Home trials

(J. C. Ryle, "Without Clouds")

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.

We have posted Ryle's very uplifting sermon:
"Without Clouds"