Theme: Affliction
“Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver:
I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction” (Isaiah 48:10)
“When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers,
they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire,
thou shalt not be burned;neither shall the flame kindle upon thee” (Isaiah 43:2).
“When Thou Passest Through the Waters”~ Author Unknown
Is there any heart discouraged as it journeys on its way?
Does there seem to be more darkness than there is of sunny day?
Oh! It’s hard to learn the lesson, as we pass beneath the rod,
That the sunshine and the shadow serve alike the will of God!
But there comes a word of promise, like the promise in the bow—
That, however deep the waters, they shall never overflow.
When the flesh is worn and weary, and the spirit is depressed,
And temptations sweep upon it like a storm upon ocean’s breast,
There’s a haven ever open for the tempest driven bird,
There’s a shelter for the tempted in the promise of the word;
For the standard of the Spirit shall be raised against the foe,
And, however deep the waters, they shall never overflow.
When the sorrow comes upon you that no other soul can share,
And the burden seems too heavy for the human heart to bear,
There is one whose grace can comfort, when He takes up His abode;
For the precious promise reaches to the depths of human woe,
That, however deep the waters, they shall never overflow.
When the sands of life are ebbing, and I near Jordan’s shore,
When I see its waters rising, and I hear its billows roar,
I will reach my hand to Jesus, in His bosom I shall hide,
And ‘twill only be a moment till I reach the other side.
It is then the fullest meaning of the promise I shall know—
“When thou passest through the waters, they shall never overflow.”
In the Furnace of Affliction ~ David Bartley
In these pages, devoted to the Priesthood of the Christ of God, it is important to say, the present life and state is fully shown in the Scriptures to be divinely appointed and designed as a preparatory place, and that the God and Savior of His people, who knew all their sins and weakness, backslidings and failures, has an infinitely wise and merciful purpose towards them in it all, to successfully teach and convert and save them in these very things as needful truths and lessons of wisdom, which they could learn in no other way. Therefore, to His dear people the Lord says, “Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver: I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction” (Isa. 48:10). This is the way, then, that He is forming His people and preparing them for Himself, that they should show forth His praise. Not perfectly now in the flesh, certainly, for none perfectly glorify Him now; but when He has refined them through the fires and floods and shall bring them forth as the pure gold, then shall they show forth His praise and His power to save and shall be to the Lord an holy priesthood, and perfectly glorify Him in their body and spirit. His people and children need not flatter themselves, therefore, that they can raise themselves up out of the furnace of affliction, by any power or goodness that they possess, do and try as best they may; for the Lord has chosen His people and refines them in this hot furnace. So the man who lives so much to his satisfaction that he escapes the afflictions in the trying furnace, does but prove that the Lord has not chosen him at all. Such an one was the self-boasting worshipper who went up in the temple to pray; but the lowly man who asked for mercy was certainly in the furnace.
The Lord again says, “For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent. From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia my suppliants, even the daughter of my dispersed, shall bring mine offering…I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord… Sing, 0 daughter of Zion; shout, 0 Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, 0 daughter of Jerusalem. The Lord hath taken away thy judgments, he hath cast out thine enemy; the King of Israel, even the Lord, is in the midst of thee: thou shalt not see evil any more. In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not; and to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack. The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love; he will joy over thee with singing” (Zeph. 3:9,10,12,14-17). This is like the word of Christ, saying, “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled” (Matt. 5:3,4,6). The Lord also says, “My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not?...[But he chasteneth us for our profit, that we might be partakers]...of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby” (Heb. 12:5-7, 10-11). It is in this way that the Lord prepares and leads His priestly people to approach unto His presence and worship Him. And so in all the way that He dealeth with them, as well in His providence as in His grace, He is sifting them as wheat, and purifying them as silver and gold in the furnace, that they should show forth His praise. Of the coming and work of Christ Jesus the Savior it is written: “But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fuller’s soap: and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness” (Mal. 3:2,3).
