A man’s spirit sustains him in sickness, but a crushed spirit who can bear? ((Proverbs 18:14))

Some have talked about having a crushed spirit.7 One has been disappointed in love—sad, but a trial that can be endured. We have no right to love the creature so much as to make it our idol. Some have been disappointed in their ambition. But who are you that you should not be disappointed, and what are you that you should have everything your way? Surely, if the Lord were to deal with us according to our sins, we would have something to bear worse than the present disappointment. Do not, therefore, allow these things to destroy your peace. About such crushed hearts as these is a good deal of sin mingled with the sorrow, and a great deal of pride, a great deal of creature-worship and of idolatry. Depend on it, if you make an idol, and God loves you, he will break it. – Charles Spurgeon

– Diana Wallis, Take Heart: Daily Devotions with the Church’s Great Preachers, (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 2001), 108.