What careful reader of the Bible can fail to see that Adam, and Noah, and Abraham, and Isaac,and Jacob, and Joseph, and Moses, and Samuel--were all men of many sorrows--and that those sorrows chiefly arose out of their own homes!
The plain truth is, that home trials are one of the many means by which God sanctifies and purifies His believing people. These trials are spiritual medicines, which poor fallen human nature absolutely needs.
By them He keeps us humble.
By them He draws us to Himself.
By them He sends us to our Bibles.
By them He teaches us to pray.
By them He shows us our need of Christ.
By them He weans us from the world.
By them He prepares us for "a city which has foundations," in which there will be no disappointments, no tears, and no sin.
The believer looks forward to the final gathering of a perfect family in which there shall be . . . no unsound members,
no defects,
no sin,
no sorrow,
no deaths,
no tears.
Taken from Without Clouds a sermon by JC Ryle.
1 comment:
You know, it's SO very hard to get my head and my heart into the place where I truly believe that trials are "spiritual medicine." ("This tastes terrible going down, but it will help you heal...")It absolutely requires fixed gaze on the list that Ryle gives us. During trials, there is no room for the things that typically distract us, and that is good. I keep going back to "by them He shows us our need of Christ."
Amen.
Good word, friend.
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