The Lord is now upon His mediatorial throne, the Prince and Savior, and He is thus successfully performing His work of purifying the sons of Levi, the priestly family, in His own sure and good way; but not the way they would choose, for it is as silver and gold in the heated furnace, that melts the hard metals and consumes the baser part, the alloy and dross, the legal trust and fleshly confidence; that they may bring to the Lord the acceptable sacrifice of a broken and contrite spirit, an humble trust and hope in Jesus the only Savior of sinners. And as thus sifted and humbled, they come unto God by faith in His dear and holy Son and plead His sacrifice and only righteousness, and God pardons and accepts and blesses them in His righteous Son, who is their salvation and holiness and life.
This is the good work of righteousness that our Savior has begun in His people, and He will righteously and graciously perform it unto the perfect day; and in such a holy way and so glorifying to God that they shall be saved from themselves and their own way, so that they shall know and confess, with Jonah, “Salvation is of the Lord,” and shall offer the true prayer that Jesus taught: “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.” To thus save us from all that we need to be delivered from is not a light or easy work, for it is so difficult, owing to the innate and deep seated maladies of corrupted and self-reliant man, that none but our all-sufficient High Priest, who has all power in heaven and all power on earth, can save us from our sins and from ourselves and prepare us and enable us to offer unto God an offering in righteousness and worship Him in spirit and in truth and in the beauty of holiness. Jesus only can save; and thus He is saving and will save His people from their sins. Not the least of our sins, that He shall save us from, is self-righteousness, self sufficiency, self-dependence, and self-trust. A no less physician than Jesus, who had all wisdom, all grace and all power, so that He could save the raving Gadarene from himself, could have cured Peter of his strong and ruling passion of self-dependence, and it almost took his life away to save him; yet the gentle and lamb-like Jesus applied the bitter remedy, by letting Satan catch him in his snare, to shake him up and sift him, and Peter was effectually saved and taught to have no confidence in the flesh. “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them” (Heb. 7:25). And thus He interceded for His apostle Peter, before He let Satan have him, that his faith should not fail. Christ our High Priest, as the Son over His own house and brethren, is faithful to God who glorified Him to be made an High Priest after the power of an endless life. The power and virtue of Christ's life and holiness will, therefore, take away from His sinful people all their sinful maladies of every sort, and they shall be purified unto salvation and made acceptable unto God. This work of saving His people from their sins is being performed in them, and the Lord who begun it in them will complete it.
It should not be thought, therefore, that because the Lord's quickened people so often come short in outward or manifest gospel obedience, He is frustrated, hindered or in the least disappointed; for He sees and knows it all and will as surely accomplish His wise design to the glory of God and the effectual salvation of all His straying sheep and backsliding children, as in the awful fall of Peter, the prodigal son or the great trial of Job. Let us not think for a moment that the Savior of sinners is either wishing or trying to accomplish something for His people or with and by them, but meets with sad failures and disappointments; for the adorable and perfect Savior, whose arm rules for Him, is not trying any experiments with His people, as many doctors do with their worst patients, to see whether this or that will succeed and cure the patient. The world of religion, indeed, savors very strongly of this mere experimenting; and many sincere and zealous souls show that they believe that the glorious King of Zion is likewise experi-menting and trying to accomplish much more than He succeeds in having done, and so there is failure with Him as there is with men. That we may have a far more exalted view than this of the reigning Son of God and his power to save, let us hear faithful Paul, who says, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life” (Rom. 5:8-10).
My Heart’s Desire ~ Gertrude W. Seibert
Dear Master, long I've sought a grain of "wheat" to find,
My heart's desire has been, just one with truth to bind!
Perhaps Thou canst not trust Thy servant with this work,
Because some earth-born pride within my breast doth lurk.
If Thou dost find this, Lord, oh, send affliction's fire,
Burn out the dross, the gold refine, and grant my heart's desire!
Perhaps I've sought a path, Thou hast not marked for me,—
Forgive, I only thought some work to do for Thee!
I own no will of mine, the place I would not choose,
But simply give mine all to Thee as Thou canst use.
My thoughts, my words, my deeds, dear Lord, make pure by fire,—
Ah, then, I know that Thou canst grant my heart's desire!
