From The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis, Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, New York, 1989, pp. 172-3.
Originally written around 1427:
My son, says our Lord. . . Continue therefore as you are doing. Labor busily and faithfully in My vineyard and I will shortly be your reward. Write, read, sing, mourn, be quiet and pray, and suffer adversity gladly, for the kingdom of heaven is worth more than all of these things, and is much greater than they. Peace that is known to Me will come one day, and that will not be a day of this life, but a day everlasting with infinite clarity, steadfast peace, and secure rest without end. And then you will not say: Who is to deliver me from the body of this death; nor will you need to cry: Woe to me that my coming to the kingdom of heaven is thus prolonged, for death will then be destroyed, and health of body and soul will be without end, insomuch that there will be no manner of restlessness, but blessed joy and sweetest and most fair company.
Oh, if you saw the everlasting crowns of My saints in heaven, if you saw in how great joy and glory they are who sometimes seemed to be despised in the world, you would soon humble yourself low to the ground, and you would rather to be subject to all men than to have authority over one person. You would not desire to have happiness and pleasure in this world, but rather to bear with tribulation and pain, and you would account it a great gain to be considered as nothing among the people. Oh, if these things tasted sweet to you and deeply pierced your heart, you would not dare once to complain of any manner of trouble that should befall you. Are not all painful things and grievous labors gladly to be endured for joy everlasting? Yes, truly. It is no little thing to win or lose the kingdom of heaven.
Lift up your face, therefore, to heaven, and behold how I and all My saints there with Me had great struggle and conflict in this world, yet now they rejoice with Me and are comforted in Me and are sure to abide in Me and to dwell with Me in the kingdom of My Father without end.
The Works of God 
Bonus material pointing to God’s sovereignty over disability
Posted in Book Commentary, Quotes, Scripture on November 1, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Greg threw in a couple of bonuses at the end of his book, Wrestling with an Angel, from two of the greats in church history: Matthew Henry on John 9 and John Newton on suffering (Lucas, pp. 100-108).
Consider in Matthew Henry’s Commentary on John 9:1-3 how Matthew Henry shows the sovereignty of God and the mystery of God in just a few sentences, but always pointed to God’s glory and God’s free ability to do whatever God intends to do:
He was born blind that our Lord Jesus might have the honour of curing him, and might therein prove himself sent of God to be the true light to the world. Thus the fall of man was permitted, and the blindness that followed it, that the works of God might be manifest in opening the eyes of the blind. It was now a great while since this man was born blind, and yet it never appeared till now why he was so. Note, The intentions of Providence commonly do not appear till a great while after the event, perhaps many years after. The sentences in the book of providence are sometimes long, and you must read a great way before you can apprehend the sense of them.
Most of the time we do not know what God is doing. But we can know, with absolute certainty, that God is doing it for the purpose of making his name great and for the good of those he has called. And in that we can be anchored with hope in future grace:
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11
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