Where Is God In Adversity

Some critics who question the existence of God, point to the adversity and suffering of God's people.  If God exists, then why do His people suffer?  The truth is that God has not called His people to have an easy life.  God's people are continually called to suffer, and be an example of patience and faith in our adversity. How can we be an example of faith unless our faith is challenged?  How can we be an example of patience unless our patience is challenged? 

The suffering of Job is a type of the suffering of the Messiah Jesus Christ and God's people. Where was God in Jobs life?, In the life of Jesus, or in the Holocaust of the Jews? Jesus Himself cried out on the cross, "O God, O God, why hast thou forsaken me".  Joseph Smith in Liberty jail wrote, "O God, where art thou? And where is the pavilion that covereth thy hiding place?" 

Yet, in all these examples, God has proven faithful to redeem His people and make up to them all their losses, even to exceed 100 fold. Job was restored to family and riches beyond what he had a first. Jesus Christ was gloriously resurrected and the Kingdom of God was birthed out of His death.  The nation of Israel was originally brought out of Egyptian bondage.  The Jewish people have been preserved through two thousand years of persecution, and the modern state of Israel was resurrected out of the Holocaust.  

Simillarly, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the New Jerusalem, arose from the martyrdom of Joseph Smith and the persecution of the Saints beginning in Kirkland, Missouri, Nauvoo and following them to the Rocky Mountains. Today, this great Latter-day kingdom reaches across all people's and continents. 

However, while each of us is subject to the conditions of mortality, I have found much less adversity in my life, and avoided many potholes, by living according to God's commandments.