Trials, suffering, and hardship; what God accomplishes through pain; the benefit and purpose of affliction in the Christian life.
- Exercise of Trials John Newton
And how are you to know experimentally, either your own weakness—or the power, wisdom and grace of God, seasonably and sufficiently afforded—but by frequent and various …
- Beware Doubting His Kindness J.C. Ryle
If God has given His Son to die for us, let us beware of doubting His kindness and love in any painful providence of our daily life. Let us never allow ourselves to think …
- Suffering Exposes Sin Ed Welch
Suffering exposes the sin in our hearts in a way few things can.
When our lives are trouble free, we can confuse personal satisfaction for faith.
- Feel the Pain John Owen
Any member who does not feel the pains of his fellow members is rotten and ready to be cut off, for fear of infecting the body.
- Newton on Promises in Affliction John Newton
The far greater part of the promises in Scripture are made and suited to a state of affliction; and though we may believe they are true, we cannot so well know their …
- His Sufferings vs. Yours John Newton
But how different were His sufferings—from yours! There is no sting in your rod—nor wrath in your cup!
- God Speaking John Newton
Though infidels and petty reasoners will, doubtless, labour to persuade themselves that [’the late dreadful hurricanes in the West Indies’] proceeded merely from natural …
- The Benefit of Trials John Newton
I have indeed had my trials, and some of them have been sharp; but their sharpness, as I have hinted, has been chiefly owing to my lack of faith and submission.
I have …
- Comfort from Sovereignty John Newton
When heavy trials in life are appointed to us, and we are called to give up, or perhaps to pluck out, a right eye—it is an easy matter for a bystander to say ‘Be …
- Trifles Once Discouraging John Newton
The hour is coming when we shall be astonished to think what mere trifles were once capable of discouraging us for though many things we now meet with have a kind of …
- End of Fear Matthew Henry
The clearer sight we have of the sovereignty and power of heaven the less we shall fear the calamities of this earth.
- Great Affliction Jeremiah Burroughs
Let it be as great an affliction as it will, it is not as great as your sin.
- God’s Tools in Providence Jeremiah Burroughs
‘I think I could be content with God’s hand,’ says one, ‘so far as I see the hand of God in a thing I can be content. But when men deal so unreasonably and unjustly with …
- The End of Temptation John Newton
One gracious end, therefore, that the Lord has in permitting his people to be tempted, is for the prevention of greater evils, that they may not grow proud or careless, …
- Communion with Lepers Joe Barron Hopper
Some of the happiest experiences have been in churches where all the members have leprosy… More than once I have served communion to men like this where the bread had to …
- Self Realization? J.R.R. Tolkien
However, the essence of a fallen world is that the best cannot be attained by free enjoyment, or by what is called ‘self-realization’ (usually a nice name for …
- Joy and Sorrow John Calvin
Though joy overcomes sorrow, yet it does not put an end to it, for it does not divest us of humanity.
- Believers are Exiles Tom Schreiner
Believers are exiles, not because they are displaced from their homeland. Believers are exiles because they suffer for their faith in a world that finds their faith …
- A Surgeon's Skill John Newton
If people are satisfied of a surgeon’s skill and prudence, they will not only yield to be cut at his pleasure without pretending to direct him where, or how long he shall …
- Eschatology of Victory Richard Gaffin
Most assuredly, the eschatology of the New Testament is an ’eschatology of victory’—victory presently being realized by and for the church, through the eschatological …
- Though Friends Should All Fail Us John Newton
Though troubles assail us and dangers affright, / Though friends should all fail us and foes all unite, / Yet one thing secures us, whatever betide, / The promise assures …
- Frequent and Various Trials John Newton
And how are you to know experimentally either your own weakness or the power, wisdom, and grace of God, seasonably and sufficiently afforded, but by frequent and various …
- Communion with Christ Joel Beeke, Mark Jones
We have communion with Christ in His work because ’there is almost nothing that Christ hath done, which is a spring of that grace whereof we speak, but we are said to do …
- The Church Under the Cross Herman Bavinck
The Revelation of John is nevertheless primarily a book of consolation for ’the church under the cross’ of his time, to urge it to persevere in the struggle and to …
- Not to Us Charles Spurgeon
Yet it is, perhaps, one of the hardest struggles of the Christian life to learn this sentence-‘Not unto us, not unto us, but unto thy name be glory.’ It is a lesson which …
- Resentment and Impatience John Sanderson
Our resentment is against the timetable which the sovereign God has assigned us, a schedule based on a plan of which we are usually ignorant. It is this ignorance which …
- Things of This World Richard Sibbes
Thorns will not prick of themselves, but when they are grasped in a man’s hand they prick deep. So this world and the things thereof are all good, and were all made of …
- Striving After the Wind The Teacher
And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my …