Whether we have our requests granted or not, let us persist in asking and render thanks not only when we gain what we ask but also when we fail to. Failure to gain, you see, when that is what God wants, is not worse than succeeding; we do not know what is to our advantage in this regard in the way he does understand.
The result is, then, that succeeding or failing we ought to give thanks. Why are you surprised that we don’t know what is to our advantage?
So we ought to yield to the Creator of our nature, and with joy and great relish accept those things that he has decided on and have an eye not to the appearance of events but to the decisions of the Lord. After all, he who knows better than we what is for our benefit also know what steps must be taken for our salvation.
Chrysostom; Homilies on Genesis 30.16
John Chrysostom was born in 344 or 345 in and died in 407. He was the Bishop of Constantinople and was known for his orthodoxy, his eloquence of speech (that’s how he got his nickname ‘Chrysostom’ which means ‘golden-tongued) and his recurrent preaching/teaching against Christian laxity, especially among those in positions of authority.
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