Fri.-Sabbath, 9/5-7/08 Devotion

Wahoo--it's almost Sunday! To help get you ready for church, here is Thomas Watson, from his, "All Things for Good" book:

"Another heart quieting consideration is, that afflictions work for good. . . . 'It is good for me that I have been afflicted,' (Psalm
119:71). This text, like Moses' tree cast into the bitter waters of affliction, may make them sweet and wholesome to drink. Afflictions to the godly are medicinal. Out of the most poisonous drugs God extracts our salvation. Afflictions are as needful as ordinances (1 Peter 1:6). No vessel can be made of gold without fire; so it is impossible that we should be made vessels of honour, unless we are melted and refined in the furnace of affliction. 'All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth,' (Psalm 25:10). As the painter intermixes bright colours with dark shadows; so the wise God mixes mercy with judgment. Those afflictive providences which seem to be prejudicial, are beneficial. . . . "