DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)
Lord, we desire this morning to contemplate with admiration your ways toward us. You have put some of us into the furnace. There is no child of yours who does not something of the heat of the furnace; and we know that you are as a refiner unto us, and that the fire is meant to consume our dross and tin; therefore we thank you for it. For all the acts of discipline to which we are subject, we would praise the wisdom and the love of our divine Father.
You would not have us live in sin; sin is much worse than furnace work. All the trial in the world is not so hard to carry as a sense of sin. Lord, if you give us choice to keep our sins and to live in pleasure, or to have them burnt away with trial, we will say to you, “Lord, give us the sanctified affliction, but deliver us from all the influences of sin, from every evil habit, all the ore that is mixed with the precious metal, everything that diminishes the brightness of your grace in us; everything that keeps you from taking delight in us, take it away, we beseech you.”
Amen.
VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)
“You rejoice in this, even though now for a short time, if necessary, you suffer grief in various trials so that the proven character of your faith—more valuable than gold which, though perishable, is refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 1:6–7)
Can a Christian greatly rejoice while he is in distress? Yes, most assuredly he can. Mariners tell us that there are some parts of the sea where there is a strong current upon the surface going one way, but that down in the depths there is a strong current running the other way. Two seas do not meet and interfere with one another, but one stream of water on the surface is running in one direction and another below in an opposite direction.
Now, the Christian is like that. On the surface there is a stream of heaviness rolling with dark waves. But down in the depths there is a strong undercurrent of great rejoicing that is always flowing there.
RECOMMENDED RESOURCE
God is at work in your trials. Learn more from Spurgeon
Today we prayed, thanking God for the refining influence that our trials and suffering have had on our life. We know this to be true; even in the worst of our suffering, we know that God is at work to protect, preserve, and purify us.
Spurgeon himself learned a lot from his own suffering. Stricken with significant illness and depression throughout most of his ministry, Spurgeon’s suffering drew him closer to Christ and gave him a deeper hope in God.
Spurgeon knew that suffering was an important experience in the Christian life, which is why he preached about it so often. If you want to learn Spurgeon’s biblical wisdom on trials, check out Spurgeon on Suffering: Reflections on Our Pain and God’s Grace. This is a collection of 12 classic sermons on trials, suffering, and perseverance.
I put this collection together to help suffering Christians (which is all of us!) find a deeper, more biblical hope through the worst of our trials. I know that this book will encourage you.
Buy Spurgeon on Suffering: