OF THE LACK OF ALL COMFORT
“Wherefore one said, when the favour of God was present with him, I said in my prosperity I shall never be moved, but he goes on to say what he felt within himself when the favour departed: You did turn Your face from me, and I was troubled. In spite whereof, he in no wise despairs, but the more instantly entreats God, and says, Unto Thee, O Lord, will I cry, and will pray unto my God; and then he receives the fruit of his prayer, and testifies how he has been heard, saying, The Lord heard me and had mercy upon me, the Lord was my helper. But wherein, You have turned my heaviness into joy, You have put off my sackcloth and girded me with gladness. If it was thus with the great saints, we who are poor and needy ought not to despair if we are sometimes in the warmth and sometimes in the cold, for the Spirit comes and goes according to the good pleasure of His will. Wherefore holy Job says, You do visit him in the morning, and suddenly You do prove him.
Whereupon then can I hope, or wherein may I trust, save only in the great Mercy of God, and the hope of heavenly grace? For whether good men are with me, godly brethren or faithful friends, whether holy books or beautiful discourses, whether sweet hymns and songs, all these help but little, and have but little savour when I am deserted by God’s favour and left to my own poverty. There is no better remedy, then, than patience and denial of self, and abiding in the will of God.
I have never found any man so religious and godly, but that he felt sometimes a withdrawal of the divine favour, and lack of fervour. No saint was ever so filled with rapture, so enlightened, but that sooner or later he was tempted. For he is not worthy of the great vision of God, who, for God’s sake, has not been exercised by some temptation. For temptation is wont to go before as a sign of the comfort which shall follow, and heavenly comfort is promised to those who are proved by temptation. As it is written, To him that over-cometh, I will give to eat, of the tree of life.
Divine comfort is given that a man may be stronger to bear adversities. And temptation follows, lest he be lifted up because of the benefit. The devil sleeps not; your flesh is not yet dead; therefore, cease you not to make yourself ready unto the battle, for enemies stand on thy right hand and on thy left and they are never at rest!”
Thomas a Kempis
The Mark Of God: Understanding Your "I AM Presence" 