Learning Through Adversity and Affliction

O. T. #1608  "Learning Through Adversity and Affliction"
Jan. 16, 2020
Isaiah 30-Part 2
And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers. (verse 20)

LET IT GLOW

How are we doing as we wait on the Lord? Is it with faith and patience? Is our strength in quietness (be still) and confidence? Israel did not repent of their sin of idolatry. This northern kingdom turned to Egypt for help and they ended up being taken into captivity by the empire of Assyria.
Judah is being warned in this chapter of the same things. Isaiah said that God was waiting on them to wait for Him to move. but they were unwilling to listen to the message of the prophets, so they had to learn through adversity and affliction.

The bread of adversity meant trouble and tribulation, distress; the water of affliction meant to distress, crush, force.

God was going to teach Judah through their awful circumstances of life-captivity by Babylon.
Are we in the same predicament? If we aren't willing to listen to what God is trying to say to us through His Word, then He may use other methods to get out attention, such as adversity or affliction.
Another thing, if we have heard what we are to do, whether it be wait or doing, are we submitting to His will. Ouch!

LET IT GROW

Verse 21 says, And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.

Here is a picture of the voice of the teachers who follow their students to admonish them from going astray, or the voice of a shepherd who follows his flocks in order to give them safe direction. The immediate context seems to best fit the idea that it is the voice of their teachers whom they have left behind and who continue to call them to walk in the way, the way of God. (Falwell)

Here are some ideas from Joni Eareckson Tada in her devotion book, Diamonds in the Dust:
God wants to:

• refine you, so your trial is refining (see Isaiah 48:10);
• sift you, so your trial is a sifting; each sieve is finer, (see Hebrews 12:11);
• prune you, so your trial is a pruning (see John 15:2);
• polish you, so your trial is a polishing (see Psalm 144:12).

God gives us the bread of adversity and the water of affliction for good reasons. With God's Word as your teacher, your own eyes can see the purpose of the Lord.

In Psalm 119:71, an anonymous writer said, Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word and in verse 71, he admitted, It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees.

Can we look back over a huge problem we endured and agree that was a good thing in our life so we could learn a lesson from God? Time to ponder, friend.


LET IT GO
Stop going your way, Linda, and listen and obey what God is telling you.
Learn from afflictions and adversities which have occurred in my life.
Listen to God's voice telling me which way to turn.