Is Christ your High-priest, and is his priesthood so indispensably necessary to our salvation? Then, freely acknowledge your utter impotency to reconcile yourselvesto God by anything you can do or suffer, and let Christ have the whole glory of your recovery ascribed to him. It is highly reasonable that he who laid down the whole price should have the whole praise.
—John Flavel
Since Jesus died our heaviness is dead; our murmuring is buried in his tomb. Since Jesus endured the wrath of God, which was due to us, that wrath has passed away for ever, and it is now the privilege, nay, the duty of every Christian to rejoice in the Lord. Let all the people praise him, and let the redeemed of the Lord be foremost in the joy.
—Charles Spurgeon
Very helpful words from J. Gresham Machen and Kevin DeYoung.
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
—Romans 5:1-11 ESV
If your face is now covered with sorrow, the time will come when you will bless God for that sorrow. The day will come when you will see great gain from your losses, your crosses, your troubles, and your afflictions.
From all your afflictions his glory shall spring,
And the deeper your sorrows the louder you’ll sing.
—Charles Spurgeon, Beside Still Waters pg. 28
We walk here by faith, not by sight. You believe in God, but you have not beheld his glory as the blessed dead have done. You believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, but it is in one “whom having not seen you love.” You believe in the Holy Spirit, and you have been conscious of his presence by faith, but there is a something better yet; a clearer sight is yet to be had, which we cannot enjoy while we tarry here. At present we take everything on the testimony of God’s word and the witness of his Spirit: but we have not yet seen the celestial city, nor heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps, nor eaten at the banquets of the glorified. We enjoy a foretaste of all these, and anticipate them by faith, but actual enjoyments are not for this world. What a man seeth why doth he yet hope for? As this is the realm of hope we cannot expect to see, but we are going to the place where we shall not so much believe as behold, where we shall not so much credit as enjoy. We are nearing the country where we shall
“See, and hear, and know, All we desired or wished below.”
And faith shall be exchanged for the clearest sight.
—Charles Spurgeon
“It is a high privilege to rest in God when danger or pain strikes….Put yourself (this is your privilege) in the keeping of those dear hands that were pierced for you. Surrender to the love of that heart which was pierced to purchase your redemption….Oh, to be in God’s hand. What a place—in the hands of God!…If we are in God’s hands, we are where all things rest; we are home and we are happy. We have left the creature’s nothingness and entered into the Creator’s all-sufficiency. Beloved friend, get there. Hurry to get there, and from this moment live in God’s hands.
—Charles Spurgeon, Beside Still Waters page 24
But you, O LORD, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head.
I really like this quote that I posted earlier. It’s encouraging to me because God does always give what is best.
But that’s not always in the manner of a happy-go-lucky little life with no problems. It’s been said that you only have to live long enough to suffer, and I certainly agree! But I also believe that sometimes what is “far better” than what we ask for is suffering. Trials. Hardships.
That sounds weird, I know, but I’ve seen God use difficulties to teach me something far better than what I could’ve learned in prosperity. If we ask for blessing, he will give us blessing…but in his own perfectly wise way, and he can do it through prosperity or through trials. He is mighty and loving enough to use both types of circumstances for our good, and either can be “far better,” simply because he is the one ordaining our every step and leading us by the hand.
It’s not that it’s always easy to believe this. But I know it’s true. I’m just trying to talk to myself.
The Gospel does not confine the hearts of men to the enjoyment of the present life, but raises them to the hope of immortality; does not fix them down to earthly delights, but announcing that there is a treasure laid up in heaven, carries the heart thither also.
—John Calvin
But the God of grace is one who has opened a communication between heaven and earth, who notices the cries of his children, puts their tears into his bottle, sympathises with their sorrows, looks down on them with an eye of pity and a father’s love, has communion with them, and permits them to have communion with him, and all that through the blessed person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
—Charles Spurgeon
Charles Spurgeon
I remember the days of old;
I meditate on all that you have done;
I ponder the work of your hands.
I stretch out my hands to you;
my soul thirsts for you like a parched land.
Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love,
for in you I trust.
Make me know the way I should go,
for to you I lift up my soul.
I once heard someone say that faith is the engine and feelings are the caboose of our lives. And when faith drives the train, feelings will eventually follow.
The reason we are not to be ruled by our feelings is because our feelings are a poor barometer of the truth. Our feelings are real. They are often strong. But they may be wrong….
The good fight of faith is in many ways the lifelong battle to believe God’s word and not our feelings.
—Mark Altrogge
When God calls us to wait, it doesn’t mean he isn’t actively at work in our lives. Sometimes God makes us wait to teach us to trust and depend on him. Waiting humbles us – it reminds us that we’re very limited creatures. Waiting reminds us God is in control and our times are in his hands. Waiting strengthens our prayer lives as we seek God again and again for an answer. Waiting makes us compassionate toward others in their trials. Waiting builds patience, faithfulness and long-suffering. And waiting makes us all the more grateful when the wait is over.
—Mark Altrogge
Psalm 116:7
I love the LORD, because he has heard
my voice and my pleas for mercy.
Because he inclined his ear to me,
therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
he who would glorify his God must set his account upon meeting with many trials. no man can be illustrious before the lord unless his conflicts be many. if then, yours be a much-tried path, rejoice in it, because you will the better show forth the all-sufficient grace of God. as for his failing you, never dream of it—hate the thought. the God who has been sufficient until now should be trusted to the end.
—charles spurgeon
Praise the Lord.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name!
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits,
who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
who satisfies you with good
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
[Stephen Altrogge]
The Lord may not give gold, but he will give grace; he may not give gain, but he will give grace. He will certainly send us trial, but he will give grace in proportion thereto. We may be called to labour, and to suffer, but with the call there will come all the grace required.
—Charles Spurgeon
