"Short words, soon spoken; but to have a suitableness of heart to them is one of the highest attainments of faith. To be sure, it is well; we think so when all things go according to our wish, when there is nothing in providence that crosses our desires, that thwarts our designs, that sinks our hopes, or awakens our fears: submission is easy work then. But to have all things seemingly against us, to have God smiting in the tenderest part, unravelling all our schemes, contradicting our desires, and standing aloof from our very prayers; how do our souls behave then? Faith sets aside every obstacle. It shall be well; the end will be peace. God is with me and He will make all things work together for good.
It is a dark night, but the darkness of your heart will not light a candle for you. It is a terrible tempest, but to quench the fires of comfort and open the doors to admit the howling winds into the chamber of your spirit will not stay the storm. A troubled heart will not help us in our difficulties or out of them. You have not all you could wish, but you have still more than you deserve. Your circumstances are not what they might be, but still they are not even now so bad as the circumstances of some others.
There are flowers that bloom in winter, if we have but grace to see them. Never was there a night of the soul so dark but what some lone star of hope might be discerned, and never a spiritual tempest so tremendous but what there was a haven into which the soul could put if it had but enough confidence in God to make a run for it. Rest assured that though you have fallen very low, you might have fallen lower if it were not that underneath are the Everlasting Arms.
~~C.H Spurgeon~~