Affliction and Glory ~Arthur W. Pink, 1952
For our light affliction which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Cor. 4:17).
These words supply us with a reason why we should not faint under trials, nor be overwhelmed by misfortunes. They teach us to look at the trials of time—in the light of eternity. They affirm that the present buffetings of the Christian exercise a beneficent effect on the inner man. If these truths were firmly grasped by faith they would mitigate much of the bitterness of our sorrows.
For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
This verse sets forth a striking and glorious antithesis, as it contrasts our future state of glory, with our present of affliction. Here there is “affliction,” there “glory.” Here there is a “light affliction,” there “exceeding glory.” In our affliction there is both levity and brevity—it is a light affliction, and it is but for a moment. In our future glory there is solidity and eternity! To discover the preciousness of this contrast let us consider, separately, each member, but in the inverse order of mention.
A far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
It is a significant thing that the Hebrew word for “glory” also means “weight.” When weight is added to the value of gold or precious stones, this increases their worth. Heaven's happiness cannot be told out in the words of earth; figurative expressions are best calculated to convey some imperfect views to us. Here in our text one term is piled up on top of another. That which awaits the believer is “glory,” and when we say that a thing is glorious we have reached the limits of human language to express that which is excellent and perfect. But the “glory” awaiting us is weighted, yes it is “far more exceeding” weighty than anything terrestrial and temporal; its value defies computation; its transcendent excellency is beyond verbal description. Moreover, this wondrous glory awaiting us is not evanescent and temporal, but Divine and eternal; for “eternal” it could not be unless it were Divine. The great and blessed God is going to give us that which is worthy of Himself, yes that which is like Himself—infinite and everlasting.
Our light affliction, which is but for a moment.
“Affliction” is the common lot of human existence. “Man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward” (Job 5:7). This is part of the result of sin. It is not fit that a fallen creature should be perfectly happy in his sins. Nor are the children of God exempted; “we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). By a hard and rugged road, does God lead us to glory and immortality.
Our affliction is “light.” Afflictions are not light in themselves, for ofttimes they are heavy and grievous; but they are light comparatively! They are light when compared with what we really deserve. They are light when compared with the sufferings of the Lord Jesus. But perhaps their real lightness is best seen by comparing them with the weight of glory which is awaiting us. As said the same apostle in another place, “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Rom. 8:18).
Which is but for a moment.
Should our afflictions continue throughout a whole lifetime, and that life be equal in duration to Methuselah's, yet is it momentary if compared with the eternity which is before us. At most our affliction is but for this present life, which is as a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Oh that God would enable us to examine our trials in their true perspective.
Note now the connection between the two. “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” The present is influencing the future. It is not for us to reason and philosophize about this, but to take God at His Word and believe it. Experience, feelings, obser-vation of others—may seem to deny this fact. Ofttimes afflictions appear only to sour us and make us more rebellious and discontented. But let it be remembered that afflictions are not sent by God for the purpose of purifying the flesh: they are designed for the benefit of the “new man.” Moreover, afflictions help to prepare us for the glory hereafter. Affliction draws away our heart from the love of the world; it makes us long more for the time when we shall be translated from this scene of sin and sorrow; it will enable us to appreciate (by way of contrast) the things which God had prepared for those who love Him.
Here then is what faith is invited to do: to place in one scale the present affliction, in the other, the eternal glory. Are they worthy to be compared? No, indeed.
What are years of toil, of sickness, of battling against pov-erty, of persecution, yes, of a martyr's death—when weighed over against the pleasures at God's right hand, which are for ever-more! One breath of Paradise will extinguish all the adverse winds of earth! One day in the Father's House will more than counter-balance the years we have spent in this dreary wilderness. May God grant unto us that faith which will enable us to anticipatively lay hold of the future and live in the present enjoyment of it.
From: Comfort for Christians
Spiritual Quotes—
King David: Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all (Ps. 34:19)
Matthew Henry (1662-1714): Extraordinary afflictions are not always the punishment of extraordinary sins, but sometimes the trial of extraordinary graces!
