if you look hard enough you can always see reasons, but you'll go crazy if you think it's all punishment for your sins.

Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all, he declared to the sky, squinting up at God and demanding justice. I held him in my arms at night and saw parts of his soul turn to ash. Then I saw him reborn, with a stone in place of his heart. Nathan would accept no more compromises.

Things can hurt us physically or economically and can cause sorrow. But our character, our basic identity, does not have to be hurt at all.

His Majesty [the Lord] . . . rewards great services with trials, and there can be no better reward, for out of trials springs love for God.

God will never let you sink under your circumstances. He always provides a safety net and His love always encircles.

Life can be meaningful enough to justify its suffering

Some virtues are only seen in affliction and others only in prosperity.

For me, growing up as a human being on the planet Earth in the twenty-first century was a real kick in the teeth.

No literature is more realistic and honest in facing the harsh facts of life than the Bible. At no time is there the faintest suggestion that the life of faith exempts us from difficulties.

But we can't believe that he condescends to watch the soap opera of our daily trials and tribulations; so we purchase our own remedies for that.

The prayer of David traditionally assigned to this story is Psalm 57. While there are lines in that psalm that convey David's fugitive state at the time, its overwhelming impression is of energetic and ebullient praise of God. This means that while Saul was the occasion for David's being in the wilderness, Saul neither defined nor dominated the wilderness. The wilderness was full of God, not Saul.

To be human is to be in trouble.