Morning — July 7 — Matthew 4:1

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. — Matthew 4:1This is a hard saying, but it's the testimony of a man who had been schooled by suffering. It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes. Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word. Affliction is not God's failure to be good; it's the classroom where He teaches you what you wouldn't learn in comfort. The psalmist didn't thank God for the pain itself, but for what the pain produced — a deeper knowledge of God and His ways.