Psalm 11:5

All events are under the control of Providence; consequently, all the trials of our outward life are traceable at once to the great First Cause. Out of the golden gate of God’s ordinance, the armies of trial march forth in array, clad in their iron armor, and armed with weapons of war.

All providences are doors to trial. Even our mercies, like roses, have their thorns. People may be drowned in seas of prosperity as well as in rivers of affliction. Our mountains are not too high, and our valleys are not too low for temptations: trials lurk on all roads. Everywhere, above and beneath, we are beset and surrounded with dangers.

Yet no shower falls unpermitted from the threatening cloud; every drop has its order before it hastens to the earth. The trials that come from God are sent to prove and strengthen our graces, and so at once to illustrate the power of divine grace, to test the genuineness of our virtues, and to add to their energy.

Our Lord, in His infinite wisdom and superabundant love, sets so high a value upon His people’s faith that He will not screen them from those trials by which faith is strengthened. You would never have possessed the precious faith that now supports you if the trial of your faith had not been like fire.

You are a tree that never would have rooted so well if the wind had not rocked you to and fro, and made you take firm hold of the precious truths of the covenant grace. Worldly ease is a great foe to faith; it loosens the joints of holy valor and snaps the sinews of sacred courage.

The balloon never rises until the cords are cut; affliction does this sharp service for believing souls. While the wheat sleeps comfortably in the husk, it is useless to humanity; it must be threshed out of its resting place before its value can be known. Thus, it is well that Jehovah tests the righteous, for it causes them to grow rich towards God.