'Voices From The Past' Vol. 1 — June 15

In affliction, God makes himself known to his people. In the Word we hear of God, but in affliction we see him. Prosperity is the nurse of atheism. When we are prosperous the sense of God is little by little defaced. In affliction the soul is freed from the attractive power of worldly allurements and our thoughts are more serious, clear and capable of divine illumination. The clearer the glass is, the more fully it receives the beams of light. The wicked in the pride of his heart will not know God. 'Who is the LORD?' said Pharaoh. Even the godly are low in their apprehensions of God, but by the rod of correction he makes his people know him, to their comfort. He so lays affliction upon his people, that they may know him in the way of love. Moses never saw God so clearly as when he descended in the cloud, and that became a type of the method God uses to make himself known to his saints. He puts them in the cleft of the rock and reveals his name to them: the Lord God, merciful and gracious. God's people become aware of his attributes in their sufferings: his holiness, justice, faithfulness, mercy, and all-sufficiency. The more David was afflicted, the more God's faithfulness appeared. The faithfulness of God is best experienced in our sufferings because in them we are most prayerful. When our older brother Esau is upon us, we must wrestle with our elder brother Jesus and not let him go until he blesses us. In adversity we are early with God in prayer. In prosperity we pray and hardly take notice of the answers. But in affliction we can press God for the return of our prayers. God is never worse than his word. Affliction is a furnace to try the faith of God's people and to see God's faithfulness in his promises.

Devotional Readings taken from Puritan Devotional Readings 'Voices From The Past Vol.1.'
Thomas Case, Select Works, A Treatise of Afflictions, pp. 57
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