Scriptures provide numerous accounts of individuals and communities facing severe trials, often as a result of their faithfulness to God or as a consequence of sin. These experiences are depicted as opportunities for believers to rely on God's strength and to develop perseverance.

Old Testament Examples

In the Old Testament, the account of Job is perhaps the most profound example of severe affliction. Job, described as "blameless and upright" (Job 1:1), endures immense suffering, losing his wealth, children, and health. Despite his friends' insistence that his suffering must be due to sin, Job maintains his integrity and ultimately experiences restoration by God's hand (Job 42:10-17).

The Israelites also faced numerous adversities, often as a result of their disobedience. In the wilderness, they encountered hunger, thirst, and enemy attacks, yet these trials were used by God to teach them dependence on Him (Deuteronomy 8:2-3). The Babylonian exile is another significant period of affliction, where the Israelites were taken captive due to their persistent idolatry and rebellion against God (2 Kings 24:14).

New Testament Insights

In the New Testament, Jesus Christ Himself is the ultimate example of enduring severe affliction. He faced rejection, persecution, and crucifixion, fulfilling the prophecy of the Suffering Servant in Isaiah 53. Jesus' suffering was redemptive, providing salvation for humanity and setting an example for believers to follow in enduring their own trials (Hebrews 12:2-3).

The Apostle Paul frequently wrote about the adversities he faced in his ministry, including imprisonment, beatings, and shipwrecks (2 Corinthians 11:23-27). Paul viewed these hardships as a means to demonstrate the power of Christ in his weakness, stating, "For when I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Corinthians 12:10).

Purpose and Response

The Bible teaches that afflictions and adversities serve several purposes. They refine and purify believers, as gold is refined by fire (1 Peter 1:6-7). They also produce perseverance, character, and hope (Romans 5:3-5). James encourages believers to "consider it pure joy" when facing trials, knowing that the testing of faith produces perseverance (James 1:2-4).

Believers are called to respond to afflictions with faith and trust in God. The Psalms are replete with cries for help and expressions of trust in God's deliverance (Psalm 34:17-19). The Apostle Peter exhorts Christians to cast all their anxieties on God, because He cares for them (1 Peter 5:7).

Divine Comfort and Assurance

Throughout Scripture, God promises His presence and comfort to those enduring afflictions. Isaiah 41:10 reassures believers, "Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God." Jesus promises rest to those who are weary and burdened (Matthew 11:28), and Paul reminds the Corinthians that God is "the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort" (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).

Ultimately, the Bible assures believers that their present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in them (Romans 8:18). This eternal perspective encourages Christians to endure afflictions with hope and faith, trusting in God's sovereign plan and His promise of eternal life.

Nave's Topical Index

Job 16:7-16
But now he has made me weary: you have made desolate all my company.
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Psalm 42:7
Deep calls to deep at the noise of your waterspouts: all your waves and your billows are gone over me.
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Psalm 66:12
You have caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water: but you brought us out into a wealthy place.
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Jonah 2:3
For you had cast me into the deep, in the middle of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all your billows and your waves passed over me.
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Revelation 7:14
And I said to him, Sir, you know. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
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Library

Temptations and Trials.
... seculars by temporal afflictions and adversities, so He ... souls and good Christians
aver, incessant afflictions are necessary ... Francis of Sales so often recommends ...
/.../de caussade/abandonment to divine providence/v temptations and trials.htm

What and Whence are These?
... We often see and yet do not see: we see that which upon ... the Chief Husbandman, in
all their glory, amid the afflictions, and adversities, and catastrophes ...
/.../spurgeon/spurgeons sermons volume 18 1872/what and whence are these.htm

A Psalm of Remembrance
... their continual exercises of soul, their deep afflictions, their desperate adversities,
and their ... We have often revolted, but we have never found him ...
/.../spurgeon/spurgeons sermons volume 5 1859/a psalm of remembrance.htm

Fruits and the Two Works.
... Amid adversities, afflictions, persecutions, temptations and ... temptations,
discouragements, afflictions, imprisonments, persecutions ... traits more often have ...
//christianbookshelf.org/orr/the gospel day /chapter vi fruits and the.htm

Christian Morals. Part ii.
... soluto," [122] and at extension; we often observe that ... fortune lays the plot of our
adversities in the ... of misery, and a circulation in afflictions is necessary ...
//christianbookshelf.org/browne/christian morals/christian morals part ii.htm

Third Sunday after Trinity Humility, Trust, Watchfulness ...
... possess the world concerning dangers, injuries, and adversities. ... Their afflictions
so sorely oppress them that they ... So Paul often laments his great temptations ...
/.../luther/epistle sermons vol iii/third sunday after trinity humility.htm

Christian Behavior
... so many trials, afflictions, and adversities, even because ... off of those filthy passions
that are thy afflictions. ... How often have they sustained [thee in] thy ...
/.../bunyan/the works of john bunyan volumes 1-3/christian behavior.htm

The Third Book
... no man should be moved by these afflictions; for you ... who are fighting for the sake
of enduring all adversities? ... How often will you find a man in the church who ...
//christianbookshelf.org/salvian/on the government of god/the third book.htm

But Whilst the King Has not that Most Blessed Light...
... by to-day's sorrows and adversities,"awful, agonizing ... the thorny shrubs of endurance,
afflictions, necessities, distresses ... that heart is too often a snare and ...
/.../jennings/old groans and new songs/chapter vii but whilst the.htm

part ii
... and disobedience; and yet you remain in them, are often bound by them ... is difficult,
because it is connected with great privations and afflictions; and, therefore ...
//christianbookshelf.org/calvin/my life in christ/part ii.htm