King Solomon instructed, “My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord…for whom the Lord loves He corrects” (Proverbs 3:11-12). Instead of being discouraged under afflictions, God would have His children rejoice: “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience” (James 1:2-3). Even though trials may bring suffering, God only intends to do good for His children. Throughout the Bible God’s love shows itself in unexpected situations.

Abraham traveled toward the hill of Moriah with a heavy heart. God had commanded that he sacrifice Isaac, his promised son. Abraham had to reconcile God’s command with His promise that through Isaac all the families of the earth would be blessed in the Messiah. By faith Abraham concluded that God would have to restore Isaac to life (see Hebrews 11:19). When God stopped Abraham from killing his son, God said, “Now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me” (Genesis 22:12). Then God repeated the promises He had given Abraham. God was teaching Abraham to love Him first.

Instead of traveling on the direct route from Egypt to Canaan, God led the Children of Israel south through terrible wastelands. The Israelites ran out of water and food along the way. Instead of trusting in God’s promises, they complained bitterly that Moses led the people into the wilderness to kill them. They were not trusting God’s love. Then Moses wrote, “There [God] made a statute and an ordinance for them, and there He tested them, and said, ‘If you diligently need the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you’” (Genesis 15:26). God showed His loving care by providing them with water and manna for forty years during their travels to the Promised Land.

Elimelech and Naomi were tested when a famine came to the area around Bethlehem in Canaan. They moved to the land of Moab, where God tested Naomi again with the deaths of her husband and two sons. The rest of the story demonstrates God’s loving purpose in this affliction through the faith of Ruth, a young Moabite widow, who would not depart from Naomi or the true God as they returned to the town of Bethlehem. Every part of the book of Ruth demonstrates God’s loving care of Naomi and Ruth. In spite of their poverty, God gave Ruth opportunity to glean for food. God protected Ruth by leading her to the fields of Boaz, a faithful Israelite. And God moved Boaz to redeem Ruth and marry her. By God’s grace Ruth became an ancestor of Jesus.

Ruth’s ancestor David might have wondered why God caused him to live in the wilderness being chased by jealous King Saul. After all, the prophet Samuel had anointed David to be the next king of Israel. Nevertheless, David learned valuable lessons of leadership, of humbly trusting in God’s protection and care, and of avoiding the temptation to kill Saul. Learning those lessons made David a king who was faithful to God.

Imagine how the great assembly of Christians in Jerusalem felt when a young Pharisee named Saul raised “a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles” (Acts 8:1). Their joyful unity of faith with the apostles was severed; people escaped leaving their jobs and most of their possessions behind. It may have seemed that God was not protecting those who believed on Him. A few verses later demonstrates God’s loving purpose in allowing this persecution: “Those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word” (Acts 8:4). And Luke reports in Acts 11:19 that some took refuge in Antioch. A great number of Jews and Jewish converts believed on Jesus. Barnabas was sent to work there and he found the convert Saul and brought him to teach the people about Jesus. From Antioch these two men went out to proclaim Christ to the Gentile world.

Jesus declared that He was the Good Shepherd who gave His life for the sheep. He also promised to be with them, answer their prayers, and care for them. We are to trust those promises even when afflictions seem to work against God’s promises. St. Paul, who experienced more than his share of afflictions, encourages us: “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Corinthians 4:16-17).