When Suffering Becomes a Gift – Finding God in Our Afflictions
The Honest Confession
Have you ever noticed how easy it is to drift from God when life is going well? When the paycheck is steady, the family is healthy, and everything feels under control, prayer
becomes less urgent. Church attendance becomes optional. God’s word collects dust on the nightstand?
Psalm 119:67 makes an incredibly honest confession: “Before I was afflicted I went astray.”
He’s admitting what most of us would rather not say out loud, that comfort made him complacent. Ease made him careless. When life was smooth, he wandered off the path.
Maybe you can relate.
When Life Falls Apart
Then something changed. The text doesn’t tell us exactly what happened, maybe it was an illness that wouldn’t go away, a relationship that shattered, a job that disappeared, a
cancer diagnosis, or a dream that died. Whatever it was, it hurt deeply enough to get his attention.
And that’s when the breakthrough came: “But now I obey your word.” (Psalm 119:67)
The affliction, the very thing he probably prayed desperately to avoid became the turning point. The pain that felt like punishment was actually God’s invitation to come back
home.
The Wake-Up Call We Don’t Want
Let’s be real about the afflictions we face:
In our relationships: That marriage that’s barely hanging on. The teenager who won’t talk to you anymore. The friend who betrayed your trust. The parent you can’t forgive.
The partner that cheated on you. The boss that takes advantage of you.
In our finances: The bills piling up faster than the income. The debt that feels like a prison. The retirement that disappeared. The constant stress of just trying to make ends
meet. The constant decisions requiring you to constantly choose between competing financial priorities (paying the light bill or refilling your prescription) because you can’t
make ends meet.
In our bodies: The diagnosis that changed everything. The chronic pain that never stops. The mental health battle no one else can see. The energy that’s just… gone.
In our work: The job you hate but can’t leave. The boss who makes every day miserable. The career that’s stalled. The unemployment that stretches on. The burnout that
threatens everything.
In our hearts: The depression that won’t lift. The anxiety that steals your peace. The emptiness that nothing seems to fill. The loss of someone you can’t imagine living
without.
These aren’t abstract theological concepts. These are the real, raw places where we hurt.
What God Is Doing in the Pain
Here’s what’s hard to accept but true: God often allows us to become uncomfortable in the wrong places so we’ll finally seek comfort in the right place, in Him.
When we’re honest, many of us have knowledge about God but lack wisdom from God. We know Bible stories but miss the point. We can quote verses but don’t live them.
We go to church but keep God at arm’s length the rest of the week.
Affliction closes that gap. It forces us to decide: Is God real enough for this? Can His promises hold me when everything else is falling apart?
Suffering has a way of burning off the superficial and revealing what’s actually real in our faith. It exposes our pride (“I can handle this myself”), our self-reliance (“I don’t
really need God’s help”), and our divided hearts (“I want God AND my own way”).
And here’s the beautiful, painful truth: God loves you too much to leave you comfortable in your wandering.
The Transformation Suffering Brings
Think about what happens when we finally stop running and let God meet us in our pain:
We become humble instead of proud, finally admitting we don’t have all the answers.
We become gentle instead of harsh because we’ve needed grace ourselves.
We become patient instead of demanding because we’ve learned that growth takes time.
We become peaceful instead of anxious because we’ve discovered God really does show up.
We become loving instead of judgmental because suffering has made our hearts tender.
These qualities humility, gentleness, patience, peace, love don’t develop when life is easy. They’re forged in the fire of affliction. They’re the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-
23) that grows in the soil of suffering.
The Other Path
Not everyone responds to suffering this way. Some people go through hardship and come out bitter, not better. They become:
Harder instead of softer – building walls instead of opening doors
More selfish instead of more generous – hoarding instead of helping
Isolated instead of connected – withdrawing instead of reaching out
Cynical instead of hopeful – giving up instead of trusting God
The difference isn’t in what happens to us it’s in how we respond when it does.
What If This Is Actually Good for You?
Here’s the statement that might be hardest to accept: What if the very thing you’re desperately asking God to remove is the very thing He’s using to save you?
The psalmist says it clearly: the affliction that felt like it was destroying him was actually redirecting him back to life.
God knows exactly what each of us needs. For some, it’s sickness that slows us down enough to finally listen. For others, it’s disappointment that breaks our attachment to this
world. For still others, it’s betrayal that reveals who we can really trust.
God’s afflictions are never random. They’re:
Personally designed for your specific heart
Timed perfectly (even when it doesn’t feel like it)
Measured carefully (never more than you can bear with His help)
Aimed at one goal: bringing you home to Him
The Promise on the Other Side
Here’s the incredible news: no matter what you’re facing right now, God can reach your heart through it.
It doesn’t matter if:
You’ve been running from God for years
You’ve made terrible choices that got you here
You feel too broken to be fixed
You’re angry at God for letting this happen
You don’t even know if you believe anymore
God specializes in broken, hardened, wandering hearts. That’s His favorite thing to restore.
And when He does? Romans 14:17 tells us what we get: “The kingdom of God is… righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”
Not someday. Not eventually. Not in heaven only.
Right here. Right now. In the middle of the mess.
A Prayer for Today
God, I’ll be honest, I don’t like this. I don’t want to hurt. I don’t want to struggle. I’ve been asking You to take this away.
But if You’re trying to get my attention… You have it.
If this affliction is Your way of saying “Come back to Me”… I’m listening.
Soften my heart. Humble my pride. Show me what You’re trying to teach me. Help me not waste this pain.
I don’t want to just survive this, I want to be changed by it. I want to come out on the other side closer to You, not farther away.
Give me the courage to trust that You’re good even when life isn’t. That You’re working even when I can’t see it. That You love me even when it hurts.
Meet me here, in this broken place. I need You.
Amen.
Your Next Step
Before you close this mini lesson take a moment to journal or reflect on these questions:
- Where have I been “going astray” without even realizing it? What areas of my life have I been living on autopilot, disconnected from God?
- What is my current affliction? Name it honestly. Don’t spiritualize it or minimize it. What actually hurts right now?
- What might God be trying to teach me through this? Is there a pattern? A habit? A relationship? An idol? What needs to change?
- Am I fighting this, or am I listening? Am I demanding God remove this difficulty, or am I asking Him what He wants to say through it?
- What would it look like to “obey His word” in the middle of this situation? What is one concrete step of obedience I could take today?
Remember This
Affliction is not proof that God has abandoned you.
It’s often proof that He’s pursuing you.
The pain you’re in right now might feel like punishment, but what if it’s actually an invitation?
An invitation to stop wandering.
An invitation to come home.
An invitation to discover that God is enough even when nothing else is.
Today’s Memory Verse
Psalm 119:67 – “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word.”
May you find God meeting you in your affliction today. May your suffering not be wasted, but become the very path that leads you back to the Father’s embrace.
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