Adversity
Falling Back on What We Know
Adversity – difficulties, misfortune, calamity, distress, misery, pain, affliction, disaster.
Sometimes when facing ADVERSITY (things we don’t understand) we make the mistake of trusting our feelings.
- It doesn’t FEEL like God loves me!
- It doesn’t FEEL like God cares about me!
- It doesn’t SEEM like God is good!
These are incorrect conclusions! If we’re not careful our FEELINGS can mislead and betray us.
“I’m not just not FEELIN it!” says the voice of Immaturity.
When we facing ADVERSITY, when facing things we don’t understand it’s WISDOM and MATURITY to learn to fall back on what we KNOW to be TRUE about God!
- God LOVES me!
1 John 4:8 God is LOVE!
Jeremiah 31:3 Yes, I have loved you with an EVERLASTING LOVE; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.
Romans 8:39 NOTHING shall be able to separate YOU from the LOVE OF GOD which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Ephesians 2:4 God loves YOU with a GREAT LOVE!
John 3:16 For God SO LOVED the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
John 15:13 No greater LOVE!
Romans 5:8 But God PROVED his GREAT LOVE for YOU by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.
The proof of love is not a DIAMOND but the CROSS! In Ephesians 3 Paul prays that the Ephesian church would be able to comprehend the width, length, depth, and height of the love of Christ.
When facing ADVERSITY, when facing things we don’t understand it’s WISDOM and MATURITY to learn to fall back on what we KNOW to be TRUE about God!
God LOVES me! This is BEDROCK underneath my feet!
There is no pit so deep, that God’s LOVE is not deeper still. –Corrie Ten Boom
And before we move on, make no mistake about it! God desires that YOU would love HIM in return.
This is GREATEST commandment in the Bible! (Mark 12:30)
Tell God every day that YOU love Him!
Listen to this voice of maturity from Habakkuk:
Habakkuk 3:17-18 Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls – yet I will REJOICE in the Lord, I will JOY in the God of my salvation.
- God LOVES me!
- God is GOOD!
Exodus 34:6 The LORD is ABOUNDING in GOODNESS.
Psalm 119:68 You are GOOD and do only GOOD.
Psalm 73:1 Truly God is GOOD!
Genesis 50:20 But as for you, you meant EVIL against me; BUT GOD meant it for GOOD.
Romans 8:28 And we KNOW that all things work together for GOOD to those who LOVE GOD, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
Psalm 34:8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is GOOD.
The Bible teaches us to stand firm on the GOODNESS of GOD in the FROST of ADVERSITY!
- God LOVES me!
- God is GOOD!
- God is FAITHFUL! when adversity jars me.
Lamentations 3:22-23 Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; GREAT IS YOUR FAITHFULNESS.
Psalm 119:90 Your FAITHFULNESS endures to all generations.
Psalm 37:3 Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and FEED ON HIS FAITHFULNESS.
Gods PAST FAITHFULNESS demands my PRESENT TRUST in Him!
Song of the Early Church:
2 Timothy 2:11 If we died with Him, we shall also live with Him.
2 Timothy 2:12 If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us.
2 Timothy 2:13 If we are faithless, HE REMAINS FAITHFUL; He cannot deny Himself.
Closing blessing:
Jude 24 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,
Jude 25 To God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.