Handling Affliction Ps. 119:50 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO

Affliction is something that causes pain or suffering.  Handling affliction can be very tough.  So we are looking in the Bible for understanding on how to handle it.  You and I are to handle affliction:

With The Bible – Ps 119:50 – one of the greatest sources of comfort in affliction is the Bible – yet affliction can cause you to become busier, mentally distracted and emotionally drained – then you don’t want to pick up your Bible – and when you do you can hardly get anything out of it.

With Prayer – Ps 88:9-18 – afflictions are often accompanied by mourning and the feeling that God has hidden from you and your friends have abandoned you – these feelings are going to come out when you pray – nevertheless, you need to pray and sort this all out with the Lord, since he understands better than anyone.

With Repentance – Jon 2:2 – affliction is often designed to get you to pray to God and turn back to him – Hos 5:15, “in their affliction they will seek me early” – in 2 Chr 33:12 it took affliction to get Manasseh to turn.

Without Offence – Mk 4:17 – when you are afflicted it is easy to get offended – don’t.

Without Sin – Heb 11:25 – choosing rather to suffer affliction than the pleasures of sin for a season – people often choose sin to mollify or inebriate the affliction rather than suffer it – sin is not an option.

With Faith – 1 Pet 5:9 – afflictions can come from the devil [1 Pet 5:8] – and they aren’t unique to you; they affect others as well [you aren’t singled out] – the way to handle ones from the devil is with faith [Eph 6:16].

With Endurance – 2 Tim 4:5 – endure afflictions – we try to find a way to throw them off and often they can’t be thrown off – sometimes they can only be endured – serenity prayer “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.”

With Patience – Jas 5:10 – follow the example of the prophets [men who handled affliction properly] and remember to have patience – Job had patience with his affliction – we have certainly murmured and complained way out of proportion to what he experienced.

With Joy – 1 Thes 1:6; 2 Cor 8:2 – it is possible to have joy in the midst of the affliction – we sometimes think that joy and affliction are mutually exclusive – but I believe that the supernatural joy of the Holy Ghost is more evident in the midst of the affliction – not always true.

With Perception – 2 Cor 4:17 – your perception of the affliction will have a lot to do with how heavy it is in your life – Paul called his affliction “light” – it was anything but light.

With Compassion – 2 Cor 2:4 – affliction helps you to be way more compassionate and loving toward and understanding of others who are in affliction – affliction is often necessary for you to minister in consolation.

Conclusion: Ps 34:19 – Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all – we need to remember that we are going to go through many afflictions and yet we have the assurance that the Lord is going to deliver us out of them all.