“…the wisdom of the just..”. – Luke 1:17

The Lord’s people are justified freely, by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. The work of Jesus is their justification before God; in this they trust; in this they plead; and in this they rejoice. Taught by the Holy Spirit, they manifest wisdom in readily believing God’s faithful word, and trusting Him to make good the same to them.

They resign themselves and all they value into His hands for preservation, and to be entirely at His disposal, persuaded that His wisdom and love will do better for them, than they possibly could for themselves. They refer all things to God for His decision, and cheerfully abide by His sentence.

They live in simple, child-like dependance upon His providence and grace, for body and soul, for time and eternity, seeking to make His will theirs. They walk in charity with their fellow-Christians, who differ in some things from them, and would do good to all, especially to them that are of the household of faith.

Beloved, do you manifest this wisdom? Do you walk by this rule? Do you mind the same things? Have you the wisdom that is from above, which is pure, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits?—James Smith, 1840

Boundless wisdom, power Divine,
Love unspeakable, are Thine;
Wisdom, Lord, to me be given,
Wisdom pure, which comes from heaven.

“Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee” Psalm 55:22

There are some mistaken notions current concerning the ways in which God would help us. People think that whenever they have a little trouble, a bit of hard path to go over, a load to carry, a sorrow to endure—all they have to do is to call upon God, and He will at once take away their sorrow, or free them from the trouble. But this is not the way God helps us! His purpose of love concerning us is—not to make all things easy for us—but to make something of us!

When we ask God to save us from our trouble, to take the struggles out of our life, to make the paths mossy, to lift off every heavy load—He will not do it! It would be most unloving in Him to accommodate us. We must carry the burden ourselves! All God promises is, to sustain us—as we carry it! He wants us to learn life’s lessons, and to do this—we must be left to work out the problems for ourselves.

There are rich blessings which can be gotten, only in sorrow. It would be short-sighted love indeed—which would heed our cries, and spare us from sorrow—and thus deprive us of the wonderful blessings which can be gotten only in sorrow! God is too good to us to answer our prayers—which would save us from pain, cost, and sacrifice today—at the price of holier, better, truer life in the end. He would not rob us of the blessing that is in the burden—which we can get only by carrying it! –J. R. Miller

Having preached on this subject Sunday, I can’t get it off my mind, I was thrilled when I received this message from Dr. Paul Chappell. I hope it is an encouragement to you as well:

“The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms“— Deuteronomy 33:27

If we are held in the clasp of the everlasting arms–we need not fear that we shall ever be separated from the enfolding. “Underneath.” They are always underneath us. No matter how low we sink in weakness, in fainting, in pain, in sorrow–we never can sink below these everlasting arms. We can never drop out of their clasp!

God’s love is deeper than human sorrow. Sorrow is very deep, but still and forever, in the greatest grief–these arms of Divine love are underneath the believing sufferer.

God’s love is deeper than death. When every earthly support is gone from beneath us, when every human arm unclasps and every face fades from before our eyes, and we sink away into what seems darkness and the shadow of death–we shall only sink into the everlasting arms!

Drop your plummet into the deepest sea of sorrow, and at the end of your soundings: “Underneath are the everlasting arms!”

What abiding consolation! What all-embracing, never-failing strength!–(Author unknown)

  As another has written—–

The Valley of Weeping

I have been through the valley of weeping,
The valley of sorrow and pain;
But the ‘God of all comfort’ was with me,
At hand to uphold and sustain.

As the earth needs the clouds and the sunshine,
Our souls need both sorrow and joy;
So He places us oft in the furnace,
The dross from the gold to destroy.

When He leads through some valley of trouble,
His omnipotent hand we trace;
For the trials and sorrows He sends us,
Are part of His lessons in grace.

Oft we shrink from the purging and pruning,
Forgetting the Husbandman knows
That the deeper the cutting and paring,
The richer the cluster that grows.

Well He knows that affliction is needed;
He has a wise gracious purpose in view,
And in the dark valley He whispers,
“Hereafter you will know what I do.”

As we travel through life’s shadowed valley,
Fresh springs of His love ever rise;
And we learn that our sorrows and losses,
Are blessings just sent in disguise.

So we’ll follow wherever He leadeth,
Let the path be dreary or bright;
For we’ve proved that our God can give comfort,
Our God can give songs in the night!
Author unknown