Christians do not need to fear the “crooks” God allows in their lives but can instead rest in God’s faithfulness. Boston reminds us to keep our focus on God’s grace, even in our suffering.

Consider the work of God: who can make straight what he has made crooked? — Ecclesiastes 7:13

You may be wondering why God has allowed various afflictions in your life. In an introduction to eighteenth-century Scottish pastor and theologian Thomas Boston’s book The Crook in the Lot, J. I. Packer describes a “crook” this way:

But in Thomas Boston’s usage the crook is the crooked, that is the uncomfortable, discontenting aspects of a person’s life, the things that the Puritans called losses and crosses, and that we speak of as the stones in our shoe, the thorns in our bed, the burrs under the saddle, and the complaints we have to live with; and the lot is the providentially appointed path that God sets each of his servants to travel. (Thomas Boston, The Crook in the Lot: Living with That Thorn in Your Side, pp. 7-8)

It is helpful to consider God’s purposes in your adversities so that you can respond in a manner that brings glory to him. Here are seven reasons according to Boston why God makes a “crook” in a person’s lot, along with related Bible passages:

The trial of one’s state, whether or not one is in the state of grace.

Even though we know from reading the book of Job that God allowed Satan to tempt Job to curse God through all the calamities Job faced, including the loss of his children, his wealth, and even his health, Job was not privy to that knowledge:

And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” (Job 1:8-11; see also 1 Pet. 4:12)

The excitation to duty, weaning one from this world, and prompting him to look after the happiness of the other world.

The apostle Paul, once a persecutor of Christians, came to a place in his life where he knew it was better to be with the Lord when his work in this world was finished:

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. (Phil 1:21-24)

The conviction of sin.

Joseph’s brothers were convicted of the sin they thought had been hidden for years when coming before the governor of Egypt (Joseph, although unbeknownst to them) to buy grain because of the famine.

Then they [Joseph’s brothers] said to one another, “In truth we are guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us and we did not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us.” (Gen. 42:21)

Read More