Not
only are we disciplined and perfected by our trials, when these are accepted as
from the hand of God, but out of these same experiences, we are privileged to
know how much it means to be in the love of Christ. So all trials are
priceless, not only because they are a part of our being in the love of Christ
through our readiness to let Him choose for us, but also in that they bring us
to a knowledge of His love for us by manifestations we
should indeed regret missing.
If
an illustration of this is needed, where can a better one be found than in the
story in which we have those two precious words, "Jesus wept." In that story the
choice of a trial was made by Jesus, and what a wealth of blessing resulted
from His choice. Lazarus had been permitted to die before Jesus came to Martha
and Mary in response to their message to Him. This unaccountable delay perplexed
these dear sorrowing hearts who had thought it quite sufficient to send the
word, "He whom You
love is sick." At last He came, and Martha hastens to tell Him the
results of His delay. "If You had been here, our brother had not died.” Mary had
remained within the house to weep on in her disappointment and perplexity.
Jesus sends for her, and she comes weeping to His feet. Then, behold His loving
sympathy! He appears to have shown no special emotional feelings while conversing
with Martha, but how different when Mary weeps in His presence. It is then that
the floodgates of His love and sympathy gave way, and mingling His tears with
those of Mary, the Son of God wept with those who weep. What volumes of sympathy
those tears unfolded to Martha and Mary, and to others who said, "Behold how He loved him."
Such
manifest sharing in the sisters' sorrow revealed that Jesus, whether present or
absent, always knows, always loves and cares even when delaying His coming to
our aid. Had Lazarus been raised from a sick bed, they would never have seen
those tears. Had Jesus not seen it best to choose a later arrival, they could
never have known the depths of His affection. How fully they were held in His
love, when it seemed to them a question if He really cared. Oh, the depth of
those words, "You shall abide in My
love.” Always abide within that sheltered refuge while trials refine the
character He loves, and when He thereby reveals His love for His own. Surely, we may abide there serene and calm
while the pruning knife is used and more of the desired fruitage is sought,
which Christ's love sees can yet be produced.
Is
it our desire to know that we are thus in the love of Jesus through the medium
of the trials He chooses for us? Do we desire to find Him increasingly precious
to us as He continues His work of grace in us? If so, let us value all the
permitted experiences by which these results are made possible. Only then will
we ever have any practical way of verifying the often-repeated
words, "Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face." In believing that this is so, we have
learned that "It is under such
discipline that the soul is mellowed to a loving submission and calmly says, “I
can do all things, bear all things through Christ who strengthens me.” As
gradually the dross of the old nature is consumed, and the gold becomes more
and more manifest, these precious souls become ever dearer to their loving
Lord. So dear are they to Him that in every affliction He is near with His
grace to sustain and His presence to cheer; and the deepest shades of sorrow become
memory's most hallowed resting places, where the Day Star shines the
brightest." One who knew this truth has said, "Our tears are like telescopes to enable us to see further into
heaven. God often washes our eyes with tears so that we may see realities of
His love with clearer vision."
To
abide in the love of Christ, and thereby be developed in Christian character
through trial, and additionally to see
His love for us more clearly, are wonderful privileges -- sufficient reward
surely for any "light
afflictions" endured in submissive patience. Yet, there is still
another measure of compensation connected with these experiences. We hear Jesus
say, "I have called you
friends." This friendship means a very wonderful oneness embracing the
Father, the Son, and ourselves. What a vista of possibilities this opens up
before our eyes as we see how our trials affect not only ourselves, but are a
part of God's purpose in His dealings with others. Beyond our own sphere of
trials and their great meaning to us, there is another realm where they play a
real part in the larger plans of God and Christ. If we continue in the love of
Christ by letting Him have His way with us, then in the wonderful economy of
God's operations, it may be that we are serving those operations in ways very far beyond our greatest
hope or expectation. Let the suffering of
Martha and Mary illustrate this marvelous possibility.
