From our Lord's words we learn that there is a limit to sickness. Here is an 'unto' within which its ultimate end is restrained, and beyond which it cannot go. Lazarus might pass through death but death was not to be the ultimatum of his sickness. In all sickness, the Lord saith to the waves of pain, 'Hitherto shall ye go, but no further'. His fixed purpose is not the destruction, but the instruction of His people.
Wisdom hangs up the thermometer at the furnace mouth, and regulates the heat.
The limit is encouragingly comprehensive. Nothing great or small escapes the ordaining hand of Him who numbers the hairs of our head. This limit is wisely adjusted to our strength, to the end designed, and to the grace apportioned. Affliction comes not at haphazard-the weight of every stroke of the rod is accurately measured. He who made no mistakes in balancing the clouds and meting out the heavens, commits no errors in measuring out the ingredients which compose the medicine of souls.