The saintly Samuel Rutherford penned the following to a lady who had lost her husband and five children: Oh, how Christ must love you! He would take every bit of your heart to Himself. He would not permit you to reserve any of your soul for any earthly thing.

The gold must be cast into the furnace. The Lord tries our hearts. This has been the experience of the godly in all generations. Faith without trial, is like a diamond uncut, the brilliance of which has never been seen (C. H. Spurgeon). Thus the sincerity of Job was evidenced and the lie given to Satans slander. Fiery trial is one of the precious things of God. Adversity is the diamond dust heaven polishes its jewels with (Robert Leighton).

Affliction makes the Bible a new book to us. Afflictions are a golden key by which the Lord opens the rich treasure of His Word to His peoples souls (Thomas Brooks). It is also a handmaid to prayer, to lead us to a neglected mercy seat. It weans us from this present evil world. Its voice says, Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your rest (Mic. 2:10). It discovers to us the plague of our hearts to humble us. It teaches us to lean hard on our Beloved. It calls our graces into exercise. Some Christians never shine so brightly as in the midnight of sorrow.

Our Lord sits as a refiner. It is a picture of exquisite beauty. He bends in patient love over the furnace, until, when He looks down on the liquid metal He can see His own image perfectly reflected there. Then the process is completed, and the fire removed (T. V. Moore). Welcome, then, thrice welcome to that discipline of grace that makes us more like the Lord Jesus!