tag name: Tests and difficulties type: Miscellaneous web link: bahai-library.com/tags/Tests_and_difficulties variations or mis-spellings: Difficulty related tags: – Concepts; Psychology; Spirituality referring tags: - Compilations on bahai.org; - Persecution; – Negative emotions and behaviors; Adversity; Comfort; Complaining; Disappointment; Empowerment; Fire and Light (compilation); God, Tests of; Gold; Health challenges, Mental and physical; Hope; Lament; Lawh-i-Fitnih (Tablet of the Test); Luck (fortune); Materialism; Mental tests; Self; Storms; Stress; Suffering; Suffering and imprisonment of Central Figures; Support; This too shall pass Inventory subject: Prayer for tests and difficulties; Recompense; reward for belief; right action; Tests and trials; sacrifice and suffering notes: "My calamity is My providence, outwardly it is fire and vengeance, but inwardly it is light and mercy. Hasten thereunto that thou mayest become an eternal light and an immortal spirit. This is My command unto thee, do thou observe it."
– Bahá'u'lláh, The Hidden Words, Arabic #51
"Should prosperity befall thee, rejoice not, and should abasement come upon thee, grieve not, for both shall pass away and be no more."
– Bahá'u'lláh, The Hidden Words, Arabic #52
"Lament not in your hours of trial, neither rejoice therein; seek ye the Middle Way which is the remembrance of Me in your afflictions and reflection over that which may befall you in future. Thus informeth you He Who is the Omniscient, He Who is aware."
– Bahá'u'lláh, Kitáb-i-Aqdas, ¶ 43
"... ‘Abdu’l-Bahá payeth no heed whatsoever to any ordeal, difficulty, or adversity. Nay, rather, he regardeth adversity to be, at times, the same as bounty itself. For forty years the prison-city of ‘Akká was for him a heavenly paradise, and he saw the early days of that imprisonment, which were its most severe, as a garden of roses.
Thou too must be my companion, and abandon not the arena in the face of afflictions and calamities. Thou must not merely refrain from complaining, but must rather be thankful..."
– 'Abdu'l-Bahá, Light of the World, #22.5-6
"While a man is happy he may forget his God; but when grief comes and sorrows overwhelm him, then will he remember his Father Who is in Heaven, and Who is able to deliver him from his humiliations.
"Men who suffer not, attain no perfection. The plant most pruned by the gardeners is that one which, when the summer comes, will have the most beautiful blossoms and the most abundant fruit."
– 'Abdu'l-Bahá, Paris Talks, talk 14, in Lights of Guidance, no. 2041
"... tests and trials are, for sanctified souls, but God’s bounty and grace, while to the weak, they are a calamity, unexpected and sudden. These tests... do but cleanse the spotting of self from off the mirror of the heart, till the Sun of Truth can cast its rays thereon; for there is no veil more obstructive than the self, and however tenuous that veil may be, at the last it will completely shut a person out, and deprive him of his portion of eternal grace..."
– Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Bahá, #155
"We must take the teachings as a great, balanced whole, not seek out and oppose to each other two strong statements that have different meanings; somewhere in between, there are links uniting the two. That is what makes our Faith so flexible and well balanced. For instance there are calamities for testing and for punishment--there are also accidents, plain cause and effect!"
– From a letter on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, 19 March 1946, cited in Reconciliation of Apparent Contradictions in the Bahá'í Writings
"Lauded and glorified art Thou, O my God!
I entreat Thee by the sighing of Thy lovers and by the tears shed by them that long to behold Thee, not to withhold from me Thy tender mercies in Thy Day, nor to deprive me of the melodies of the Dove that extolleth Thy oneness before the light that shineth from Thy face. I am the one who is in misery, O God! Behold me cleaving fast to Thy Name, the All-Possessing. I am the one who is sure to perish; behold me clinging to Thy Name, the Imperishable. I implore Thee, therefore, by Thy Self, the Exalted, the Most High, not to abandon me unto mine own self and unto the desires of a corrupt inclination. Hold Thou my hand with the hand of Thy power, and deliver me from the depths of my fancies and idle imaginings, and cleanse me of all that is abhorrent unto Thee.
Cause me, then, to turn wholly unto Thee, to put my whole trust in Thee, to seek Thee as my Refuge, and to flee unto Thy face. Thou art, verily, He Who, through the power of His might, doeth whatsoever He desireth, and commandeth, through the potency of His will, whatsoever He chooseth. None can withstand the operation of Thy decree; none can divert the course of Thine appointment. Thou art, in truth, the Almighty, the All-Glorious, the Most Bountiful."
– Bahá'u'lláh, Bahá'í Prayers"He is the Compassionate, the All-Bountiful! O God, my God! Thou seest me, Thou knowest me; Thou art my Haven and my Refuge. None have I sought nor any will I seek save Thee; no path have I trodden nor any will I tread but the path of Thy love. In the darksome night of despair, my eye turneth expectant and full of hope to the morn of Thy boundless favor and at the hour of dawn my drooping soul is refreshed and strengthened in remembrance of Thy beauty and perfection. He whom the grace of Thy mercy aideth, though he be but a drop, shall become the boundless ocean, and the merest atom which the outpouring of Thy loving-kindness assisteth, shall shine even as the radiant star.
Shelter under Thy protection, O Thou Spirit of purity, Thou Who art the All-Bountiful Provider, this enthralled, enkindled servant of Thine. Aid him in this world of being to remain steadfast and firm in Thy love and grant that this broken-winged bird attain a refuge and shelter in Thy divine nest that abideth upon the celestial tree."
– 'Abdu'l-Bahá, Bahá'í Prayers
See also:
– 'Abdu'l-Bahá, Bahá'í Sacred Writings, chapter 13, section "Tests and Afflictions"
– Bahá'í Prayers:
Prayers for aid and assistance
Prayers for tests and difficulties
references: bahai9.com/wiki/Tests; bahaiquotes.com/subjects/t; thebahaiprayers.com/subject/tests; www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/search#q=Test; www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/search#q=Difficulty
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