Psalm 103 begins with great words of praise & thanks…
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name!
2 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits,
3 who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
5 who satisfies you with good
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
The Pastor Emeritus of College Church in Wheaton, Illinois — Kent Hughes — has always been a help to me when I’ve heard him speak or read his many books and commentaries. He shares an insight about ministry which I have found to be true, but could not express nearly so well…
“To be a true minister to men is always to accept new happiness and new distress…The man who gives himself to other men can never be a wholly sad man; but no more can he be a man of unclouded gladness. To him shall come with every deeper consecration a before untested joy, but in the same cup shall be mixed a sorrow that it was beyond his power to feel before.”
— Philip Brookes
(quoted in R Kent Hughes, Liberating Ministry from the Success Syndrome)
The Breadline 