Afflictions

Proverbs relating to being afflicted with adversity, bereavement, calamity, difficulties, disaster, distress, grief, loss, misery, misfortune, pain, sickness, sorrow, trouble, etc.

The righteous person is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked turns up in his stead.
Prov. 11:8 (read whole chapter)
The one who troubles his family will inherit nothing, and the fool will be a servant to the wise person.
Prov. 11:29 (read whole chapter)
All the days of the afflicted are bad, but one with a cheerful heart has a continual feast.
Better is little with the fear of the LORD than great wealth and turmoil with it.
Prov. 15:15-16 (read whole chapter)
The crucible is for refining silver and the furnace is for gold, likewise the LORD tests hearts.
Prov. 17:3 (read whole chapter)
Thorns and snares are in the path of the perverse, but the one who guards himself keeps far from them.
Prov. 22:5 (read whole chapter)
If you faint in the day of trouble, your strength is small!
Prov. 24:10 (read whole chapter)
Although a righteous person may fall seven times, he gets up again, but the wicked will be brought down by calamity.
Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and when he stumbles do not let your heart rejoice,
Prov. 24:16-17 (read whole chapter)
Like a fluttering bird or like a flying swallow, so a curse without cause does not come to rest.
Prov. 26:2 (read whole chapter)

From The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran

And a woman spoke, saying, Tell us of Pain.

And he said:

Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.

Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain.

And could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life, your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy;

And you would accept the seasons of your heart, even as you have always accepted the seasons that pass over your fields.

And you would watch with serenity through the winters of your grief.

Much of your pain is self-chosen.

It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self.

Therefore trust the physician, and drink his remedy in silence and tranquillity: For his hand, though heavy and hard, is guided by the tender hand of the Unseen, And the cup he brings, though it burn your lips, has been fashioned of the clay which the Potter has moistened with His own sacred tears.