Let my condition be ever so dark and sad and afflicted!

by John Shower, 1657-1715

(You will find it helpful to Listen to the Audio above, as you read the text below.)

"Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey Your Word." Psalm 119:67

"It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn Your decrees." Psalm 119:71

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

I thank you, O heavenly Father, for the many advantages of affliction:
  to humble my pride,
  to mortify the flesh,
  to subdue my passions,
  to quicken prayer,
  to weaken the power of sin,
  to try my faith and love,
  to cure my worldliness and sensuality,
  to keep me from wandering from You,
  to empty me of self-admiration,
  to awaken the consideration of death and judgment,
  to impress upon my mind, the thoughts of the vanity of this world, and the eternity of the next world!

Whatever I suffer in this world, let my condition be ever so dark and sad and afflicted--it still is such that every one of the damned would think it an infinite happiness to be as I am!

To cure my impatience under the sharpest trials and afflictions--let me think of those eternal flames of wrath, which the damned suffer in Hell.

Let us fasten this comforting and sobering truth in our minds: "The most miserable state outside of Hell, is mercy!"  George Swinnock, 1627-1673