Morning & Evening Devotional Reading–

March 3– Morning

 by C. H. Spurgeon, revised and edited by W. C. Neff

“I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction.” 

—Isaiah 48:10

 

Comfort yourself, exhausted believer, with this thought: Your God says to you, “I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction.” Doesn’t that word feel like a soft shower? Doesn’t it take the heat out of the fire? Let affliction come; God has chosen me. Poverty may come to my door, but God is in the house already, and he has chosen me. Sickness may intrude, but I have a medicine already waiting; God has chosen me. Whatever comes to me in this vale of tears, I know that he has chosen me.

Now, if you require even greater comfort, remember this: that, like Shadrack, Meshach, and Abednego, the Son of Man is with you in the furnace. In that silent chamber of yours, the Unseen One sits by your side. He is Unseen but greatly loved, and often, when you aren’t aware of it, he makes your bed of affliction and smoothes your pillow for you. You may be in poverty, but in that lovely house of yours the Lord of life and glory is a frequent visitor. He loves to come into these desolate places to visit you like a loyal friend. You cannot see him, but you may feel the pressure of his hands. Don’t you hear his voice? Even in the valley of the shadow of death he says, “Fear not, I am with you. Don’t be upset, for I am your God.”

In all your fiery trials God’s presence is both your comfort and safety. He will never leave one whom he has chosen for his own. He is with you in the “furnace of affliction.” Won’t you, then, hold fast to Christ and say, “Through floods and flames, if Jesus leads, I will follow wherever he goes.” [M&E]