Suffering Well

Lord, you gave this to me for a reason. Let me run with it and do the best I can with it.- Matt Chandler.

I strongly encourage you to read this post about Matt Chandler. He is an encouragement to us all as he suffers well.

Where the Shepherd Leads

The Shepherd never leads his flock where his own grace does not restore and revive their very souls. (Taken from In the care of the Good Shepherd by Iain Campbell, Day One Publications, page 52. This is an outstanding book. Consider purchasing this little gem; it will bless your soul.)

William Bridge on Meditaion

There are two things that make meditation hard. The one is because men are not used thereunto.. . . and another is, because they do not love God enough. Everything is hard at the first: writing is hard at the first, painting hard at the first. . . . meditation will be hard at the first. There is nothing not hard to those that are unwilling. There is nothing hard to those that love, love makes all things easy. Is it a hard thing for a lover to think or meditate on the person loved? - William Bridge

It is but a cloud, it will pass over

We continue our look at Luther's prayer, meditation and trial today with William Bridge on affliction:

If the darkness which a man be under be such, that there are some openings of light withal, then it is the darkness of a cloud, and not of the night.... Now thus it is always with the people of God. They never are in any affliction, temptation, or desertion, but before their great deliverance comes, they have some special providence, some reviving in the midst of their trouble, some interim of light, some openings of the cloud; and therefore, in the midst of all, they may say, Surely this my darkness is not the darkness of the night, but of a cloud. I say, there is no discouragement befalls the saints, but the matter thereof is a cloud, and they may say, It is but a cloud, it will pass over. - WILLIAM BRIDGE

Don't Be Confused

Suffering is suffering no matter what form it takes. We often don't think that we are suffering because we are not be persecuted but that is a false assumption. There is no difference between suffering in persecution or suffering in sickness. John Piper elaborates here:

The most significant difference between sickness and persecution is that persecution is an intentional hostility from someone because we are known to be Christians, but sickness is not. Therefore, in some situations, to choose to be public Christians is to choose a way of life that accepts suffering, if God wills (1 Peter 4:19). But suffering may result from living as a Christian even when there is no intentional hostility from unbelievers. ...[A]ll suffering that comes in the path of obedience is suffering with Christ and for Christ—whether it is cancer or conflict. And it is “chosen”—that is, we willingly take the path of obedience where the suffering befalls us, and we do not murmur against God. ...All experiences of suffering in the path of Christian obedience, whether from persecution or sickness or accident, have this in common: They all threaten our faith in the goodness of God and tempt us to leave the path of obedience. Therefore, every triumph of faith and all perseverance in obedience are testimonies to the goodness of God and the preciousness of Christ—whether the enemy is sickness, Satan, sin, or sabotage. Therefore, all suffering, of every kind, that we endure in the path of our Christian calling is a suffering “with Christ” and “for Christ.” With Him in the sense that the suffering comes to us as we are walking with Him by faith and in the sense that it is endured in the strength He supplies through His sympathizing high-priestly ministry (Hebrews 4:15). (From Desiring God by John Piper, pages 256-257.)

Download your free copy of Desiring God here.

Thomas Manton on Meditation

What is the reason there is so much preaching and so little practice? For want of meditation. . . . Constant thoughts are operative, and musing makes the fire burn. Green wood is not kindled by a flash or spark, but by constant blowing. -Thomas Manton

Brooks on Prayer

God looks not at the elegancy of your prayers, to see how neat they are; nor yet at the geometry of your prayers, to see how long they are; nor yet at the arithmetic of your prayers, to see how many they are; nor yet at the music of your prayers, nor yet at the sweetness of your voice, nor yet at the logic of your prayers; but at the sincerity of your prayers, how hearty they are. There is no prayer acknowledged, approved, accepted, recorded, or rewarded by God, but that wherein the heart is sincerely and wholly. The true mother would not have the child divided. God loves a broken and a contrite heart, so He loathes a divided heart. God neither loves halting nor halving. - Thomas Brooks

Bridge on Meditation

Meditation will keep your hearts and souls from sinful thoughts. When the vessel is full you can put in no more. . . . If the heart be full of sinful thoughts, there is no room for holy and heavenly thoughts: if the heart be full of holy and heavenly thoughts by meditation, there is no room for evil and sinful thoughts. - William Bridge

Manton on Meditation

The end of study is information, and the end of meditation is practice, or a work upon the affections. Study is like a winter sun, that shines, but warms not: but meditation is like a blowing upon the fire, where we do not mind the blaze, but the heat. The end of study is to hoard up truth; but of meditation to lay it forth in conference or holy conversation. -Thomas Manton

Rutherford on Prayer

Words are but the body, the garment, the outside of prayer; sighs are nearer the heart work. A dumb beggar getteth an alms at Christ’s gates, even by making signs, when his tongue cannot plead for him; and the rather, because he is dumb. . . . Tears have a tongue, and grammar, and language, that our Father knoweth. Babes have no prayer for the breast, but weeping: the mother can read hunger in weeping. - Samuel Rutherford

Gurnall on Prayer

I wanted to take another look at Luther's Prayer, Meditation and Trial (hence, the name of this blog). To do so, I have found some poignant quotes on each subject and will post them sporadically over the next few weeks. Here is the first:

Prayer is nothing but the promise reversed, or God’s Word formed into an argument, and retorted by faith upon God again.

Praying is the same to the new creature as crying is to the natural. The child is not learned by art or example to cry, but instructed by nature; it comes into the world crying. Praying is not a lesson got by forms and rules of art, but flowing from principles of new life itself.
- William Gurnall

The Throne of Grace

Horatius Bonar on Hebrews 4:16:

In this infinite fountain of the manifold grace of God, there is every needful provision for a saint during all his pilgrimage. There is something here for all times and seasons, for all states and circumstances, for all times and trials. We are unholy; iniquities prevail against us; the flesh lusteth against the spirit. But here is grace to enable us to be holy. we walk too much with the world, too little with God; our walk at the best is uneven, distant, changeful. Here is grace to enable us to walk with God, like Enoch,; to have our conversation in Heaven, even when dwelling on earth. Our souls cleave unto the dust; the things of earth engross and depress us. Here is grace to enable us to set our affections on things above, to live as those who are already seated with Christ in heavenly places, and from these look down upon the earth (Eph 2:6). We have daily infirmities, both of body and spirit, to struggle with. Here is grace to enable us to be strong in the midst of weakness, yea, to glory in our infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest in us (2 Cor. 12:9). We have a race to run. Here is grace to enable us to run it well - to run it with patience. ...Here, in short, is grace for everything, for every want, for every time - grace wherewith to live, grace wherewith to die. Why then should we be so poor so long as God is rich? Why should we be so weak so long as he is mighty? Why should we be empty so long as he s full? Why should any necessity or trial ever be to great for us, seeing we have him to undertake for us, and seeing we have grace like this to help us in time of need? Why should we ever either fear or doubt, seeing we have a fountain of free love like this to draw from continually? (From The Throne of Grace by Horatius Bonar.)

Why indeed?

Scripture Reading

There has been a plethora of posts on Facebook and in the blogosphere encouraging us to choose a Bible reading plan. May I also encourage everyone to pick a plan, any plan, even just reading a chapter a day or a few verses a day and commit to it for the year. As Richard Baxter has written:

The godly man will read the Word by day, that men, seeing his good works, may glorify his Father who is in heaven; he will do it in the night, that he may not be seen of men; by day, to show that he is not one of those who dread the light; by night, to show that he is one who can shine in the shade; by day, for that is the time for working, work whilst it is day; by night, lest his Master should come as a thief, and find him idle. - Richard Baxter