The Problem of Pain

I especially liked the quote from St. Augustine, because I find that it can relate to many of us. It is so well put as to not offend, yet still enlighten us of the plight we so often put ourselves in.

God wants to give us something, but cannot, because our hands are full--there's nowhere for Him to put it.

On pages 95-96, Jack talks about our tendency to use God as an escape hatch: to ignore Him until we need Him as a last resort. From page 96, I quote Jack:

[God] would hardly have us on such terms: but He is not proud, He stoops to conquer, He will have us even though we have shown that we prefer everything else to Him, and come to Him because there is 'nothing better' now to be had.

I like something Jack said on page 107, because it fits a quote I have heard from President Ezra Taft Benson of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Here is Jack's quote:

And that is why tribulations cannot cease until God either sees us remade or sees that our remaking is now hopeless.

Here is the quote from President Benson (I don't know the direct source, but write to me and I'll give you the information I have).

God is very patient, while he waits for some of us to step up to our responsibilities. He usually gives a man a long enough rope, and a long enough time, to either pull himself up to the surface, or fall off somewhere below.