“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.“–2 Cor. 4:7
Shortly after I surrendered to preach I discover the writings of Charles Spurgeon and couldn’t get enough. His abilities amazed me. When I found a copy of “Lectures to my Students” I was thrilled. However, I was shocked when I came to Lecture 11, entitled “The Ministers Fainting Fits”, and discovered that Spurgeon suffered from depression. Reading his sermons, I never suspected that.
Paul Chappell wrote, “Charles Spurgeon had a powerful and effective ministry that began while he was still a teenager. There is no question that his incredible gifts and the enormous growth of the church that he pastored were testimony to the work that God did in and through his life. Yet for most of his ministry, Spurgeon suffered greatly from gout and Bright’s disease, and he died at just fifty-seven years of age. The enormous physical pain he endured could have driven him to question and doubt God, but instead it led Spurgeon to trust Him more. He said, “I am certain that I never did grow in grace one-half so much anywhere as I have upon the bed of pain.”
Hardship, affliction, and suffering are not pleasant, but they are often the necessary tools God uses to shape us into the men and women He needs us to be for His work. Each trial offers us an opportunity to learn more of God’s grace and depend more fully on Him for our needs to be met. The Christian life is promised to be victorious, but it is never promised to be easy. In addition to realizing that our hardships can be used by God, we must also remember that they are not permanent. Psalm 30:5b says, “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” There is a day of joy and victory coming for every believer who is faithful even during times of testing and tears.”
Dear friend even a great preacher like Spurgeon had his short-comings, but he discovered that pain can be profitable. The same could be said of each of us. We cannot escape suffering, but by the grace of God we can endure it and be edified by it. Let us then refuse to curse our trials, but rather accept them as a part of the “all things” that God causes to “work together for good” (Rom. 8:28).
