Trials and tribulations come.
The Bible tells us that though we will go through trials and tribulations, they are only for a while. Our afflictions have a time stamp on them for termination, because God knows how far we can go and how much we can handle. The Bible calls our trials temporal and light (2Cor4:17-18) because what awaits us at their end outweighs them all. Sometimes our trials and tribulations are brought upon us by our faults, but God sometimes sends them to try our faith in him. The scriptures tell us that we all stumble otherwise we would be perfect (Jm3:2). When we stumble and fail, we incur consequences and have to deal with them. But we have a God that is efficient in delivering us from our afflictions; especially when we call upon him. The Psalmist said that many are the affliction of the righteous, but the Lord delivers them of them all (Ps34:17-19). It begins with when we cry out to the Lord the Psalm and then it continues to say that he hears us. This is vital for us because, at the end of every prayer, there should be an expectation for God to respond. What makes God’s deity true is the response to his worshippers.
Daniel 9:2-4
in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years. 3 So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.
4 I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed:
“Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments,
The people of Israel were in bondage for 70 years and why were they in bondage we might ask. The reason why the people were in bondage was that God had commanded them to leave the land to rest and to keep the Sabbath, and they did not. God warned them several times that they needed to keep his commandments the Sabbath being one of them. Jesus said that whoever has his commandments and keeps them loves him (Jh14:21). So Daniel; a student of the Bible, sensed the time was near and decided to search out the time frame for his people’s captivity. He found out that the time was near for the completion of their captivity. They were about to break free from captivity. The time to pray for deliverance is within us. Behavior tantrums and other forms of saying we have had enough do not cause the afflictions to cease, prayer does. The Psalmist said that when God’s people called on him he delivered them out of their distress (Ps107:6). The prayer of repentance should always be included in our commune with God. In Daniel’s search for release from captivity, now that the time was set the first thing he did was confess his and his people’s sins. Daniel’s prayer was heard and the response was sent but it took long for it to get there because of the enemy. The enemy wants to keep us afflicted and so he will do his best to keep you feeling afflicted.
2 Corinthians 4:17-18
17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
James 3:2
2 We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.
Psalms 34:17-19
The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles.18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. 19 The righteous person may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all;
John 14:21
21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
Psalms 107:6
Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.