Made Perfect Through Suffering
"For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and through whom are all things, in leading many sons into glory, to make the Author of their salvation perfect through sufferings." Hebrews 2:10
Quotes from "Streams in the Desert" by L.B. Cowman, edited by James Reimann
There is a place of stillness that allows God the opportunity to work for us and gives us peace. It is a stillness that ceases our scheming, self-vindication, and the search for a temporary means to an end through our own wisdom and judgment. ... Oh, how often we thwart God's intervention on our behalf by taking up our own cause or by striking a blow in our own defense! ... We will be protected from a feeble tolerance of others, narrow-mindedness, harsh vindictiveness, and everything else that would damage our testimony for Him. (pp. 119-120)
Waiting on God and abiding in His will is to know Him in the "fellowship of sharing in his sufferings" (Philippians 3:10). ... If God's desire is to enlarge your capacity fro spiritual understanding, do not be frightened by the greater realm of suffering that awaits you. ... Amid a multitude of trials, souls who love God will discover reasons for boundless, leaping joy! (pp. 121-122)
God is never in a hurry. He spends years preparing those He plans to greatly use, and never thinks of the days of preparation as being too long or boring. ... The most difficult ingredient of suffering is often time. ... When a sorrow drags on its long and weary way, returning day after day with the same dull routine of hopeless agony, the heart loses strength. Without the grace of God, the heart is sure to sink into dismal dispair. ... God often has to burn the lessons we learned (like Joseph) into the depths of our being, using the fires of prolonged pain. ... We should be more careful to focus on learning all the lessons in the school of sorrow than to focus anxious eyes toward the time of our deliverance. (pp. 123-124)
