In an Advent sermon called “God is Worth Waiting For,” Marvin McMickle begins:
“In his book titled The Pursuit of God , A.W. Tozer made the following observation: ‘It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until He has hurt him deeply.’ To put it another way, God cannot do much with people who have not passed through any time of suffering, sickness, sacrifice or struggle. How can we be a blessing to people who are going through the hardships of life if we ourselves have somehow been exempted from such hardships?
“However, when we have been through these things ourselves two things can happen. First, we have a better testimony about what God has done in our lives. Second, we can be a real comfort and encouragement to others who now are passing through what we already have faced. We can tell them about a God who can sustain and preserve them through whatever circumstances life throws at us.”
________
From the November-December 2010 issue of Preaching