Suffering & Affliction

The Beauty Of The Olive Tree

Hosea 14:6

… affliction, adversity, trial and temptation—but conquers all! You may watch it also in your fellow Christians who are poor and despised, who have to suffer much sickness …

God's Hand at Evening

Ezekiel 33:22

… Whatever form your trial may take—whether it is the loss of a child or of a parent, or the withdrawal of temporal prosperity, or the smiting of …

The Call of Abraham

Hebrews 11:8

… Foremost among Abraham’s trials was that of being called away to a land which he had never been; as this may be our trial also, I pray …

The Singing Army

2 Chronicles 20:4

… any particular times of trial? To myself I do. If I do not to you, at any rate, there is one common affliction which has overwhelmed us all …

Paul in the Tempest

Acts 27:18-25

… He is courteously entreated, yet he holds rank among others who are being carried to Rome for trial. But the storm comes on and the ship is driven …

The Joint Heirs and Their Divine Portion

Romans 8:17

… Come with me, believer, to your estates, and behold, just on the edge of your Father’s great inheritance, lies the swamp and morass of affliction. Now this …

The Lord No More Angry with His People

Isaiah 54:9

… A rebuke that withers! A rebuke from which there is no escape! Well may sinners who deserve it admire the long-suffering which invites to mercy and tremble …

God Our Continual Resort

Psalm 71:3

… No grief is too little, no trial too heavy, no hour too early, no moment too late for prayer! "Whereunto I may continually resort." The Mercy Seat abides …

Standing and Singing

Psalm 26:12

… On the other hand, if some sharp affliction should come upon you, it still distresses you, but it does not perplex you and cast you into despair as …

The Northern Iron and the Steel

Jeremiah 15:12

… See there God in human flesh—bleeding, suffering, dying. Those wounds are fountains of mercy. Look to them, and you shall live. Wrath is appeased by the death …

Mysterious Meat

John 4:31-38

… of poverty, or on the bed of sickness. I know by experience that the way to renew your strength for suffering or for service is to become more …

The Education of Sons of God

Hebrews 5:8

… Thus we have seen that Christ's Sonship did not exempt Him from suffering, but that His suffering did not mar His Son-ship. III. So I follow …

Psalm 1

Psalm 1

… But the man who delights in God's Word, being taught by it, bringeth forth patience in the time of suffering, faith in the day of trial, and …

Waking to See Christ's Glory

Luke 9:32

… Thus, affliction or trial is often a blessed means of Grace because it wakes us up so that we see Christ's glory. This fact also explains why …

The Personal Pentecost and the Glorious Hope

Romans 5:5

… Angels cannot personally exhibit patience since they are not capable of suffering. It is necessary to the possession and exercise of patience that we should be tried— and …

Filling With the Spirit and Drunkenness With Wine

Ephesians 5:18

… But for creating widespread suffering, suffering brought upon the innocent, upon the wife, and upon the child— this vice raises its head above all others. This throngs our …

Nearer and Dearer

Solomon 5:2-8

… comes to you through Me! Open to Me!" Every affliction is a knock at our door. That wasting sickness, that broken bone, that consumptive daughter, that rebellious child …

The Call to the Ministry

… patience, in affliction, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings; by pureness, by knowledge, by long-suffering, by kindness …

Psalm 74

Psalm 74

… First, The greatness of her affliction: secondly, the nearness of he relation. 1. The greatness of her affliction. And there were three things in her affliction that did …

Encouragement to Trust and Pray

Isaiah 30:19

… And He is ever swift to succor the suffering. There is a reason for the heavy trial which now bows you down—depend upon that and do not …

The Betrayal

Luke 22:47

… thus suffering at the hand of a traitor the Lord became a faithful High Priest, able to sympathize with us when we fall under the like affliction. Since …

Alone, Yet Not Alone

John 16:31

… May we, if we have our Lord's trial, also have His confidence because we imitate His example! I. First, then, notice OUR LORD'S TRIAL, for the …

Prayer 18 — O, For More Grace!

… unholy and ungodly? This, indeed, is a terrible trial to many. Lord, help them, both in their personal sickness and in this great spiritual trouble. Have we dear …

A Suitable Watchword

Psalm 12:1

… Sometimes sickness may fall upon you and you may be disabled. In a thousand ways you may be brought to feel that you need help in Providential matters …

The Sweetness of God's Word

Psalm 119:103

… The man who never has any sickness, who has no losses in business—whose course is always one even stream—cannot, I am sure, understand some of the …

Israel at the Red Sea

Psalm 106:9

… The first they had was a great trial sent by God himself. There was the Red Sea in the front of them . Now, it was not an enemy …

Faintness and Refreshing

1 Kings 19:8

… It is not so much Christ's people who suffer, as it is Christ, Himself, suffering in them. Does it not make the Cross glorious when you bear …

Unanswered Prayer

Psalm 22:2

… of others, what ought to be our conduct under such a trial as that, the trial of a long delay, or an apparent refusal? In the first place …

The Heart Of Flesh

Ezekiel 36:26

… The sickness which brings a man to the borders of the grave is often sanctified to the breaking of the heart. To be without ache or pain for …

A Seasonable Exhortation

1 Peter 1:13

… Is not that a good argument? Further, the Apostle goes on to say that we may be passing through necessary trial, but it is only for a little …

The Lord Chiding His People

Psalm 103:9

… This Divine chiding lays open the sore which else might have worked inwardly to mortal sickness. Besides, if sin were not chided, one fault would lead to another …

Judgments and No Repentance— Repetance and No Salvation

Revelation 16:9

… Do not say, "Sickness may follow sickness but I shall not yield. Loss may follow loss but I will not turn from my ways. I am of too …

Psalm 137

Psalm 137

… It is horrible for neighbours to be enemies, worse for them to show their enmity in times of great affliction, worst of all for neighbours to egg others …

Aug. 13 — BEFORE AND DURING THE CALL

Isa. 65:24

… trial assails us He has armed us against it. This is the promptitude of omniscience, and we have often seen it exercised. Before we dreamed of the affliction …

Aug. 27 — CHOICE MEN

Isa. 48:10

… 27 CHOICE MEN "I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction" Isa. 48:10 This has long been the motto fixed before our eye upon the wall …

A Stanza of Deliverance

Psalm 105:37

… How much we owe to sorrow and sickness, crosses and losses! Our bondage ends in our coming forth with much that is better than silver and gold! Thus …

Love's Transformations—a Communion Meditation

John 14:28

… Could we not, sometimes, try to see affairs in Christ's light by looking through them? Come, Brothers and Sisters, that present affliction which seems not to be …

The Dumb Singing

Isaiah 35:5

… He has opened our mouth by a trial and though, when we had a thousand mercies, we did not praise Him, yet when He sent a sharp affliction …

Psalm 66

Psalm 66

… He causeth affliction for trial (so Ps 66:10-11: Thou hast tried us, etc.); they work it for malice; neither can God be accused nor they excused …

Psalm 94

Psalm 94

… Look not for any new diverse doctrine to be taught thee by affliction, which is not in the word. For, in truth, herein stands our teaching by affliction …