In our text Isaiah 45:5-10 KJV; This message is meant to give us a perspective on how we react to the difficulties and the adversatives we face in this world we live in.

Adversity is not a welcoming word for any of us, it brings forth visions of hardship, struggle, and those things that cause suffering to us, our plans, to our families, and so much more.

Yet, Jesus said that in this world we will have tribulations, but it’s how we perceive that tribulation, Jesus says that only in him do we have peace, for he is in control (John 16:33).

In our text reading in Isaiah, God reaffirms his authority as the creator, he is the one who brings or allows all things, and what he creates or allows are for his purpose, who are we to question his authority as Creator.

We all have wondered why God allows painful situations in our life. Have we not?

To our way of thinking this simply doesn’t fit with His role as our loving Father.

In order to understand what’s going on, let’s consider the possible sources of our adversity:

A.  A fallen world (Rom. 5:12, John 16:33)

1. When sin entered the world, suffering came with it.

2. God could have protected us from these harmful effects, by making us like puppets couldn’t choose to sin

3. But the others side of that is we could also not choose to love Him, since love, by its nature is voluntary.

B. Our Own Doing (Rom. 3:23)

1. Sometimes we get ourselves into trouble with sinful Choices.

2. If the Lord rescued us from every negative consequence, we’d never grow into mature believers.

C. Satanic Attacks (1 Peter 5:8);

1. Satan’s goal is to destroy our testimony.

2. This makes us unable to fulfill our duty and renders us useless for God’s purpose.

D. God’s Sovereignty (Eph. 1:22-23)

1, Ultimately, the Lord has over all adversity that comes our way.

2. To deny His involvement contradicts His power and sovereignty over creation.

For us to accept that God allows affliction, we must see adversity from His perspective.  Is our focus is on the pain or on God and His faithfulness?    For us as believers, the Lord doesn’t allow hardship unless He can use it for our benefit and his good purpose.

We don’t want to waste our adversities by refusing to seek the reason for it, look at James 1:2-4.

Are we making the most of our trouble?  Any time the Lord allows trials to enter your life, He had a purpose for them (Genesis 50:20).

He wants you to squeeze out every bit of spiritual growth instead of letting difficulties squeeze us into despair and discouragement.

If you’ll respond in the right manner, the trial that looks as of it could destroy us now becomes and instrument of blessing.

A. The Most natural response to adversity is to plead with God to remove them.

B. We might get angry or try to find our own way out of the difficulty.

C. Sometimes we resort to blaming others for our trouble, the truth is, someone else might have caused the problem, but God allowed it.

D. We only have to look at the book of Job to see the truth of this and see how job responded to the adversity.

No matter where affliction originates, God has always known about it and is accomplishing His good purpose.  If we could foresee every benefit the Lord designed our trials to accomplish, maybe we’d trust Him more.

Although we can’t see all the specifics of God’s plan, we know that His goal is to use adversity to supply somethings we lack in being mature and complete.   So, we can waste the opportunity God designed into our adversity, or we can turn to God and ask him to help us through it, as my mother used to say, “God teach me what I need to know, so I don’t have to go around this mountain again.” and surely, we don’t want to continue were we are.

Even though the experience is painful situations, rest in the father’s comforting arms, and let Him do his perfect work in us.  God works in the middle of our adversity, he provides strength, comfort, and guidance during times of trouble, turning to him and His word can bring peace, contentment, and joy.  On the other hand, turning away from God only produces the opposite result.

In the Scripture, we read of God being referred to as our fortress, our shield, these things point to relying on God for and in everything, 1 Corinthians 10:13 is often quoted incorrect using escape solely, we miss the part that says He provides a way to bear it.   This is indicating going through it and leaning on Him and ultimately learning his purpose.