Johann Friedrich Starck
1680–1756
German Lutheran pastor and devotional writer whose Daily Hand-book arranged prayer and meditation around the ordinary, afflicted, sick and dying seasons of Christian life.
In his own words
IT IS a great comfort to have a good friend in time of suffering or misfortune. While it may happen that a needy person, a stranger, or a poor person lacks an earthly friend and helper to say to him: "How are you"; we Christians know for a certainty that God is the Helper of all the needy. For God (1) has promised His help and grace to all His children. Therefore a sick person should not despair, even if he sees that all men forsake him, and that none has pity on him; and should firmly believe that God will not forsake him, but will, at the right time, send him help and deliverance. (2) Again, if a sick person has good friends and sufficient means to provide for his wants, and yet nothing seems to help him, he should not on this account lose courage nor doubt the promises of God, but should be confident that God will be near to him with His help in all his sorrowful hours. (3) This help is experienced either through the preservation of the patient's life, or the alleviation Prayer for God's Help. of his pain, or the bestowal of sufficient strength to enable him to endure even the severest sufferings. Yea, God is faithful; He is often near to us when we imagine He is far from us.
Quoted verbatim from the library, as an answer would quote it.
What we hold of him
Starck's Daily Hand-book
Prayer
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