“You have allowed me to suffer much hardship, but you will restore me to life again and lift me up from the depths of the earth. You will restore me to even greater honor and comfort me once again,”   Psalm 71:20-21.

Suffer, hardship, troubles, these are words that we would rather not hear in the Christian community.

Yet God reminds us that these things are allowed in our lives, in seasons for a higher reason.

This verse in the King James translation says,

“Thou, which has shown me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me again from the depths of the earth,”  [vs.20].

Great troubles means huge, increased, and many.  Sore troubles means adversity, affliction, calamity, displeasure grievous, sorrow and trouble.

That is just to name a few.  Why?  Why are we allowed to go through troubles and hardships?

Let’s see what the Psalmist writes.

“Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word,”   Psalm 119:67.

“It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statues,”‘   Psalm 119:71.

When we go through sore troubles, and we are trusting and believing God’s Word, we learn that the promises are really true for us.

We have experience to go with our faith.  It is no longer the pastor’s, the evangelist’s, the teacher’s or anyone else’s testimony, it becomes your own.

You have seen the true and living God come to your aid, watch over His Word and perform it on your behalf.

The Word that you refused to let go of, that faithful promise you stood on.  When all else that you trusted in proves that it is unstable, unfaithful, not lasting, and undependable, then you are left to see God’s Word will prove itself.

“Faithful and absolutely trustworthy is He who is calling you {to himself for your salvation}, and He will do it {He will fulfill His call by making you holy, guarding you, watching over you, and protecting you as His own},”   1 Thessalonians 5:24 AMP.

Look at the power and the benefit of trusting God’s Word. “…you will restore me [quicken me] to life again and lift me up from the depths of the earth.”

Quicken is to make alive, nourish up, to recover, repair, to restore and to revive and to preserve to life again.  Restore means to give back, to make restitution, to rebuild, to bring back to a healthy state, to make amends or compensation for, to replace in a former state of favor and grace.

After we have withstood, we then inherit the promise and receive greater honor.

“Blessed [happy, spiritually prosperous, favored by God] is the man who is steadfast under trial and perseveres when tempted; for when he has passed the test and been approved, he will receive the [victor’s] crown of life which The LORD has promised to those who love Him,”   James 1:12.

God, our Father delights to lift us up from the deepest abyss of life and bring us up to the greatest place of honor.  He did it with David, Abraham, Esther, Joseph, Ruth, Gideon, Moses, Daniel, the three Hebrew boys, the list goes on and on.

When all of our dependency is in Him, not in us or the arm of flesh, stand and see the salvation of The LORD.

Salvation means, something saved, deliverance, aid, victory, prosperity, health and help.  He wants our Source to be Him, for all of His rewards are with Him.

Get ready then to be brought up from the places of the abyss and be revived, rebuilt, quickened, brought back to live, really live.

Greater grace, greater favor, greater amends and compensation.  That first burst of sunlight is awesome, train your eyes to see greater distances.

We are rising to new heights in Christ.  We have learned through our afflictions that our God is a mighty deliverer and restorer!

Love,
~ Debra Lowe

Pastor Debra Lowe has served The LORD for 39 years as a Prophet to the nation.  She also walks in the office of teacher and is an intercessor using these gifts to minister to the body of Christ, teaching men, women and children to enter into His presence causing them to mature and be changed by His Word.  As a servant of the Most High God she brings forth a word in due season to the body of Christ.

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