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Afflictions and Adversities: Benefits of, Illustrated

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Genesis 22:12, 16–18 “Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him,” said the angel, “for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from me.” / saying, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your only son, / And through your offspring all nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”
Genesis 32:11 Please deliver me from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid that he may come and attack me and the mothers and children with me.
Genesis 42:21 Then they said to one another, “Surely we are being punished because of our brother. We saw his anguish when he pleaded with us, but we would not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us.”
Exodus 9:27, 28 Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron. “This time I have sinned,” he said. “The LORD is righteous, and I and my people are wicked. / Pray to the LORD, for there has been enough of God’s thunder and hail. I will let you go; you do not need to stay any longer.”
Exodus 10:7, 16, 17 Pharaoh’s officials asked him, “How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the people go, so that they may worship the LORD their God. Do you not yet realize that Egypt is in ruins?” / Pharaoh quickly summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned against the LORD your God and against you. / Now please forgive my sin once more and appeal to the LORD your God, that He may remove this death from me.”
Exodus 12:31–33 Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, “Get up, leave my people, both you and the Israelites! Go, worship the LORD as you have requested. / Take your flocks and herds as well, just as you have said, and depart! And bless me also.” / And in order to send them out of the land quickly, the Egyptians urged the people on. “For otherwise,” they said, “we are all going to die!”
Numbers 21:7 Then the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the LORD and against you. Intercede with the LORD so He will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses interceded for the people.
Judges 10:6–8, 10 And again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD. They served the Baals, the Ashtoreths, the gods of Aram, Sidon, and Moab, and the gods of the Ammonites and Philistines. Thus they forsook the LORD and did not serve Him. / So the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and Ammonites, / who that very year harassed and oppressed the Israelites, and did so for eighteen years to all the Israelites on the other side of the Jordan in Gilead, the land of the Amorites.
1 Samuel 12:9, 10 But they forgot the LORD their God, and He sold them into the hand of Sisera the commander of the army of Hazor, and into the hands of the Philistines and the king of Moab, who fought against them. / Then they cried out to the LORD and said, ‘We have sinned, for we have forsaken the LORD and served the Baals and Ashtoreths. Now deliver us from the hands of our enemies, that we may serve You.’
1 Kings 13:1–10 Suddenly, as Jeroboam was standing beside the altar to burn incense, there came a man of God from Judah to Bethel by the word of the LORD. / And he cried out against the altar by the word of the LORD, “O altar, O altar, this is what the LORD says: ‘A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David, and upon you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense upon you, and human bones will be burned upon you.’” / That day the man of God gave a sign, saying, “The LORD has spoken this sign: ‘Surely the altar will be split apart, and the ashes upon it will be poured out.’”
2 Chronicles 15:4 But in their distress they turned to the LORD, the God of Israel, and sought Him, and He was found by them.
2 Chronicles 33:12, 13 And in his distress, Manasseh sought the favor of the LORD his God and earnestly humbled himself before the God of his fathers. / And when he prayed to Him, the LORD received his plea and heard his petition; so He brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD is God.
Ezra 9:5–15 At the evening offering, I got up from my humiliation with my tunic and cloak torn, and I fell on my knees, spread out my hands to the LORD my God, / and said: “O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to You, my God, because our iniquities are higher than our heads, and our guilt has reached the heavens. / From the days of our fathers to this day, our guilt has been great. Because of our iniquities, we and our kings and priests have been delivered into the hands of the kings of the earth and put to the sword and captivity, to pillage and humiliation, as we are this day.
Nehemiah 9:32 So now, our God, the great and mighty and awesome God who keeps His gracious covenant, do not view lightly all the hardship that has come upon us, and upon our kings and leaders, our priests and prophets, our ancestors and all Your people, from the days of the kings of Assyria until today.
Job 34:31, 32 Suppose someone says to God, ‘I have endured my punishment; I will offend no more. / Teach me what I cannot see; if I have done wrong, I will not do it again.’
Job 40:1–5 And the LORD said to Job: / “Will the faultfinder contend with the Almighty? Let him who argues with God give an answer.” / Then Job answered the LORD:
Psalm 18:4–6 The cords of death encompassed me; the torrents of chaos overwhelmed me. / The cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me. / In my distress I called upon the LORD; I cried to my God for help. From His temple He heard my voice, and my cry for His help reached His ears.
Psalm 66:10–12 For You, O God, have tested us; You have refined us like silver. / You led us into the net; You laid burdens on our backs. / You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but You brought us into abundance.
Psalm 78:34, 35 When He slew them, they would seek Him; they repented and searched for God. / And they remembered that God was their Rock, that God Most High was their Redeemer.
Psalm 119:67, 71 Before I was afflicted, I went astray; but now I keep Your word. / It was good for me to be afflicted, that I might learn Your statutes.
Isaiah 26:16 O LORD, they sought You in their distress; when You disciplined them, they poured out a quiet prayer.
Jeremiah 31:18, 19 I have surely heard Ephraim’s moaning: ‘You disciplined me severely, like an untrained calf. Restore me, that I may return, for You are the LORD my God. / After I returned, I repented; and after I was instructed, I struck my thigh in grief. I was ashamed and humiliated because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’
Lamentations 3:19, 20 Remember my affliction and wandering, the wormwood and the gall. / Surely my soul remembers and is humbled within me.
Hosea 6:1 Come, let us return to the LORD. For He has torn us to pieces, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bind up our wounds.
Jonah 2:1–10 From inside the fish, Jonah prayed to the LORD his God, / saying: “In my distress I called to the LORD, and He answered me. From the belly of Sheol I called for help, and You heard my voice. / For You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the current swirled about me; all Your breakers and waves swept over me.
Luke 15:11–24 Then Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons. / The younger son said to him, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. / After a few days, the younger son got everything together and journeyed to a distant country, where he squandered his wealth in wild living.
Acts 8:24 Then Simon answered, “Pray to the Lord for me, so that nothing you have said may happen to me.”