Augustus Toplady (1740– 1778) just before his death at 38 years old): My heart beats every day stronger and stronger for glory. Sickness is no affliction, pain no cause, death itself no dissolution... My prayers are now all converted into praise.
Oh! the grace of God turns every enemy into a friend, every loss into a gain; and enables the man, however he has been exercised, to acknowledge in the review, if not in the endurance, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted” (Ps. 119:71).
Charles C. Colton (1780 - 1832): It is not until we have passed through the furnace that we are made to know how much dross there is in our composition.
H. W. Beecher (1813-1887): Affliction comes to us all not to make us sad, but sober; not to make us sorry, but wise; not to make us despondent, but by its darkness to refresh us, as the night refreshes the day; not to impoverish, but to enrich us, as the plough enriches the field; to multiply our joy, as the seed, by planting, is multiplied a thousand fold.
C. H. Spurgeon (1834-1892): As sure as God puts His children in the furnace of affliction, He will be with them in it!
William Jay (1839): Trials must and will befall us; but to a Christian they are lovetokens. “Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son that He receiveth” (Heb. 12:6). To him “tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope” (Rom. 5:3-4).
O Love Beyond Compare ~ A Puritan Prayer
Thou art good when thou givest, when thou takest away,
when the sun shines upon me, when night gathers over me.
Thou hast loved me before the foundation of the world, and in love didst redeem my soul;
Thou dost love me still, in spite of my hard heart, ingratitude, distrust.
Thy goodness has been with me during another year, leading me through a twisting wilderness,
in retreat helping me to advance, when beaten back making sure headway.
Thy goodness will be with me in the year ahead;
I hoist sail and draw up anchor, with Thee as the blessed Pilot of my future as of my past.
I bless Thee that Thou hast veiled my eyes to the waters ahead.
If Thou hast appointed storms of tribulation, Thou wilt be with me in them;
If I have to pass through tempests of persecution and temptation,I shall not drown;
If I am to die, I shall see Thy face the sooner;
If a painful end is to be my lot, grant me grace that my faith fail not;
If I am to be cast aside from the service I love, I can make no stipulation;
Only glorify Thyself in me whether in comfort or trial,
as a chosen vessel meet always for Thy use.
The Night is Far Spent ~ Thomas Kelly (1769-1855)
The night is far spent, the day is at hand;
Already the dawn may be seen in the sky;
Rejoice then, ye saints, ’tis your Lord’s own command;
Rejoice, for the coming of Jesus draws nigh.
How bright it will be, when Jesus appears!
How welcome to those who have shared in His cross!
A crown incorruptible then will be theirs,
A rich compensation for suffering and loss.
Affliction is light compared to the day
Of glory that then will from Heav’n be revealed!
“The Savior is coming,” His people may say,
“The Lord whom we look for, our Sun and our Shield.”
O pardon us, Lord, that love to Thy Name
Is faint, with so much our affections to move!
Our deadness shall fill us with grief and with shame,
So much to be loved and so little to love!
O kindle within us holy desire,
Like that which was found in Thy people of old!
Who felt all Thy love, and whose hearts were on fire,
While waiting in patience Thy face to behold!
God’s Afflicted People ~ Leonard Davis
And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry
by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows (Exodus 3:7).
Who are those that cry and what is their affliction? We associate affliction with some sort of physical pain imposed upon another. Affliction can cause distress of body and mind, without provocation from those afflicted. In most cases this is exactly what happens. Many people can and do experience mental affliction and spiritual affliction without any physical affliction applied.
Now to answer our original question posed. We find a select classification of people who will call upon the Lord in time of need. Who are they? “My people”—the called out, the peculiar, predestinated and elect, children of God—the Christians who have a son-ship relation to God, are the ones that will call upon the name of the Lord and expect Him to hear. It is written, “And the people believed: and when they heard that the LORD had visited the children of Israel, and that he had looked upon their affliction, they then bowed their heads and worshipped” (Ex. 4:31). Notice that they believed and bowed their heads. Only believers in the Lord Jesus Christ in a trial of affliction can find joy, for He is their foundation, as Jeremiah 16:19 points out, “Oh Lord, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction.” Upon His children that call upon His name the Lord spreads the wings of tender loving kindness and hears our cries. We are God’s people under affliction here below because the world does not care about them or want them around.
