NATIONAL Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice spoke recently at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C. She said,

"We are living in a time of testing and consequence and praying that our wisdom and will are equal to the work before us. And it is at times like these that we are reminded of a paradox: that it is a privilege to struggle. A privilege to struggle for what is right and true. A privilege to struggle for freedom over tyranny. A privilege, even to struggle with the most difficult and profound moral choices."

She went on to quote Paul's words, where he says that we should "rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance" (Romans 5).

Jeremiah must have found it difficult to suffer mistreatment. But God lifted him from the depths of despair and vindicated him, and used him for eternal purposes. Corrie Ten Boom, who suffered at the hands of the Nazis, put it this way: "No pit is so deep that He is not deeper still."

No matter how low Satan and his cronies seek to take us, God will never let us stay in the pits forever.

We can thank God for the privilege of suffering for His name.