Art of Divine Contentment, 11

We continue with our eleventh lecture through our devotion based on Thomas Watson’s book, The Art of Divine Contentment. Tonight’s lesson continues chapter 11, “Divine Motives to Contentment”. This long chapter will be covered for a number of weeks in parts: tonight, we looked at Watson’s sixth motive: “The consideration that all God’s providences, how cross or bloody soever, shall do a believer good”; he describes how God works the evils of affliction for our good in seven ways: 1) “They are disciplinary: they teach us”; 2) “They are probatory [they teach us about ourselves]”; 3) “They are expurgatory [they work out or purge sin from us]”; 4) “They exercise and increase our grace [especially faith]”; 5) “They bring more of God’s immediate presence into the soul [when we are most assaulted He mosts assists us]”; 6) “They bring with them certificates of God’s love”; and 7) “They work for us a far more exceeding weight of glory”.