"ON AFFLiCTiON" [puritan excerpts]

Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word. I know, O Lord, that Your judgments are righteous and that in faithfulness You have afflicted me [Psalm 119.67, 75].

• A sanctified person, like a silver bell, the harder he is smitten, the better he sounds [George Swinnock].
• Poverty and affliction take away the fuel that feeds pride [Richard Sibbes].
• We often learn more of God under the rod that strikes us, than under the staff that comforts us [Stephen Charnock].
• When I am in the cellar of affliction, I look for the Lord's choicest wines [Samuel Rutherford].
• It is said that in some countries trees will grow, but will bear no fruit, because there is no winter there [John Bunyan].

O people in Zion, inhabitants in Jerusalem, you will weep no longer. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will answer you. Although the Lord has given you the bread of affliction and the water of oppression, He, your Teacher will no longer hide Himself, but your eyes will behold Your Teacher. Your ears will hear a word behind you saying, "This is the way. Walk in it." [Isaiah 30.19-21]