. Fiery trials make golden Christians. By William Dyer. For our momentary
light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable
eternal weight of glory. 2 Corinthians 4.17 O Christians, under your greatest
troubles lie your greatest treasures. It is good for me to be afflicted
that I might learn your statutes. Psalm 119, 71. By the greatest
affliction, God teaches us the greatest instruction. When a believer lies under God's
hand which afflicts him, he lies in God's heart which loves him. Afflictions are good, but not
pleasant. Sin is pleasant, but not good. There is more evil in a drop
of sin than there is in a sea of afflictions. God by affliction
separates the sin he hates so deadly from the soul he loves
so dearly. The believer studies more how
to adorn the cross than how to avoid the cross. Tell me, O believer,
is not Christ with His cross better than the world with its
crown? God disciplines us for our good
that we may share in His holiness. Hebrews 12.10. Suppose, Christian,
that the furnace is hot, seven times hotter. It is but to make
you seven times more holy. Fiery trials make golden Christians. Sin has brought many a believer
into suffering, and suffering has kept many a believer from
sinning. It is better to be preserved
in brine than to rot in honey. I know, O LORD, that your laws
are righteous, and in faithfulness you have afflicted me. Psalm 119, 75.