Whether we’re weathering a tempest or plodding through a desert we need hope, and nothing gives us hope like God’s Word. He pledges to be with us when we pass through floods and flames. He guarantees he’ll give us a future and a hope. He promises to comfort and strengthen, to be faithful, and watch over us day and night. He says he’ll hear our cries, give us peace and all we need. He assures us he never makes a promise he can’t keep and he’ll never change his mind about a promise he’s made.

John Newton, the author of Amazing Grace, wrote a letter he called “The Benefits of Affliction,” in which in which he says one benefit of affliction is that it drives us to God’s word. Or at least it should. When we suffer, there is nothing we need more than God’s word. Nothing has carried me through life’s storms like God’s promises. In Psalm 119:49 the Psalmist says:

Remember your word to your servant, in which you have made me hope.

Whether we’re weathering a tempest or plodding through a desert we need hope, and nothing gives us hope like God’s Word. He pledges to be with us when we pass through floods and flames. He guarantees he’ll give us a future and a hope. He promises to comfort and strengthen, to be faithful, and watch over us day and night. He says he’ll hear our cries, give us peace and all we need. He assures us he never makes a promise he can’t keep and he’ll never change his mind about a promise he’s made.

When we suffer we need God’s word to remind us that we have a sympathetic high priest who lives to intercede for us. That we have a friend closer than a brother, who’s been through what we’re going through and knows what it’s like.

Here’s what to do when the wind is howling all around us:

But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:
The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;b
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:21-23

In these verses Jeremiah says the key to having “hope” is to “call to mind” the truth of God’s Word. To intentionally recall that God’s love and mercies never cease but are new every day. To call to mind God’s great faithfulness. If we never take in God’s truth, we won’t have it to call to mind when the storm hits.

There is nothing we need more in affliction than God’s word. We need to remind ourselves of Scripture’s bedrock truths that God is sovereign, loving and wise. We need to take ourselves by the collar, and shout to our doubts: Hey self! Nothing is too hard for God. His arm is not too short to save. He is near to the broken hearted. Those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. It says so in his Word!

In affliction we must cling to God’s Word, because this is where Satan attacks. “Did God really say…..?” was how he challenged Eve and he uses the same tactic today. He tries to get us to doubt the truth of Scripture. Is God really faithful? Does he really care? You sure he hasn’t abandoned you?….The antidote is to take up the shield of faith to extinguish these fiery darts. And where does faith come from? From hearing – and hearing from God’s word.

The best thing we can do to prepare for affliction is to take in, meditate on, and memorize God’s word. And the best thing in the midst of affliction is to do the same. The temptation in tough times is to turn to other things than the Lord for relief. Let your pain drive you to God’s word.

Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word.
It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes. PS 119.67, 71

Mark Altrogge has been the senior pastor of Sovereign Grace Church of Indiana, PA for over 25 years, and is the author of many well known worship songs such as “I Stand In Awe”, and “In The Presence”. This article first appeared on his blog and is used with permission.