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Sickness!
Spurgeon, "Beloved, and yet Afflicted"
Christ's love for his people does not isolate them from
the common necessities and infirmities of human life.
Men of God are still men.
The bodily ills, which come upon us because of our flesh,
will attend us to the tomb, for Paul says,
"we that are in this body do groan."
Many a disciple of Jesus would have been of
small use if he had not been afflicted.
Strong men are apt to be harsh, arrogant, and unsympathetic, and
therefore they need to be put into the furnace, and melted down.
I have known Christian women who would never have been
so gentle, tender, wise, experienced, and holy if they
had not been mellowed by physical pain.
There are fruits in God's garden as well as in man's
which never ripen till they are bruised.
Young women who are apt to be volatile, conceited,
or talkative, are often trained to be full of sweetness
and light by sickness after sickness,
by which they are taught to sit at Jesus' feet.
Many have been able to say with the psalmist,
"It is good for me to have been afflicted,
that I might learn your statutes."
If our Lord leaves us to suffer, let us not repine.
He must do that for us which is kindest and best,
for he loves us better than we love ourselves.
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