The Nature and End of Suffering

It is. not so much from what trials or sorrows we suffer, but how we suffer—the extent or amount of our sufferings—which determines the purpose of God in them; with every suffering, be it imaginary or otherwise, it is as l feel it that God purposes that a corresponding virtue of His grace should grow up in me. The suffering is to bring out a peculiar virtue from His own grace which no other suffering could bring out Certain preparations bring out certain desired colors. It is through the tears of the firmament that the colors of the rainbow are obtained, But I mean more than this; the suffering, or the depression, indicate the nature of the contrast or correlative which this pressure is appointed to elicit. If the pressure is great and peculiar, then some great and peculiar characteristic of the grace within is thereby to be evoked.
You thresh wheat for the grain, but you grind the grain to make flour—the produce is useful according to the severity and peculiarity of the process by which it is made available for use. We dry grapes for raisins; we bruise them for wine. Yet, the same grapes which make raisins might have been made wine if only they had been subjected to a more severe pressure.
Questions and Answers
QUESTIONS: 1. What is the Pentateuch? 2. Who wrote it? 3. What is the Decalogue?
ANSWER: 1. The first five books of the Old Testament are generally known as the Pentateuch, although the Jews call them the "Torah." The word is from the Greek and means "five books.”
2. It was written by Moses. Cri tics and "would-be" wise men have sought to deny the authorship of Moses. We might add at this point that while Moses was the penman, he wrote as he was moved by the Holy Spirit. It is divinely given, although Moses was the instrument used to write it. There is abundant evidence that Moses wrote the Pentateuch, and we could refer to many scriptures in the New Testament where Moses' name is directly connected with it. The Lord Jesus Himself so speaks: "Have ye not read in the book of Moses?" (Mark 12:26). "If they hear not Moses and the prophets" (Luke 16:31). "And beginning at Moses and all the prophets" (Luke 24:27). See also John 5:46-47 and 2 Cor. 3:15, which is a standing proof of the proof of Scripture. The Jews zealously guard the "Torah" and it is read regularly in their synagogues; yet, while it sp speaks of the Lord Jesus, the "veil is upon their heart" and they fail to see Him in it.
3. The word "Decaloguc" is of Greek origin and means "ten words," or the ten commandments. How blessed to know more than the Decalogue! "The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ" (John 1:17).