| The Joy of Service |
Chapter 10 |
Page 6 |
It does not always seem so even to Christian faith. God’s children sometimes appear to be sorely hurt in life’s experiences. Things appear to go wrong, with no hand of wisdom or love restraining or directing them. When we look at circumstances – the loss, the suffering, and the apparent triumph of wrong – we sometimes almost question the truth of the words on which we have learned to trust. But we need to take wider views of the Divine providences. Earthly evil is not the sorest evil. Sorrow, pain, and personal injury are not the things that really hurt our lives. It is possible to suffer every manner of trial and ill, and yet to be continually receiving blessing. God’s keeping us from evil does not necessarily mean His keeping us from pain and suffering. Jesus was kept in the divinest keeping, and yet all the world’s bitterness swept over Him. St. Paul’s course was one of loss and persecution to the very end; and yet his real life, which he had entrusted as a holy deposit with Christ, was kept untouched by harm through all his sore experiences.
So it ever is with those who commit their soul to Christ, and abide in Him. Property may be taken away, friends may forsake, pain may rack, the body may be torn; but none of these things can touch the soul. It is in the keeping of the living God, who is faithful, and in whose hands we never can perish, nor even suffer real harm. The pain and shadow are only the ways to the best blessings.
“We must live through the weary winter
If we would value the spring’
And the woods must be cold and silent
Before the robins sing.
The flowers must lie buried in darkness
Before thy can bud and bloom;
And the sweetest and warmest sunshine
Comes after the storm and gloom.”
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