DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)
The Lord has helped his people, yes the Lord hath been the strength and the help of his chosen. “One who is righteous has many adversities, but the LORD rescues him from them all” (Psalm 34:19), and at this moment, in looking back upon the past, we have nothing to do, but to admire and to adore the constancy of love, the faithfulness of grace.
We thank you, O God, on the behalf of many of your people, our brethren, that you have dealt so well with them. We knew them many years ago when their young hearts first believed in you, and here they are still, the living, the living in Zion, to praise you, as they do this day. Their feet have sometimes almost gone, their steps have nearly slipped; but you have held them up, and they are walking in their integrity, preserved as only grace could preserve them, living still to praise your name.
Amen.
VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)
“One who is righteous has many adversities, but the LORD rescues him from them all.” (Psalm 34:19)
Thus are they made like Jesus their covenant Head. Scripture does not flatter us like the story books with the idea that goodness will secure us from trouble; on the contrary, we are again and again warned to expect tribulaion while we are in this body. Our afflictions come from all points of the compass, and are as many and as tormenting as the mosquitoes of the tropics. It is the earthly portion of the elect to find thorns and briers growing in their pathway, yes, to lie down among them, finding their rest broken and disturbed by sorrow.
But, blessed but, how it takes the sting out of the previous sentence! “But the LORD rescues him from them all.” Through troops of ills Jehovah shall lead his redeemed scatheless and triumphant. There is an end to the believer’s affliction, and a joyful end too. None of his trials can hurt so much as a hair of his head, neither can the furnace hold him for a moment after the Lord bids him come forth of it. The same Lord who sends the afflictions will also recall them when his design is accomplished, but he will never allow the fiercest of them to rend and devour his beloved.
RECOMMENDED RESOURCE
Trust in God’s preserving, purifying power through all of your suffering
Today, we prayed a prayer of thanksgiving that God has preserved us (and others) through significant trials. And then, turning to God’s Word in Psalm 34:19, we saw that this is always the case: God is at work in your suffering to preserve you and to purify you.
This was one of the major themes in Spurgeon’s teaching on suffering, but it was not all he had to say on the topic. Spurgeon learned supernatural wisdom from God’s Word and his own pain on how to address our suffering in a God-glorifying, hopeful way.
Spurgeon’s teaching on suffering is very useful, so I compiled a brief collection of it in a short book, Spurgeon on Suffering. This book contains 12 classic sermons from Spurgeon on suffering, pain, and God’s grace through it all.
I hope you’ll buy a copy today, and I hope it will bless you.
(As a side note, purchasing a copy is a great way to support this ministry so that I can continue to send this daily newsletter!)
Buy Spurgeon on Suffering on Amazon (Paperback or Kindle edition)