The
suffering and perplexity over the delay of Jesus and the death of their brother,
which Martha and Mary experienced, was surely to the glory of God, as Jesus
said. He was glad for the sake of the disciples that He was not there before death had done its
work.
The sisters were surely as glad
afterward when all was made plain to them. We, too, are glad of this delay,
and for the story that has come down to us because Lazarus died. The raising of
Lazarus from the sleep of death and all the circumstances connected with the
story as it affected all living at the
We think of Job
and the anguish he experienced while the permit-
ted afflictions made his life a burden.
Yet, he, too, can teach us that under God's hand and overruling, none of His people can suffer with out in
some manner benefiting others. Job suffered not for himself alone. Do we not
read plainly that he was serving generations yet to come, even us in our day, "You have heard of the patience of job,
and seen the end of the Lord: that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender
mercy." Oh, how little Job could know of the endless benefits others
would receive through God's dealings with him in those far-off days. As it was
with him, and with Martha and Mary, so likewise was it with prophets, apostles,
martyrs, and a host of humble unknown patient sufferers. Only eternity will
reveal how far-reaching the sufferings of His children went in the working out
of His purposes. Those, therefore, who spend their weary days on beds of
sickness, or find themselves shut in by infirmities from which only death can
bring deliverance, may take heart. Who knows but as Job's sufferings and the
sufferings of Martha and Mary have meant so great a measure of blessing to
others, so the sufferings of all who are in the hand of God are likewise used of Him in the interests of others
whom He seeks to encourage and help.
These
are the blessings that come to us as
we remain in true relationship to Christ. If we will remember that
we live not for ourselves alone, nor die in complete isolation from all others,
we will surely find a larger meaning in the privilege of abiding in Christ. What a God is ours! Like the Psalmist, we find
Him everywhere in His overruling power. And like Martha and Mary, we, too, may
often find Him at work for us in circumstances very different from our
expectations.
So
we are sheltered in the love of Christ. Within the circle of that love we live,
move, and have our golden opportunities. He has given us His commandments, the
conditions of His will, and toward these we feel as did the Psalmist, and so
pray with him, "Make me to go in the
way of Your commandments; for therein do I delight" (Psalm 119:35).
Obedience to these commands will mean receiving the treatment every fruitful
branch in the true Vine must receive. The prunings are for more fruit, and we
are one with the Husbandman in that desire. In all of these revelations of His
will, we hear Jesus saying to us, "I
have told you these things just because I want to share My
joy with you." In this union with Christ, we find our present life
truly linked with Him, and in Him, we find our all in all. Happy are they who
find that --
"In Christ all fullness dwells, from Him proceeds
All that fallen man, poor, wretched,
guilty, needs.
In Him the contrite, bruised in spirit
find
Whate’er can heal the sorrows of the
mind.
Forgiving love; that saves from blank
despair,
Rich grace, that banishes each anxious
care,
Soft pity, that relieves the bursting
sigh,
And truth, revealing joys that
never die.
Thrice happy they, who to His word
attend,
His favor seek, and on His strength depend.
"'Tis theirs to know His
heart-consoling voice,
To share His smile, and in His name
rejoice;
To them, reclaimed in mercy from the
fall
And heavenward marching, Christ is all
in all;
In want, their treasure -- in distress,
their stay --
In gloom, their day-spring -- vigor, in
decay --
'Mid foes, their guard -- in solitude,
their guest --
In storms, their hiding place -- in
toils, their rest, --
In bonds, their freedom -- their relief
in pain --
In life, their glory, and in death, their gain."
- J. J. Blackburn.
“Contemplate the love of Christ, and you will love. Stand before that mirror, reflect Christ’s
character, and you will be changed into the same image from tenderness to
tenderness. There is no other way. You cannot love to order. You can only look at the lovely object, and
fall in love with it, growing into likeness to it. To look at this Perfect Life, and the great
sacrifice as He laid down Himself, all through life, ending on the cross of
Henry Drummond