Problem Or Pulpit?

The things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel.

Philippians 1:12

Samuel Rutherford attended Edinburgh University as a young man and began teaching there at age twenty-three. But desiring to preach the Gospel, he assumed the pastorate in Anwoth, Scotland, in 1627, and served faithfully for ten years. In 1636, he was called before the High Commission Court to defend his Puritan views. He lost the case and was exiled from his congregation.

On July 13, 1637, he wrote to his church from exile: “Next to Christ, I had but one joy, the apple of the eye of my delights, to preach Christ my Lord; and they have violently plucked that away from me. It was to me like the poor man’s one eye; and they have put out that eye, and quenched my light in the inheritance of the Lord.” But all this actually furthered the Gospel. While in exile, he wrote many letters that were later compiled into one of Christian history’s greatest classics, The Letters of Samuel Rutherford.

Whenever you experience a reversal in life, look around for an opportunity to share the gospel. Problems have a way of becoming pulpits in the overruling providence of God.