Spurgeon’s Health and Mine and the Glory of God

Some of you who read this blog know that I suffer from time to time from what is called gout– an extreme inflammation of joints. If you recall, I asked for prayer for this particular ailment awhile back. First of all an update, I have been taking medicine everyday and have long sense not have had near the pain (most days are in fact painless). What some of you may know, but the majority probably do not know is that I also suffer from clinical depression. It’s not nearly as bad as it used to be, praise God, but it still rocks my world and brings me down to depths of hell that God spares me from even sensing when it is not affecting me. I’m not telling you these things to invoke unnecessary sympathy (though if God brings it to you and you want to pray for me, I would never turn that down), but instead I’ve come to the point where I see them as the proverbial thorns– keeping me weak enough to realize I have to rely on God at all times for all things, and simultaneously showing Christ as perfect (1 Corinthians 12.7-9).

Today, I was reading Iain H. Murray’s “Spurgeon v. Hyper-Calvinism” and I came across this paragraph on Spurgeon’s health:

“… Two years later he had a first attack of what was then known as gout, a disease which causes painful inflammation of the joints of the body. By the year 1871 he had come to think that sudden attacks of this disease would be what he calls ‘our cross till death.’ That proved to be correct. The disease took its usual course, spreading slowly from the feet upwards. Sometimes Spurgeon spoke of both feet and a hand as ‘a mass of pain.’ His condition was generally worse in cold weather and his doctors believed that it was aggravated by excessive mental labour. As well as the physical anguish which attended these bouts, there were experiences which troubled him still more, namely what he calls ‘frightful mental depression.’ There were dark days when we was prostrated by despondency as well as by illness. (pg. 19)”

I was astonished to find out that C. H. Spurgeon not only suffered from one, but both ailments! Now, do not hear this wrong. I am in no ways equating myself to Spurgeon. I stand on his shoulders, not look into his eyes. I would be a liar, however, if I did not say that I do not gain strength from such company in physical and mental ailments. To have one such as Spurgeon stand before me, who battled his way through and finished the race well, gives me such encouragement. Though I see dimly, I pray that I would see much more clearly the way Spurgeon did:

“These and other trials Spurgeon came to believe were blessings from God. He could sa, ‘I have been much the gainer by my sad hours and my sick days.’ Or again, ‘ I believe the affliction was necessry for me and has answered salutary ends.’”

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (ESV).
Those of you who know me know that there are two things I love scripture-wise: This verse and the ESV. However, it is the phrasing of the NASB that I find to be the superior translation here:
“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”
God causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. Do not miss that! It is God who causes it to work out, because it is God who is sovereign over all things, including what it is He is working out. If God is not sovereign, we have no guarantee in this verse and therefore no hope. I am depressed and unable to walk some days for no good reason if God is not allowed to be God. Yet as it is, God is God, and therein is hope. May God be glorified.