Good morning,
We do not like being afflicted. We do not ask God to bring suffering into our lives.
So what is the purpose of afflictions and sufferings? William Romaine has some thoughts about that.
There is not one thing that thwarts your will, that is not in God’s will
(Letters of William Romaine, 1714-1795)
My dear friend,
Your frequent afflictions are His sweet lessons. It is the proper work of the grace of Jesus to humble the proud sinner, to make him and to keep him sensible of his needs, convinced always that he has not any good of his own and cannot possibly of himself obtain any–but what he must be receiving every moment out of the fullness of Jesus.
All providences, sicknesses, losses, successes–are only so far blessings, as they lead us more out of ourselves, into the fullness of Jesus.
The Lord having appointed you for His heavenly kingdom, has also appointed all the steps which are to lead you there. Your every affliction is in the covenant. Your sicknesses, your failings, your disappointments–there is not one thing that thwarts your will, that is not in God’s will. Nothing can befall you but what is . . .
divinely ordered,
contrived for you by infinite wisdom,
brought upon you by infinite love!
Oh, for eyes to see, for a heart to receive all God’s dealings with you in this covenant view. How sweet would be your many trials, if you found them all appointed and managed for you by the best of friends! Learn to receive them thus.
To the care of His dear loving heart I commend you and yours,
William Romaine
~ ~ ~ ~
God uses our afflictions, sufferings, and trials to humble us. In so doing, He brings us closer to Him.
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)
Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001
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