Crook in the Lot

Thomas Boston's treatise emerged from his pastoral work in the Scottish Borders, where he observed countless parishioners struggling with afflictions that seemed to mar their earthly happiness. Writing in the tradition of Reformed pastoral care, Boston addressed the universal human experience of suffering through what he termed "the crook in the lot" — those unavoidable troubles and disappointments that twist every human life away from our desired path.

Boston argues that divine providence deliberately places these crooked elements in each person's circumstances, not as arbitrary punishment but as necessary instruments for spiritual formation. He systematically demonstrates that attempting to straighten these divinely-appointed difficulties through our own efforts proves both futile and spiritually harmful. Instead, Boston calls readers to submit to their particular afflictions while actively seeking the spiritual purposes God intends through them. His argument moves beyond passive resignation to a more dynamic engagement with suffering, showing how believers can find contentment without complacency and peace without abandoning hope for legitimate change.

The work has endured because Boston addresses suffering with both theological precision and pastoral sensitivity, avoiding the twin errors of fatalism and naive optimism. His insights speak particularly to those facing chronic difficulties — whether physical ailments, relational conflicts, vocational disappointments, or economic hardships — that resist quick resolution. The treatise offers little comfort to readers seeking techniques for eliminating life's difficulties, but provides profound resources for those ready to discover how unavoidable suffering can become a means of grace rather than merely an obstacle to endure.