“Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.——It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.”–Psalm 119:67, 71   Some have learned that something bad can produce something good. We don’t usually see it at the time, but later it becomes apparent.   A little girl was walking in a garden when she saw a beautiful flower. She picked it because she felt it was too pretty to be in the dirt. She then took it home and washed it off, but it quickly wilted and died. When the gardener saw what she had done, he said,”You have destroyed my finest plant!” The tearful little girl said,” I’m sorry, but I didn’t like it in all that dirt.” The gardener replied, “I chose that spot and mixed the soil because I knew that only there could it grow to be a beautiful flower.”   So it is in the garden of life. God knows exactly what we need, although we do not understand. While we would rather avoid pain and suffering it is sometimes the only thing that draws us to God or helps us become more like God. Yes it hurts, and no we don’t understand, but it is true. Someday, when we mature or when we graduate to glory, we will see the benefit. Until then we must trust the One who cannot lie.   “It would be better if we could learn without suffering”, you say.Yes and it would be better if we lived in a world that had not been tainted by sin, but we don’t. This is where we are and sometimes this is what it takes to get us where we need to be. Someday you will see that it is true. What you are going through might be painful, unfair, overwhelming and confusing, but the day will come when will look back and see that God created some good out of your experience. Ask God to give you the grace to accept your trial and the strength to keep going. He will do it.

“—I hated life—” –Ecclesiastes 2:17 You might expect to hear those words from someone who is down and out, someone who has been neglected, abused, or tortured. But these words came from the lips of a man who seemingly had it all. No one was richer, wiser, or more powerful than Solomon. From a worldly point of view, he was a success in every sense of the word. But he was miserable.   Now, if that could happen to him, it can happen to the person who has suffered some horrible injustice. That someone might even be you. Lots of people wish the world was different. Why not? That would be nice. But it isn’t. Planet earth is a difficult place to live and it is easy to get discouraged. It might surprise you, but God isn’t all that pleased with the conditions on earth.”God is angry with the wicked every day.”(Psalm 7:11). Why not? You can’t even begin to understand how God has suffered because of the sinfulness of the world. Yet He did not give up on it. You better be glad He didn’t!   As bad as the world is God loves it to such an extent that He gave His only begotten Son for it. There’s nothing selfish about God. There shouldn’t be anything selfish about us either. God doesn’t want us to get bitter and give up on life. He has great things in store for those who don’t.   We live in the midst of people who will die and spend eternity in hell unless they hear the gospel. It is our job to tell them. It is pure selfishness to give up on life. Don’t allow your problems to deter you from God’s plan for your life. Give yourself fully to the pursuit of your God given purpose and you will no longer hate life. You will find a peace and satisfaction you never thought was possible. Love life—it is a gift from God!

“—ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good—“. Genesis 50:20   John Henry Jowett wrote,”In one of my garden books there is a chapter with a very interesting heading, ‘Flowers that Grow in the Gloom.’ It deals with those patches in a garden which never catch the sunlight. And my guide tells me the sort of flowers which are not afraid of these dingy corners—may rather like them and flourish in them.”   I know something better than that. My guide, the Bible, tells me that it is possible for us to bloom in the gloom. Examples of this are many. There is Joseph in Egypt, Job on the ash heap, Daniel in Babylon, Paul in prison, and many more. History is replete with examples of those who displayed great character in the shade of dark and dreadful circumstances. Why should I think it can’t happen with me? Do not I serve the same God?   There is hope for you also. Every child of God has the potential to bloom in the gloom. God can take the worst thing imaginable and use it for some glorious good. Don’t believe it? Just look to Calvary.

“When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom.”–Proverbs 11:2 The late Adrian Rogers once told a story that humorously shows the serious effects pride can have on a person. He told of a man who walked into a friend’s home, bruised and bleeding. When asked what had happened, the injured friend replied, “Well, I was walking down the street and was mugged by two thugs who wanted all of my money. I didn’t want to give it to them, so I fought them and fought them and fought them!” His friend then asked how much money he had on him when he was attacked. “Thirty-five cents,” he answered. “You fought for 35 cents?” his friend exclaimed. “Yes,” the wounded man answered. “I didn’t want to reveal my financial situation.”

We can laugh at this character’s irrational behavior, but how many times have we said or done something in an effort to conceal our true spiritual condition, financial state, or marital health?

The Bible tells us that “A man’s pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit.” (Proverbs 29:23). A moment of humility will gain more respect than a lifetime of pride. Begin to live a humble life, moment by moment. (from Turning Point)

Satan’s number one weapon is pride. God’s number one defense is humility.
Larry Burkett

Let no one think of happiness as nothing more than a desirable quality, a mere ornamental grace, which is winsome-but is not an essential element in a Christian life, something which one may have or may not have, as it chances. Happiness is a duty, quite as much a duty as truthfulness, honesty, or good temper. There are many Scripture words which exhort us to rejoice.—–

But how are we to get this habit of happiness into our life? The answer is very simple–

The secret of Christian joy-is the peace of Christ in the heart. Then one is not dependent on circumstances or conditions. Paul said he had learned in whatever state he was, therein to be content. That is, he had formed the habit of happiness and had mastered the lesson so well, that in no state or condition, whatever its discomforts were, was he discontented. We well know, that his circumstances were not always congenial or easy. But he sang songs in his prison with just as cheerful a heart and voice as when he was enjoying the hospitality of some loving friend. His mood was always one of cheer, not only when things went well-but when things went adversely. He was just as songful on his hard days-as on his comfortable days.

Then Paul gives us the secret of his abiding gladness, in the word he uses-“content.” It means self-sufficed. He was self sufficed-that is, he carried in his own heart the springs of his own happiness. When he found himself in any place, he was not dependent on the resources of the place for his comfort. The circumstance might be most uncongenial. There might be hardship, suffering, poverty; but in himself he had the peace of Christ, and this sustained him so that he was content.

There is no other unfailing secret of happiness. Too many people are dependent upon external conditions-the house they live in, the people they are with, their food, their companions, the weather, their state of health, the comforts or discomforts of their circumstances. But if we carry with us such resources that things outside us cannot make us unhappy, however uncongenial they may be-then we have learned Paul’s secret of contentment, which is the Christian’s true secret of a happy life.(By J. R. Miller, 1898)