Weekly Devotion: Should We Only Accept Good From God and Not Adversity?

By: Jessika Sanders

Should we accept only good from God and not adversity?

In Job 2 we read of Satan’s second testing of Job.  (The first testing included the death of Job’s 10 children, his livestock, and his servants.) In this second testing Job was struck with terrible boils from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. And yet in his excruciating grief and pain, Job held onto his integrity and did not sin. His wife, who was also grieving, fell more on the other side of the spectrum, ready to curse God and die.

In Job 2:10, Job poses his wife (and all of us for that matter) with the question, “Should we accept only good from God and not adversity?”

Does this question cut you to your core? It’s a tough one to hear and an even harder one to search your heart for the reply. 

Hebrews 4 tells us about the impact of God’s word and how it’s meant to challenge us. The amplified translation of Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is living and active and full of power [making it operative, energizing, and effective]. It is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating as far as the division of the soul and spirit [the completeness of a person], and of both joints and marrow [the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and judging the very thoughts and intentions of the heart.” 

Job 2:10 cuts us to our core because it is God-breathed scripture, meant to reveal the condition of our heart, and meant to refine us. 

So again I ask, should we accept only good from God and not adversity? 

In our heart of hearts, I think we can likely all agree: No. Of course not.

After all, even Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith, accepted adversity from God.

Though in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus asked for the Lord to take the cup of suffering from Him (Matthew 26:39), Jesus willingly and for the joy set before Him, endured the adversity of the cross (Hebrews 12:2). 2 Corinthians 5:21 NLT says, “For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.” Jesus accepted adversity because He trusted how God, His good and perfect Father, was going to use it for His ultimate good and glory.

I fully acknowledge you might really be wrestling to accept the adversity that you’ve been dealt–

the years of infertility,

the high-risk pregnancy with complications,

the complexity of emotions that come with pregnancy after loss,the season of postpartum depression,

your child’s medical crisis and or diagnosis,

and perhaps even the tragic, and untimely passing of your precious child.

In fact, in our humanness, it’s perfectly normal to wrestle with accepting hardship. Remember: Jesus who was made like us in every respect so that He could help us in our suffering (Hebrews 2:17-18), also wrestled with accepting the cup of adversity.

But I do pray that as you sit with this transformational question of should I accept only good from God and not adversity, the Lord will do a work in and through your heart for His glory.

Heavenly Father, You are the Creator of all things. You established the very foundations of the Heavens and the Earth. And while you are good, in this broken world I have come to realize that even in your sovereignty there will be times when I am faced with adversity and things that feel anything but good. Lord, help me to humbly bow before you and open my hands in surrender. By your grace, help me to receive whatever you have for me with the full confidence that you will never leave me and you will not waste my pain. Remind my heart that in your goodness, you will be glorified through my hardship in ways I cannot even begin to imagine. I want to trust you with my whole heart, Lord. Help me to trust you. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Dig Deeper into How to Navigate What is Ahead with Real Hope

Reflection Questions:

1. Do you struggle to accept adversity from God? If so, why do you think that is? 

2. Think back to a previous time of adversity. How has the Lord worked in and through those circumstances for good?

Put Your Faith Into Action:

God is after our hearts. It’s through softened, surrendered hearts that He can do His will for His ultimate glory. But as the prophet Jeremiah stated in chapter 17 verse 9, “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?”

I encourage you to spend some time interacting with the prayer found in verses 23 and 24 at the end of Psalm 139. Whether you’re a visual, kinesthetic, or auditory learner, practice a number of ways to memorize it and write it on your heart.

ex: Journal the verses

Paint the verses

Create an interpretive dance

Listen to the verses in multiple translation

Further Reading:

1. Matthew 26:36-46

2. John 9:1-3

   
   
   
   

Jessika Sanders is a published writer who has been featured in Proverbs 31 Ministries’ Hope When Your Heart is Heavy devotional (2021), Focus on the Family’s Clubhouse Jr. magazine (2023), and Tyndale’s So God Made a Mother (2023). She is also the co-author of The Good Book Company's, In His Hands: Prayers for Your Child or Baby in a Medical Crisis ( July 2024). Jessika is also the founder and president of Praying Through ministries.