Sanctified Sorrow - Pastor Patrick Hines Reformed Christian Podcast

Proverbs 20:30
Blows that hurt cleanse away evil,
As do stripes the inner depths of the heart.

Romans 8:28-31
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. [29] For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. [30] Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
[31] What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

Thomas Watson
From All Things for Good:
“God had one Son without sin, but never one without suffering.”
“Afflictions work for good, as they make way for glory.”
Watson constantly connects sorrow with eternal preparation.
“The valley of tears is the way to the kingdom.”

Richard Sibbes
From The Bruised Reed:

“Are you bruised? Be of good comfort, He calls you.”
Sibbes saw brokenheartedness not as disqualification from Christ, but often as the very condition that drives sinners to Him.
“Usually after a storm comes a calm. Troubles may endure for a season, but joy comes in the morning.”

John Flavel

“They that know God will be humble; and they that know themselves cannot be proud.”
Flavel often argued that affliction reveals both God and ourselves.
“Sanctified afflictions are spiritual promotions.”
“The providence of God is like Hebrew words — it can only be understood backwards.”

John Bunyan
From Grace Abounding: Written from prison.

“I never knew what it was for God to stand by me at all turns and at every offer of Satan to afflict me, etc., as I have found Him since I came in here.”

Thomas Brooks
“Afflictions are but our Father’s goldsmiths who are working