Tribulations and God's children

Morning and Evening

Charles H. Spurgeon

March 8, 2010

Morning Reading

We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.--Acts
14:22

God's people have their trials. It was never designed by God, when He
chose His people, that they should be an untried people. They were
chosen in the furnace of affliction; they were never chosen to worldly
peace and earthly joy. Freedom from sickness and the pains of mortality
was never promised them; but when their Lord drew up the charter of
privileges, He included chastisements amongst the things to which they
should inevitably be heirs. Trials are a part of our lot; they were
predestinated for us in Christ's last legacy. So surely as the stars
are fashioned by his hands, and their orbits fixed by Him, so surely
are our trials allotted to us: He has ordained their season and their
place, their intensity and the effect they shall have upon us. Good men
must never expect to escape troubles; if they do, they will be
disappointed, for none of their predecessors have been without them.
Mark the patience of Job; remember Abraham, for he had his trials, and
by his faith under them, he became the "Father of the faithful." Note
well the biographies of all the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and
martyrs, and you shall discover none of those whom God made vessels of
mercy, who were not made to pass through the fire of affliction. It is
ordained of old that the cross of trouble should be engraved on every
vessel of mercy, as the royal mark whereby the King's vessels of honour
are distinguished. But although tribulation is thus the path of God's
children, they have the comfort of knowing that their Master has
traversed it before them; they have His presence and sympathy to cheer
them, His grace to support them, and His example to teach them how to
endure; and when they reach "the kingdom," it will more than make
amends for the "much tribulation" through which they passed to enter
it.

Evening Reading

She called his name Ben-oni (son of sorrow), but his father called him
Benjamin (son of my right hand).--Genesis 35:18

To every matter there is a bright as well as a dark side. Rachel was
overwhelmed with the sorrow of her own travail and death; Jacob, though
weeping the mother's loss, could see the mercy of the child's birth. It
is well for us if, while the flesh mourns over trials, our faith
triumphs in divine faithfulness. Samson's lion yielded honey, and so
will our adversities, if rightly considered. The stormy sea feeds
multitudes with its fishes; the wild wood blooms with beauteous
flowerets; the stormy wind sweeps away the pestilence, and the biting
frost loosens the soil. Dark clouds distil bright drops, and black
earth grows gay flowers. A vein of good is to be found in every mine of
evil. Sad hearts have peculiar skill in discovering the most
disadvantageous point of view from which to gaze upon a trial; if there
were only one slough in the world, they would soon be up to their necks
in it, and if there were only one lion in the desert they would hear it
roar. About us all there is a tinge of this wretched folly, and we are
apt, at times, like Jacob, to cry, "All these things are against me."
Faith's way of walking is to cast all care upon the Lord, and then to
anticipate good results from the worst calamities. Like Gideon's men,
she does not fret over the broken pitcher, but rejoices that the lamp
blazes forth the more. Out of the rough oyster-shell of difficulty she
extracts the rare pearl of honour, and from the deep ocean-caves of
distress she uplifts the priceless coral of experience. When her flood
of prosperity ebbs, she finds treasures hid in the sands; and when her
sun of delight goes down, she turns her telescope of hope to the starry
promises of heaven. When death itself appears, faith points to the
light of resurrection beyond the grave, thus making our dying Benoni to
be our living Benjamin.