The agony of a man’s affliction is often necessary to put him into the right mood to face the fundamental things of life. The Psalmist says, “Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept Thy word.” The Bible is full of the fact that there has to be an approach to the holy ground. If I am not willing to be lifted up, it is no use talking about the higher heights. In putting John the Baptist to death, Herod committed moral suicide. He ordered the voice of God to be silent in his life,