“The Lord kills and makes alive;
he brings down to the grave and brings up.
The Lord makes poor and makes rich;
he brings low and lifts up.”
1st Samuel 2:6-7

No matter what a person does to extend his life, whether he does everything he can for the sake of his health, nevertheless it is the Lord who has settled before he was even born what would be the last day of his life on earth. It is not our efforts that establish our health or our wealth, it is the Lord alone.

In the same sense, the quality of a person’s life is decided even before he is born, whether he will be poor or rich, healthy or not, it has all been decided before he sees the light of day.

“Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
and in your book they all were written,
THE DAYS FASHIONED FOR ME
when as yet there were none of them.”
Psalm 139:16

The Lord loves to redeem the lowly. Many who walk with the Lord today were people living a wasted life. How many testimonies have we heard of the Lord reaching down and taking the wasted, the overwhelmed, raising them up to sit among princes!

“He raises the poor from the dust
and lifts the beggar from the ash heap,
to set them among princes
and make them inherit the throne of glory.”
1st Samuel 2:8

If it seems like your affliction will go on forever, know that it will not. There will come a day, whether it be on this earth or in the life to come, when everything will change for you, and your faithfulness as you waited in affliction will be rewarded beyond what you can even now imagine. God is faithful. Absolutely faithful.

“Hold on my child, joy comes in the morning.”