From "Memoir, Select Thoughts and Sermons of the Late Rev. Edward Payson, Volume 1" by Edward Payson (1783-1827) and Asa Cummings, 319-321, emphasis mine:

A letter of counsel to a candidate for the ministry:—

" My Dear Brother :—I rejoice to learn that you are in part released from the bondage in which you have been so long held. That you are released, I infer, first, from the fact that you are preaching; and, secondly, from your having written me a letter. But what a request does your letter contain ! That I should write to you systematically ! I, who never did any thing systematically in my life, but have always lived extempore! If I write to you, it must be in the same way. It will be the easiest thing in the world to give you plenty of good advice. All the difficulty will be, to make you follow it. If you are like me, you will never learn any thing to any purpose, till it is beaten into you by painful experience; and even then, you will probably forget it in a tenth part of the time which it took you to learn it. However, I will tell you one thing, which experience has taught me. If you will believe it, on my word, it will save you some suffering. If not, you must learn it, as I did, under the scourge.

" Some time since, I took up a little work, purporting to be the lives of sundry characters, as related by themselves. Two of those characters agreed in remarking, that they were never happy until they ceased striving to be great men. This remark struck me, as you know the most simple remarks will strike us, when Heaven pleases. It occurred to me at once, that most of my sins and sufferings were occasioned by an unwillingness to be the nothing which I am, and by consequent struggles to be something. I saw that if I would but cease struggling, and consent to be any thing, or nothing, just as God pleases, I might be happy. You will think it strange, that I mention this as a new discovery. In one sense, it was not new ; I had known it for years. But I now saw it in a new light. My heart saw it, and consented to it; and I am comparatively happy. My dear brother, if you can give up all desire to be great, and feel heartily willing to be nothing, you will be happy too. You must not even wish to be a great Christian; that is, you must not wish to make great attainments in religion, for the sake of knowing that you have made, or for the sake of having others think that you have made them. Very true, very good, you will say, though somewhat trite; but how am I to bring myself to such a state ? Let me ask, in reply, why you are not troubled, when you see one man receive military, and another masonic honors? Why are you not unhappy, because you cannot be a colonel, a general, or a most worshipful grand high priest. Because, you answer, I have no desire for these titles or distinctions. And why do you not desire them? Simply because you are not running a race in competition with those who obtain them. You stand aside, and say, 'Let those who wish for these things have them.' Now if you can, in a similar manner, give up all competition with respect to other objects; if you can stand aside from the race which too many other ministers are running, and say, from your heart, ' Let those who choose to engage in such a race divide the prize; let one minister run away with the money, and another with the esteem, and a third with the applause, &c.; I have something else to do; a different race to run; be God's approbation the only prize for which I run; let me obtain that, and it is enough ; I say, if you can, from the heart, adopt this language, you will find most of your difficulties and sufferings vanish. But it is hard to say this. It is almost impossible to persuade any man to renounce the race, without cutting off his feet, or, at least, fettering him. This God has done for me; this he has been doing for you. And you will, one day, if you do not now, bless him for all your sufferings, as I do for mine. I have not suffered one pang too much. God was never more kind than when I thought him most unkind; never more faithful than when I was ready to say, His faithfulness has failed. Let him fetter you, then, if he pleases. Consent that he should cut off your feet, if he pleases. Any thing is a blessing which prevents us from running the fatal race, which we are so prone to run; which first convinces us that we are nothing, and then makes us willing to be so."

Psalms 110:3  Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth.

Psalm 149:4  For the LORD taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation.

Psalm 131:1  LORD, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me. 2  Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child. 3  Let Israel hope in the LORD from henceforth and for ever.

I Corinthians 9:25  And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.

Isaiah 29:19  The meek also shall increase their joy in the LORD, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

What Is Christian Contentment?
"the aim in life is God's, not mine" (Oswald Chambers)
Kingdom-Obsessed People don't seek "great things" for themselves
Lent V. - You follow me! (Are we steadfastly setting our faces to His will?)
My love affair . . . whose trumpet, whose glory & incomplete joy
Lenten Reflections: Climbing (the minister's descent)
What is your attitude toward trials and sufferings? ~ Whitefield's Journals
"Blessed is the Man that endureth Temptation" by Joseph Hart
"So you led your people to make for yourself a glorious name" (Isaiah 63:14b)
but made Himself of no reputation ~ O, for grace to be a doorkeeper! (Philippians 2, Psalm 84)
Where do you go when the world is unlovely? (Psalm 84 & the theology of Biblical counseling)
All things (even bad things) work together for good...
Bible Reading-Isaiah: When We Think the LORD Has Forsaken and Forgotten Us
A Hymn for "Shelf" Times ..."Lord, We Know That Thou Art Near Us"
Why I blog and the only kind of recommendation I should seek
Birthday reflections ~ "Keep me an infant" (Isaiah 46:1-4)
Letter 16 on assurance and fighting for joy (our prayers, His wise denials and joy)
Letter 25 on assurance and fighting for joy (a strong craving ≠ His joy)
our Father's discipline, William Cowper on trials & sufferings (letter 61 on assurance & joy)
Are you a radiant Christian or a drunken old woman? (letter 82 on assurance & fighting for joy)
Rejoicing here on the Potter's Wheel (Psalm 66) | Letter 96 on assurance & joy
dreams grasped, dreams released | letter 104 on assurance & fighting for joy

Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Holy Bible.

Psalm 73
21  When my soul was embittered,
when I was pricked in heart,
22  I was brutish and ignorant;
I was like a beast toward you.
23  Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
you hold my right hand.
24  You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will receive me to glory.
25  Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
26  My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
27  For behold, those who are far from you shall perish;
you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.
28  But for me it is good to be near God;
I have made the Lord GOD my refuge,
that I may tell of all your works.

We live in a fallen world.

We will all face situations that will prick our hearts and tempt us to be bitter.

How did the Psalmist move beyond his bitterness?

How did the Psalmist move beyond his brutishness, ignorance and beastliness toward the Lord God to a firm assurance of God's goodness and sufficiency resulting in adoration and praise?

Look back to verses 16-17a:

If you are feeling like the Psalmist, if you are wearied and can make no sense of your current circumstances, run to the sanctuary of God and make Him your refuge. There is no true and lasting goodness apart from being near Him.

And afterwards, when you do taste and see He is good, go and tell of all His works!

" Thursday, December 19 [1844].—How sweet the Word to my taste! Enjoyment of fellowship with God in prayer. My peace interrupted by the secret workings of the impatient, restless flesh. ' When I would do good, evil is present with me.' Difficulty of restraining the tendency to impatience under the crosses of the day. The very tendency disabled me to draw, as I should have done, upon the treasures of strengthening, sanctifying grace which are in Christ.

" O to be free from the body of this death! It would gladly, if it could, free itself from the restraints of God's blessed Word and Spirit !  When shall the enemy be slain, and my soul wholly free ! Went with my rankling sore to the throne of grace. Some comfort. I am ashamed to be always, always going back to God stained with guilt; but still I have found God gracious—ready to heap coals of fire upon my head by pouring out on my hell-deserving soul the treasures of His love and pity. ' There is forgiveness with Thee, that thou mayest be feared.' ' Gifts for men, yea, for the rebellious also !' O my soul, bless the Lord, ' who forgiveth all thine iniquities.'

" Lord Jesus, O that I were holy as Thou art holy! ' How long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph ?' They say unto me daily, ' Where is now thy God ?' O Lord, plead in me Thine own cause; shew that, as Thou art my righteousness, Thou art my sanctification also."

Scripture quotations from the King James Version of the Holy Bible.