by Ben Palpant
My favorite Spurgeon sermon is “The Christian’s Heaviness and Rejoicing.” It’s from 1 Peter 1:6, and Spurgeon distinguishes two types of trials, those external and those internal. You could have both at the same time, sure, but heaviness might be a God-given trial inside even when there’s nothing extra-wrong on the outside.
A Small Cup of Light describes the frustrations and doubts and questions and struggles related to a physical problem(s), but the physical issues, as debilitating as they were, were not the most difficult, even paralyzing.
Sometimes you just need to hold on. Sometimes you can’t fix it. Sometimes the trial is of your faith, not a trial where your faith is strong. These are hard. Palpant’s testimony is good, and in no way easy. It’s hard to explain to those who haven’t been under the heaviness, and this is as reasonable and encouraging attempt as could be.