Believers and Their Afflictions
Paul wrote that God afflicts us “for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness” (Hebrews 12:10). “It is good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn thy statutes” (Psalm 119:71). Someone said, “The flowers smell sweetest after a shower, and trees bear more fruit if they are pruned.”
Afflictions and trials are God’s furnace by which He PROVES OUR FAITH. The sturdy vessels of faith are able to do business in deep waters. They are not shaken and destroyed by the storms of life. Faith in Christ will cry with Job, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.” (Job 1:21)
Afflictions and trials give birth to SYMPATHY AND UNDERSTANDING. We can weep with those who weep only if we have wept alone. We can more readily forgive the fallen from their fallen position if we have fallen and have experienced forgiveness. It is difficult to criticize a fellow cell-mate and impossible to cry “unclean” of a fellow leper. Yes, Afflictions and trials are good.
Scott Richardson
Test All Things 
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