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YOUR BIBLE AND YOU<br />
W h y S o M u c h S u f f e r i n g <br />
tion of parents with that of the Lord, the writer to the Hebrews says: “For<br />
they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for<br />
our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness” (Hebrews 12:10).<br />
In your <strong>Bible</strong> you will find several examples of sinners brought back<br />
to God through affliction.<br />
When Jonah refused God’s call to go to Nineveh and fled on a ship<br />
bound for Tarshish, he was thrown overboard and swallowed by a<br />
great fish. “Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish’s<br />
belly, and said, I cried by reason of mine affliction, unto the Lord, and<br />
he heard me” (Jonah 2:1, 2).<br />
King Manasseh was carried captive to Babylon because of his fearful<br />
wickedness. But “when he was in affliction, he besought the Lord his<br />
God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, and<br />
prayed unto him: and he was intreated of him, and heard his supplication,<br />
and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then<br />
Manasseh knew that the Lord he was God” (2 Chronicles 33:12, 13).<br />
Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, defied God and lost his reason<br />
for seven years.<br />
Later he testified: “At the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted<br />
up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto<br />
me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honored him that<br />
liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his<br />
kingdom is from generation to generation” (Daniel 4:34).<br />
Several times in the Old Testament God is portrayed as a refiner<br />
sitting by a furnace skimming off the impurities of His people.<br />
See Malachi 3:3; Job 23:10. Through Isaiah He says, “Behold, I have<br />
refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace<br />
of affliction” (Isaiah 48:10). Later in the same chapter He adds: “I am the<br />
Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by<br />
the way that thou shouldest go. O that thou hadst hearkened to my<br />
commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness<br />
as the waves of the sea” (verses 17, 18).<br />
Most of Israel’s troubles could have been averted by obedience and right<br />
living, but when through disobedience affliction became necessary it<br />
was sent for their profit to lead them in the way that they should go.<br />
5. Some suffering is the result of dedication to Jesus Christ. From Jesus<br />
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