June 10
Enriched by pain
“Yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered” (Heb. 5:8).
“For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ” (2 Cor. 1:5).
One who had suffered a great deal through illness wrote to a friend:
“I can hardly say I am sorry for you, dear friend, although you tell me of suffering and trial, and although I feel very much for you in it; because I am so sure the Master is leading you by the right way, and only means it to issue in all the more blessing. What mistakes we should make if we had the choosing, and marked out nice smooth paths for our friends! It has struck me, too, very much lately, that the Lord’s most used and blessed workers are almost always weighted in some way or other. I don’t know one who, to our limited view, is not working under weights and hindrances of some sort, contrasting with mere professors who seem so much more favorably placed for what they don’t do.