Facing Adversity

This message is about how we go about facing adversity. We all face adversity in our lives, so the question becomes, is there a way to deal with it? It is tough, I turn to the Lord in prayer, and sometimes I don’t think God is listening when I ask Him for help; so what’s the deal? The more I think about it, the more I realize that His hot line is always open, no busy signals, and he will always listen to our pleas for help. 

As we read in  Jonah 2:2  –  “ ‘and he said, ‘I called out of my distress to the Lord, And He answered me. I cried for help from the depth of Sheol; You heard my voice.”  God heard his voice and in this case, God did in fact deliver Jonah, and taught us a valuable lesson about making sure we do what he wants us to do.  That we need to follow the path he has set out for us and if we do, that might help reduce the amount of adversity we face in life.

God will always hear our voice, now sometimes His answer to our plea to be removed from the adversity we face, just might be no, not at this time.  Those are the times that are the most difficult for us as humans to understand. We ask God, and why not, what did I do wrong?  I have spoken with people who are very faithful, who go to church every Sunday, who tithe, who do everything they are called to do, and yet they still are told no.

Being faithful does not spare us from adversity.  Think of the ancient Jewish people in captivity in Egypt.  In Exodus chapter 5 verses 6-8, “So the same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters over the people and their foremen, saying ‘You are no longer to give the people straw to make brick as previously; let them go and gather straw for themselves.  But the quota of bricks which they were  making previously, you shall impose on them; you are not to reduce any of it. Because they are lazy, therefore they cry out, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’”.  

Pharaoh was piling on the people, making their lives even harder, making them face adversity, as they had never experienced it before.  When they cried out to Him, His answer at first was “not now”.  Of course, we know that eventually He relented and Moses came and delivered them from bondage.  They had patience, they stayed in prayer, and they did not waiver from their belief.

if you think you can’t take any more adversity, then turn to God and do what Jesus did, remember at this point He was to be crucified.  “And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.’” (Matthew 26:39)  Remember even in this case, the Father said no, Jesus accepted His answer and because of that, He went to the cross, H died on the cross, and then He rose from the dead and brought salvation to all of us. 

When you are facing adversity, turn it over to God and seek wisdom, ask the Holy Spirit to come into your life, and maybe if God’s answer is no, you will be able to understand why you are facing adversity, I know in my own life, it is usually because I made bad decision.  Through prayer, I can often find a path to either ease the adversity or show me the lesson I needed to learn. Remember, with God all things are possible.  God bless and peace y’all