“Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God” (I. Peter v.
6).
The pressure of hard places makes us value life. Every time our life is
given back to us from such a trial, it is like a new beginning, and we
learn better how much it is worth, and make more of it for God and man.
The pressure helps us to understand the trials of others, and fits us to
help and sympathize with them.
There is a shallow, superficial nature, that gets hold of a theory or a
promise lightly, and talks very glibly about the distrust of those who
shrink from every trial; but the man or woman who has suffered much never
does this, but is very tender and gentle, and knows what suffering really
means.
This is what Paul meant when he said, “Death worketh in us, but life in
you.” Trials and hard places are needed to press us forward; even as the
furnace fires in the hold of that mighty ship give the force that moves
the piston, drives the engine, and propels that great vessel across the
sea, in the face of the winds and waves.