I recall watching a nature program on sea lions showing how the mother hunts food to feed her young. She leaves the young alone among hundreds of other young, who are crying for food also. They all looked alike and sounded alike to me. I wondered how she was going to pick hers out of all those hundreds that were crying for food. When she returned from the water, she went almost directly to her own pup and gave it food. The handiwork of God must have been in the design and nature of those sea animals reflecting just how God deals with us. In much the same way, God hears, discerns and responses to the cries of each and every one of His dear ones. Others without attachment to God often curse and become offended at Him in their affliction. But, true children of God choose to suffer affliction rather than the pleasures of this world therefore finding joy in the Holy Ghost and untold riches this world doesn’t afford.
Out of much affliction and anguish of heart we come to know the love of God. The Apostle James tells us to keep ourselves unspotted from the world. Look how the apostles suffered affliction from the world when they upheld the principles of Jesus Christ and followed not the paths that led to destruction.
When we understand the cause of our afflictions and from whence it comes, only then are we able to bear them in strength given of Jesus Christ. We can learn much from the word of God by the examples given us in the Old Testament of the nation Israel’s disobedience to God when they walked in their own way and suffered afflictions in many ways. When our ways parallel those of the Israelites of old, the consequences are the same. Is this not what the Lord said: “If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: For the mouth of the Lord hadth spoken it” (Isa. 1:19,20). Here the word “sword” symbolizes several different means of affliction.
When the child of God experiences affliction, causing spiritual distress, it’s root is usually from the act of disobedience or pressures exerted by people or from circumstances surround him that affect his peace and comfort zone.
Now when we knowingly enter into one of the above conditions on our own, should we expect relief because of our lack of responsibility? No! But much of the world believe that they should. However, when we face things that we are unable to control, are forced into a situation by no cause of our own or are distressed by events that cause us grief, do we have cause to expect some sort of relief? The circumstances that brought us there should be examined first. We read that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son to die in our stead for our sins. Do we recognize our sin, feel the guilt of loving darkness rather than light and know our deeds were evil therefore falling short of the glory of God? If we see none of this, we are worldly and are not a “partaker of the afflictions of the gospel [that humbling effect] according to the power of God.” But, if these things bear upon our minds, that is evidence that the Lord has put His laws in our minds and written them in our hearts. Once so, those things of the world we loved are now the very things which afflict us unto obedience. With that enablement we confidently call upon the Lord, Who said, “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him” (Jn 14:21). “As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love” (Jn. 15:9). This will then make us conquerors over those things that afflict us. We are then as Paul who said, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me (Gal. 2:20).
As it is written, “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated” (Rom. 9:13). This tells us that the Lord hates the things of this world, but loves His people. When we are found in affliction, we know God who is rich in mercy, will hear our cries just like the sea lion mother heard her pup.
“Now our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work” (II Thes. 2:16,17). “But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil” (II Thes. 3:3). No affliction in this world can ultimately destroy a child of God. God gave us His assurance when the Apostle Paul wrote, “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body” (II Cor. 4:8-10). What sweeter words could be spoken to give consolation to the poor and afflicted child of God? “When he was in affliction, he besought the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, and prayed unto him: and he was intreated of him, and heard his supplication” (II Chron. 33:12-13). Does this not give encouragement to travel on in this sinful world, knowing that our Father in Heaven keeps watch over us? If we suffer affliction for any period of time, then it is our fault. We have failed to bow down and pray unto our Lord, who hears every cry from His children. What a Savior!! AMEN & AMEN
Jesus, While Our Hearts Are Bleeding ~ Thomas Hastings (1784-1872)
Jesus, while our hearts are bleeding o'er the spoils that death has won,
We would at this solemn meeting, calmly say, “Thy will be done.”
Though cast down, we're not forsaken, though afflicted, not alone;
Thou didst give and Thou hast taken, blessed Lord, “Thy will be done.”
