The Crook in the Lot
Three questions often plague the Christian, and they often follow one another. Why am I suffering? How can a good God allow suffering? When will it end? These questions are as relevant today as they were for Thomas Boston in 1737. Thomas Boston was a Scottish minister who had real suffering in his life, ranging from his wife’s severe depression to several years of kidney stones. Substitute his problems for any of our own today – why are my parents dying in misery, why did that man break my daughter’s heart, why does my boss treat me cruelly, what about CoVid? As Elizabeth Eliot once said, “Suffering is having something you don’t want, or wanting something you don’t have.” That covers much of our life, doesn’t it? These are the “crooks in our lot,” the “thorns in our side,” “the burrs in our saddle.” The multitude of expressions tells us how often we encounter these three questions.
In this short volume, Boston does not simply focus on our suffering; instead, he lifts our eyes to heaven to a God who is powerful, wise, and good. Where do we see that most but in the cross of Jesus Christ? He is God’s beloved Son, yet he suffered more than any other person. His suffering was the precursor to glory, which Boston says, “The Father was so well pleased with this method, in the case of his own Son, that it was determined to be followed, and just copied over again in the case of all the heirs of glory (Rom. 8:29).” As Christ suffered from womb to tomb, so will we. The “crooks” in our life may change over time, but there will always be a “crook” of some sort. These are the moments that we participate in the sufferings of Christ, preparing us to participate in his glory. Boston aptly changes the questions from “Why am I suffering? How can a good God allow suffering? When will it end?” to “How can I humble myself and trust the powerful, wise, and good God who loves me?”
The Crook in the Lot is a book that I read four times a year, and I would recommend it to anyone. On the first read, the language can be challenging due to the period, but it will change how you view the world. Next to the Bible, no single book has made me love and trust my God more.
