Hammer, anvil, file & fire!

(Charles Spurgeon, "A Song Concerning Lovingkindnesses")

"I know, O Lord, that Your judgments are righteous, that
 in faithfulness You have afflicted me." Psalm 119:75

O, my brethren, how much we owe to the hammer
and the anvil and the file and the fire! Thanks be to
God for the little crosses of every day; yes, and for the
heavy crosses which He sends us at certain seasons.

He does not gather the twigs of His rod on the 'mountains
of wrath', but He plucks them in the 'garden of love', and
though He sometimes makes blue marks upon us as He
smites us heavily, yet His strokes are fewer than our
crimes--and lighter than our guilt.

Love bathes all the wounds which it makes, and kisses
away the smart. Blessed be a chastening God! Set down
your chastenings among your choicest mercies!

"For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and chastises
 every son whom He receives." Hebrews 12:6