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At the end of James Waddel Alexander’s Thoughts on Preaching, edited by Samuel Davies Alexander, one will find many gems extracted from J.W.’s private journal. This is one such meditation on the “Blessings of Trial.”
§ 15. Blessings of Trial. — The trials which befall us, are the very trials which we need. The little daily excoriations of temper speedily heal themselves, but when the pain lasts, they have an errand to accomplish, and they accomplish it. These, as well as greater sufferings are ordered. They must be submit ted to with patience, resignation, and meekness, and if they enable us to see ourselves, and gain a victory over our pride, they are of great value. Instead of vain and impotent wishes to fly from them, or the circumstances which occasion them, it is the part of manly virtue to fear and forbear, and by grace to wax stronger and stronger.
It is not easy to hear that the trials which befall us are the very trials which God, in His wisdom, has determined that we need, but may such considerations lead us to learn to, in the words of Charles H. Spurgeon, “kiss the waves that throw me up against the Rock of Ages.”