Fill us now with deep contrition, take away these hearts of stone,
And make all with true submission, meekly say, "Thy will be done."
Though today we're filled with mourning, mercy still is on the throne;
With Thy smiles of love returning, we can sing, “Thy will be done.”
By Thy hands the boon was given, Thou hast taken but Thine own;
Lord of earth and God of heaven, evermore, “Thy will be done.”
Trials and Afflictions ~ Leon H. Clevenger
We are very much prone to complain about our burdens, trials and afflictions. Yet we are told:
Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you; but rejoice inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings that when His glory shall be revealed ye may be glad also with exceeding joy (I Pt. 4:12-13).
But some may say, these trials are special to them for witness and evidence and is unnecessary today. But we are told by the Apostle Paul: “All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (II Tim. 3:12). We know that our Savior loves His children and that He would not suffer them to have trials and persecutions unless they were necessary and for their good. We cannot appease Satan or the world or even God’s children who are for a time under Satan’s influence.
Paul’s greatest complaint of persecutions was that of false brethren. We do not know that they were regenerated children of God or some who were public professors only, but they at least bore the name of brethren. Some of the darkest crimes of persecution have been done in the name of Christianity, but it takes more than the name to live the principles of Christianity.
Prosperity is not as good as adversity for us strangers and travelers whose final home and desire is to be with the Son of God and those who love Him. We do not pray as much nor do we seek the sustaining grace of the Lord as much while all is going well. Neither do we do so while we constantly seek the companionship of the worldly. But it is not natural for any to voluntarily to become afflicted or to seek for trials and we are not commanded to do so. God will send them or allow time to come if and when He sees that it is for our good. It takes the fire to melt the ore from the gold and separate the dross. No chastisement of God is pleasant at the time, but the after results of humility and obedience brings joy. Sometimes the sweet faith which comes in strength in such cases becomes the most precious experience of our lives. It. is said that God sometimes washes the eyes of the saints with tears that they may see His promises better.
The child of God will never appreciate this fruit as well if it has not been cultivated in the valley of afflictions and watered with the tears of true penitent sorrow. This is one of the chief sources of Christian fellowship. Fellowship is not so much official as it is emotional and sympathetic.
May Jesus help us to have fellowship and give understanding to others.
The Banner of Love, Aug 1962
Where High the Heavenly Temple Stands ~ Michael Bruce (1746-1767)
Where high the heavenly temple stands, the house of God not made with hands,
A great High Priest our nature wears, the Guardian of mankind appears.
He Who for men their Surety stood, and poured on earth His precious blood,
Pursues in Heaven His mighty plan, the Savior and the Friend of man.
Though now ascended up on high, He bends on earth a brother’s eye;
Partaker of the human name, He knows the frailty of our frame.
Our fellow Sufferer yet retains a fellow feeling of our pains:
And still remembers in the skies His tears, His agonies, and cries.
In every pang that rends the heart, the Man of Sorrows had a part,
He sympathizes with our grief, and to the sufferer sends relief.
With boldness, therefore, at the throne, let us make all our sorrows known;
And ask the aids of heavenly power to help us in the evil hour.
Now to Suffer, Not to Wait ~ LeRon Dean © September 2001
(Inspired by Ugo Bassi’s Sermon in a Hospital)
If I, impatient, in this life do let slip by my cross from me,
I won’t find it on earth again nor in another world for sure.
It’s here in life and here alone for me to suffer for God’s sake.
To love and serve and praise His name; Delight in growing near to Him.
I shall not any more be called to suffer in this world below;
For my appointment’s given here, to draw myself to Christ my Lord.
Not suffer, then, an hour or two? If He today calls me away,
But then some passion of regret, I think did overcome my soul.
“So soon? Let me go back,” I said, and suffer yet more patiently.
Whene’er it comes, that summons comes for which I’ve looked for oh so long,
Alas, it will seem soon, too soon. I have not yet enough praised God.
This lesson from which I’ve been taught not just to me but to us all,
Let us take heed in time that God may NOW be glorified in us.
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