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Praising God in sickness

Praising God in sickness

🛐 Daily Prayer: "You are good when you lay us low, when the bed of sickness becomes hard, and our bones are weary."

SpurgeonBooks
March 26, 2025

Pray with Spurgeon

Daily Newsletter from SpurgeonBooks

DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)

Oh Lord our God, before we ask anything from your hands, we desire to praise and magnify your name; for you are good in yourself, and in all your thoughts, and all your acts, and in all that you do toward us. You are good when you lay us low, when the bed of sickness becomes hard, and our bones are weary. You are good when you strip us of all earthly comforts; good when we stand at the grave’s mouth and bury our dearest love. You are good in everything. Shall we not bless the God who takes, as well as the God who gives? We would not follow you as a dog follows a stranger for a bone; but we would love you as loving children, who love even a chastising Father and have learned to say, “Though he slay me yet will I trust in him.” If ever, even for a moment, the thought of complaint should flit across our spirit, we beg to be forgiven.

Amen.

VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)

“Even if he kills me, I will hope in him. I will still defend my ways before him.” (Job 13:15)

Job was a master sufferer. No man went deeper into grief than he—his children all dead, his wealth all swept away, his whole body covered with sore boils and blisters, and the friends who pretended to comfort him only accusing him of being a hypocrite, while his own wife bids him, “curse God, and die” (2:9). He was brought lower than any, and, therefore, being a man of faith, having overcome and triumphed by faith, it was like him to utter such a noble speech as this. It is not the utterance of any ordinary believer. It is the sort of word that could only come from a triumphant Job—triumphant by victorious faith. However, I hope all of us who have any faith at all may have that faith so increased that, without boasting, we might be able to echo Job’s words. Faith is not a grace of luxury but a grace of necessity. We must have it, or we would not be the people of God at all. The common habit of the Christian is a habit of trusting.

PRAY FOR THE NATIONS

This week, we’re praying for the Ashtiani of Iran.

Iran’s educational system is not strong. Minority groups like the Ashtiani living outside of major cities have very little support or access to education.

Pray that Christians would go to the Ashtiani to give them a good education and point them to Christ

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE

God is always at work in your suffering (but not in the way you think)

Today’s prayer and verse of the day referenced the suffering of Job. Job is a challenging book for many Christians — we aren’t always sure whose side to take and why God would allow a faithful servant to endure such terrible trials.

Recently, I’ve read Suffering Wisely and Well: The Grief of Job and the Grace of God by Eric Ortlund. This is an incredible book that walks through the book of Job to find what we can learn about God’s purposes in suffering (and how we should relate to suffering people). This book really is a treasure—it is packed with practical advice for suffering people (and those who love them) all rooted in really clear explanation of Job (a book that, if I’m honest, I’ve struggled to understand and apply in the past).

If you are suffering, expect to suffer in the future, or know someone who will, OR you just want to better understand Job, this book is well worth your time. I hope you’ll grab a copy today.

Buy Suffering Wisely and Well:

Amazon (Paperback or Kindle editions)
ChristianBook (Paperback or ebook editions)

FAITH’S CHECKBOOK

Spurgeon’s classic devotional, The Chequebook of the Bank of Faith, contains a promise of God for every day of the year. Pray with Spurgeon Plus subscribers receive the daily readings every weekday.

If you want to strengthen your faith in God’s promises (and support this ministry!), subscribe to Pray with Spurgeon Plus here.

“The LORD will sustain him on his sickbed…” (Psalm 41:3)

This is a promise to the “one who is considerate of the poor” (Psalm 41:1). Are you considerate of the poor? Then take home the text. Otherwise, do not depend on this promise.

See how in the hour of sickness the God of the poor will bless the man who cares for the poor! The everlasting arms shall hold up his soul as friendly hands and downy pillows hold up the body of the sick. This image is so tender and sympathizing; it shows how near our God is to our infirmities and sicknesses! Who ever heard this about the old heathen Jove, or of the gods of India, or China? This is language unique to the God of Israel; he is the one who intends to become a nurse and attendant for good men. If he smites with one hand, he sustains with the other. Oh, it is blessed to faint when one falls upon the Lord’s own heart and is carried on it! Grace is the best of restoratives; divine love is the safest stimulant for a languishing patient. Grace makes the soul strong as a giant even when the bones are breaking through the skin. No physician like the Lord, no tonic like his promise, no wine like his love.

If the reader has failed in his duty to the poor, let him see what he is losing, and at once become their friend and helper.

Something to think about today if you’re feeling weak or sick: God cares about you and will never abandon you.

LAST WORD FROM SPURGEON

“God teaches his people every day through sickness.” — Charles Spurgeon