THE ROD OR THE CROWN—ALL WELL.
“He led them through the depths as through the wilderness” (Psa. 106. 9). Who doubteh but God can bring us to Heaven through adversity and suffering? When ye are come to the other side of the water, ye shall then be forced to say, “If God had done otherwise with me than He hath done, I had never come to the enjoyment of this crown of glory.” It is your part now to believe, suffer, and hope and wait on; for I protest, that I would not want the sweet experience of the consolations of God but for the bitterness of affliction. Nay, whether God come to His children with a rod or a crown, if He come Himself with it, it is well.
Believe God’s love and power more than you believe your own feelings and experiences. Your Rock is Christ, it is not the Rock which ebbs and flows, but your sea.—Samuel Rutherford.