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

“And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest. And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve.”–Luke 22:24–26

On the night before the crucifixion, when Jesus was talking to the disciples about how He was looking forward to Heaven and explaining once again His role as the sacrifice for sin, the disciples were arguing over which of them should have the most prominent role in His kingdom. They were filled with pride and came into conflict. The Greek word translated strife indicates not just a conflict, but an eagerness to do battle.

At the root of our strife is the insistence that pride makes on having preeminence and having our own way. “Only by pride cometh contention: but with the well advised is wisdom” (Proverbs 13:10). It is hard for us to overcome pride because it appeals to us so much. Benjamin Franklin wrote, “There is perhaps no one of our natural passions so hard to subdue as pride. Beat it down, stifle it, mortify it as much as one pleases, it is still alive. Even if I could conceive that I had completely overcome it, I should probably be proud of my humility.”

We do not often recognize pride in our own lives, though we easily detect it in others. Rather than humbling ourselves as God commands, we indulge our pride and feel much better about ourselves than we should. This inevitably brings us into conflict with those around us and destroys the unity that should characterize Christians. When our focus is on ourselves rather than on God, we will find it easy to fall into the trap of pride.(Daily in the Word)

“Only by pride cometh contention” – Proverbs 13:10

This powerful proverb brings arguments to a sweet conclusion, lost tempers to a cool self-examination, and finger pointing to a swift end.

Only by pride is there contention, or conflict. Arguments and strife do not come because one person is right and another is wrong. They only come by way of pride.

No matter how loudly we may declare our innocence, no matter how cleverly we may defend our cause, no matter how furiously we may justify our position — only by pride comes contention. Do you pretend that you are free of pride? Can you honestly argue that the problems in your family are all because of other people’s pride?

As C.S. Lewis observed, “[Pride] is one vice of which no man in the world is free.” For this reason, every conflict in every home requires strenuous and honest self-examination, from husbands, wives, parents, and children alike.

What have you done to contribute to the current tension in the home? What could you have said differently to avoid giving offense? How have you allowed your pride to escalate what could have been a productive discussion or honest disagreement? How have you disobeyed God’s role for you in the home?

If each member of the family spends concerted time and sincere energy in searching his or her own heart and motive and conduct, the confession of pride will be universal within the home. No one is guiltless; everyone has pride.

With this confession, with this realization, however, comes great hope. There is a solution! As each one in the home humbles themselves before God, the strife in the home will slowly but surely dissipate. When pride is gone, the tension will be gone.

Let it then begin with you.— Copied from “A Good Thing”