Samuel Rutherford Quotes

There are many trials in life which do not seem to come from unwisdom or folly; they are silver arrows shot from the bow of God, and fixed inextricably in the quivering heart - they are meant to be borne - they were not meant, like snow or water, to melt as soon as they strike; but the moment an ill can be patiently borne it is disarmed of its poison, though not of its pain.

When afflictions arrest us, we shall murmur and grumble and struggle until we see that it is God that strikes.

You can't do God's work without suffering.

Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament; adversity is the blessing of the New.

Sanctified afflictions are spiritual promotions.

Some people who suffer run away from God, and I know the tendency, but instead I just run to Him.

I used to hurt so badly that I'd ask God why, what have I done to deserve any of this? I feel now He was preparing me for this, for the future. That's the way I see it.

A season of suffering is a small assignment when compared to the reward. Rather than begrudge your problem, explore it. Ponder it. And most of all, use it. Use it to the glory of God.

When life is good and we have no problems, we can almost let ourselves believe we have no need for God. But in my experience, sometimes the richest blessings come through pain and hard things.

I do not believe that God has imposed suffering upon anyone to punish them or to teach them a lesson.

Pour not on the comforts you want, but upon the mercies you have. Look rather at God's ending in afflicting, than to the measure and degree of your affliction.

I do not believe in the 'prosperity Gospel' as I've been accused of believing it. I do believe that all good things come from God, and I also believe that God teaches us so much through our suffering.

Labour to grow better under all your afflictions, lest your afflictions grow worse, lest God mingle them with more darkness, bitterness and terror.

Adversity is the mint in which God stamps upon man his image and superscription.

As in nature, as in the arts, so in grace; it is rough treatment that gives souls as well as stones their lustre; the more the diamond is cut the brighter it sparkles; and in what seems hard dealing, their God has no end in view but to perfect His people's graces. Our Father, and and kindest of fathers, He afflicts not willingly; He sends tribulations, but hear St Paul tell their purpose, - "Tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope."

If through a broken heart God can bring His purposes to pass in the world, then thank Him for breaking your heart.

God always seems bigger to those who need him most. And suffering is the tool he uses to help us need him more.

Prayer and love are really learned in the hour when prayer becomes impossible and your heart turns to stone.

Oh, my Lord! How true it is that whoever works for you is paid in troubles! And what a precious price to those who love you if we understand its value.

God only allows pain if He’s allowing something new to be born.

Dear Child of God, I am sorry to say that suffering is not optional.

Now, I wish to encourage those who are in the midst of hard trials, who feel their faith may be fading under the onslaught of troubles. There seems to me no better answer to the question of why trials come and what we are to do than the words of the Lord Himself, who passed through trials for us more terrible than we can imagine.

O, what I owe to the file, the hammer, and the furnace of the Lord Jesus! I know that he is no idle husbandman - he purposes a crop.

The dark moments of our life will last only so long as is necessary for God to accomplish His purpose in us.

If you allow it, [suffering] can be the means by which God brings you His greatest blessings.