Why tribulations?

Are you passing through the deep waters of trials and disappointment?

Does everything seem to be going against you?

These apparent misfortunes are not accidents. The Lord Jesus allows such things for a blessed purposes.

John 16:33 tells us, "In the world you will have tribulation."  Even God's children are not promised a life of ease, of prosperity, nor of good health.  Yet we are never alone in our trouble.  Isaiah 43:2 reminds us that when we pass through deep waters, God is with us.

A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without adversity.

The Bible tells us that tribulation produces perseverance, character, hope and confidence by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:3-5)

In Psalm 119:71, David wrote, "It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes." And Hebrews 12:11 says that chastening "yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness."

There are no mountain top that we can climb to, no crevice we can hide in, or deserted island to flee to, that can keep pain, death, hardship, and suffering away from us.  These are all the natural consequences of sin.

Affliction as trees need winter

Paul reminds us that despite all the sufferings a believer will face, God has a divine purpose for it, and the ultimate design for suffering is that the one who suffers would find hope in God.  In God's plan, suffering is not wasted, because it leads to perseverance, which develops character, and character brings about hope.
Of all the things we could say about afflictions or trials - that they are disappointing, discouraging, humiliating, uncomfortable, painful, and disheartening - God see them, among other reasons, as tests that reveal our true selves.  Affliction will also reveals our growth process in terms of our conformity to the image and character of Christ.  God uses life's pressure to bring out the sweetness of Christlike character in us.

Romans  5:3-5  Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope:  And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.


Pain makes us Think,  Thinking makes us Wise,  Wisdom makes Life Profitable.

We need affliction as trees need winter - that we may collect sap and nourishment for future blossom and fruits.

Comforter or Comfortable

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort. 2 Corinthians 1 :3-7

Someone has written : "Sorrow can lead us into one of four lands ; the barren land in which we try to escape from it; the broken land in which we sink under it; the bitter land in which we resent it; or the better land in which we bear it and become a blessing to others." To enter that better land, we must stop focusing on our own sorrows but accept God's comfort in them, and reach out to others in need.

The best comforters are those whom God has comforted and who are willing to comfort others -- Henry Bosch

GOD DOESN'T COMFORT US TO MAKE US COMFORTABLE, HE COMFORTS US TO MAKE US COMFORTERS