19 Bible Verses about Afflicted Saints, Examples Of

So Joseph’s master took him and put him in the prison, a place where the king’s prisoners were confined; so he was there in the prison. But the Lord was with Joseph and extended lovingkindness to him, and gave him favor in the sight of the warden. The warden committed to Joseph’s care (management) all the prisoners who were in the prison; so that whatever was done there, he was in charge of it. read more.
The warden paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph’s care because the Lord was with him; whatever Joseph did, the Lord made to prosper.

He sent a man before them,
Joseph, who was sold as a slave.

His feet they hurt with shackles;
He was put in chains of iron,

Until the time that his word [of prophecy regarding his brothers] came true,
The word of the Lord tested and refined him.

because he preferred to endure the hardship of the people of God rather than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin.

So Samuel told him everything, hiding nothing from him. And Eli said, “It is the Lord; may He do what seems good to Him.”

Now it came about when I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying [constantly] before the God of heaven.

Then Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head [in mourning for the children], and he fell to the ground and worshiped [God]. He said,

“Naked (without possessions) I came [into this world] from my mother’s womb,
And naked I will return there.
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;
Blessed be the name of the Lord.” Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God.

Then Nathan went [back] to his home.And the Lord struck the child that Uriah’s widow bore to David, and he was very sick. David therefore appealed to God for the child [to be healed]; and David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground. The elders of his household stood by him [in the night] to lift him up from the ground, but he was unwilling [to get up] and would not eat food with them. read more.
Then it happened on the seventh day that the child died. David’s servants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, “While the child was still alive, we spoke to him and he would not listen to our voices. How then can we tell him the child is dead, since he might harm himself [or us]?” But when David saw that his servants were whispering to one another, he realized that the child was dead. So David said to them, “Is the child dead?” And they said, “He is dead.” Then David got up from the ground, washed, anointed himself [with olive oil], changed his clothes, and went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. Then he came [back] to his own house, and when he asked, they set food before him and he ate. Then his servants said to him, “What is this thing that you have done? While the child was alive you fasted and wept, but when the child died, you got up and ate food.” David said, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept; for I thought, ‘Who knows, the Lord may be gracious to me and the child may live.’ But now he is dead; why should I [continue to] fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him [when I die], but he will not return to me.”

And now, compelled by the Spirit and obligated by my convictions, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit solemnly [and emphatically] affirms to me in city after city that imprisonment and suffering await me. But I do not consider my life as something of value or dear to me, so that I may [with joy] finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify faithfully of the good news of God’s [precious, undeserved] grace [which makes us free of the guilt of sin and grants us eternal life].

Then Paul replied, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart [like this]? For I am ready not only to be bound and imprisoned, but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”

When we are slandered, we try to be conciliatory and answer softly. We have become like the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, even until now.

but we commend ourselves in every way as servants of God: in great endurance, in sufferings, in hardships, in distresses, in beatings, in imprisonments, in riots, in labors, in sleepless nights, in hunger, in purity and sincerity, in knowledge and spiritual insight, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love, read more.
in [speaking] the word of truth, in the power of God; by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand [like holding the sword to attack] and for the left [like holding the shield to defend], amid glory and dishonor; by evil report and good report; branded as deceivers and yet [vindicated as] truthful; as unknown [to the world], yet well-known [by God and His people]; as dying, yet we live; as punished, yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet bestowing riches on many; as having nothing, yet possessing all things.

And they said to one another, “Truly we are guilty regarding our brother [Joseph], because we saw the distress and anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us [to let him go], yet we would not listen [to his cry]; so this distress and anguish has come on us.”

Now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me ahead of you to save life and preserve our family.

He humbled you and allowed you to be hungry and fed you with manna, [a substance] which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, so that He might make you understand [by personal experience] that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.

because your heart was tender (receptive, penitent) and you humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard what I said against this place and against its inhabitants, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and because you have torn your clothes and wept before Me, I have heard you,” declares the Lord.

But Hezekiah did nothing [for the Lord] in return for the benefit bestowed on him, because his heart had become proud; therefore God’s wrath came on him and on Judah and Jerusalem. However, Hezekiah humbled his proud heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the Lord did not come on them during the days of Hezekiah.

But when he was in distress, he sought the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers.

“When my soul was fainting within me,
I remembered the Lord,
And my prayer came to You,
Into Your holy temple.

And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’