Psalm 119:71

Peter, James and John were on the mount with Jesus. Sensing that this was a significant moment in history and desiring to somehow preserve its glory, Peter proposed erecting three booths - one each for Jesus, Moses and Elijah. This, of course, would have put the Lord on the same level as the two Old Testament saints. God thwarted the project by enveloping them in a cloud. Luke tells us that "they feared as they entered into the cloud."

They shouldn't have feared. It was a cloud of...

What would this world be without calamity! Men talk about the mystery of present things. The mystery would be infinitely greater, if there was no affliction. We should be utterly at a loss to know what to make of the character of God, if unmingled prosperity were the lot of man. This world would then resemble a Hindoo heaven; and it would be necessary to suppose Hindoo gods presiding over it, in order to get rid of the monstrous anomaly of impenitent sinners occupying the seats of the...

You shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not… You should know in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so the Lord your God chastens you.I know, O Lord, that Your judgments are right, and that in faithfulness You have afflicted me. . . . It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes. . . ....

Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. § We suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold. My foot has held fast to His steps; I have kept His way and not turned aside.You shall remember that the Lord your God led you...

Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.We have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness.Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word … It is good for me that I have been...