Mmm…
For my 23rd birthday, Joyce got me “Morning & Evening,” a devotional book written by Charles Spurgeon. Joyce, if you’re reading this, I hope you know what a great encouragement this book has been for me, especially since the move. <3 I was thumbing through the month of October, and I came across a past devotional that rings so much more truth, now.
An excerpt:
“Our heavenly Father sends us frequent troubles to test our faith. If our faith is worth anything, it will stand the test. Gilt is afraid of fire, but gold is not: the paste gem dreads to be touched by the diamond, but the true jewel fears no test. It is poor faith which can only trust God when friends are true, the body full of health, and the business profitable; but that is true faith which holds by the Lord’s faithfulness when friends are gone, when the body is sick, when spirits are depressed and the light of our Father’s countenance is hidden … When “tribulation works patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope, the Lord is honored by these growing virtues … The wisdom and power of the great Workman are discovered by the trials through which His vessels of mercy are permitted to pass. Present afflictions tend also to heighten future joy. There must be shades in the picture to bring out the beauty of the lights. Could we be so supremely blessed in heaven, if we hadn’t known the curse of sin and the sorrow of earth? Won’t peace be sweeter after conflict, and rest more welcome after toil? Won’t the recollection of past sufferings enhance the bliss of the glorified?”
