Morning, March 4, edited from Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening

“My grace is sufficient for you.” — 2 Corinthians 12:9

If none of God’s people were suffering poverty and trials, we would not know half as well the comfort of divine grace. When we find the wanderer who has nowhere to lay his head, yet who can say, “Still will I trust in the Lord;” when we see the homeless starving on bread and water, who still glories in Jesus; when we see the bereaved widow overwhelmed in affliction, and yet having faith in Christ, oh, what honor it reflects on the gospel! God’s grace is illustrated and magnified in the poverty and trials of believers. Christians bear up under every discouragement, believing that all things work together for their good, and that out of apparent evil a real blessing shall ultimately spring—that their God will either work deliverance for them speedily, or most certainly support them in the trouble, as long as he is pleased to keep them in it. This patience of the believers proves the power of divine grace. There is a lighthouse out at sea: when it is a calm night, I cannot tell whether the edifice is firm; but when the tempest rages about it, then I shall know whether it will stand. So it is with the Spirit’s work: if it were not on many occasions surrounded with tempestuous waters, we should not know that it was true and strong; if the winds did not blow upon it, we should not know how firm and secure it was. The masterworks of God are those men who stand in the midst of difficulties, steadfast, immovable—

“Calm mid the bewildering cry,

Confident of victory.”

He who would glorify his God must set his expectations to meet with many trials. No man can be illustrious before the Lord unless he endures many conflicts. If then, yours is a very difficult path, rejoice in it, because you will show forth the all-sufficient grace of God all the better. As for his failing you, never dream of it—hate the thought. The God who has been sufficient until now, should be trusted to the end.