DAILY READINGS: 2 Sam. 19:9-43; Jeremiah 3:6 to 4:2; Gal. 4:21 to 5:9
I know, O LORD, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me. Psalms 119:75
How can a faithful God permit affliction to come into our lives? It is because He loves us and in the end it will prove to be for our good and for His glory. Often it is a crisis that develops Christ-like character in us. Two secret disciples, who had been hiding in the shadows, needed the crisis of Calvary to test their allegiance to the Lord. While the other disciples were still hiding and trembling, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathaea boldly came out into the dangerous open and begged the body of their Lord to give Him a proper burial. God may be using a crisis in our lives to reveal a virtue that has been lying dormant for too long. —Milton Haack
A hope so great, and so divine, may trials well endure;
And purge the soul from sense and sin, as Christ Himself is pure. —Watts