From City of God by St. Augustine on why the good and the wicked both face similar sufferings:
"This being so, when the good and the wicked suffer alike, the identity of their sufferings does not mean that there is no difference between them. Though the sufferings are the same, the sufferers remain different...The fire which makes gold shine makes chaff smoke...In the same way, the violence which assails good men to test them, to cleanse and purify them, effects in the wicked their condemnation, ruin and annihilation. Thus the wicked, under pressure of affliction, execrate God and blaspheme; the good, in the same affliction, offer up prayers and praises. This shows that what matters is the nature of the sufferer, not the nature of the sufferings. Stir a cesspit, and a foul stench arises; stir a perfume, and a delightful fragrance ascends. But the movement is identical."City of God, Book I, Chapter 8
1 comment:
Some of my sweetest and most intimate experiences with God have come during times of suffering. By His grace, may I always pray and praise Him in the midst of them. Great word and challenge, thanks for posting it. Bo
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