Nigeria, Jan. 25 -- In the counsel of God, human suffering must precede glory. The psalmist affirms this:

"Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning." (Psalm 30:5).

From Joseph to Hannah to David to Job to Elizabeth to Jesus, suffering led to glory. Indeed, the glories in all these cases were infinitely more glorious because they were preceded by suffering.

This is the protocol of the God whose ways are not our ways:

"The Lord kills and makes alive; He brings down to the grave and brings up. The Lord makes poor and makes rich; He brings low and lifts up. He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the beggar from the ash heap, to set them among princes and make them inherit the throne of glory." (1 Samuel 2:6-8).

"H...