Adversity

“A creeping sentiment that a situation is hopelessly ridiculous and futile can deaden our resolve, courage, and constancy, manifested in thoughts and words along the lines of ‘Really? This is my marriage? This is my job? This is the relationship I have with my children and family?

“Far from seeing his sufferings as a temporary ‘test’ designed to make him a better man, Job has consistently anticipated only one outcome: death….he is a man waiting to die so he can finally be vindicated.” - BJU Seminary

“Sometimes our greatest witness is not when we’re standing on the mountaintop; it’s when we’re trusting God anyway as we go through the deepest valley. It’s finishing the race even if the cost of victory is death.” - The Baptist Paper

“We imagine that if we are faithful and obedient to God, He will reward us with an easy life. However, God doesn’t promise pain-free lives—He only promises His presence and the provision of all we need to endure our hardships.” - Randy Alcorn

“Though we may not see an answer in the immediate circumstances of our lives, we can begin to put one together as we look at the lives of other believers. What did trouble do for Joseph?…What did trouble do for David?….for Paul?” - Challies

“What’s the point of such discipline? Four verses later, we get the answer to that question. It says, ‘[God] disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.’” - John Piper

“Grief comes easily to me. The furnace of my many afflictions—stoked by painful bone disease, stage 4 cancer, advancing arthritis, perpetual 35-year-long head pain…. When you grieve as much as I have, you sometimes wonder what the Lord thinks of it. Is my grief permissible, or have I fallen into grieving doubt and self-pitying discontent?” - TGC

“Ministry sometimes feels like a slap in the face, often when you least expect it to happen.” - Chuck Lawless

“This month marks five years since my family and I survived a plane crash. When landing, the plane skidded off the runway and down a steep incline, breaking in two before it ran into a concrete barrier that stopped it.” - 9 Marks

“The grief and tragedy that greeted New Orleans on New Year’s Day…reminded me of the promise Jesus gave His disciples in 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.’” - Baptist Press