He hath done all things well! Mark 7:37

Yes, from first to last, from our cradle to our grave, from the earliest pang of sin’s conviction, to the last thrill of sin’s forgiveness, from earth to heaven — this will be our testimony in all the way the Lord our God has led us in the wilderness: “He has done all things well!”

In providence and in grace,
in every truth of His Word,
in every lesson of His love,
in every stroke of His rod,
in every sunbeam that has shone,
in every cloud that has shaded,
in every element that has sweetened,
in every ingredient that has embittered,
in all that has been mysterious, inscrutable, painful, and humiliating,
in all that He gave,
in all that He took away,
this testimony is His just due, and this our grateful acknowledgment through time and through eternity: “He has done all things well!”

Has He converted us through grace by a way we had thought the most improbable?
Has He torn up all our earthly hopes by the roots?
Has He thwarted our schemes, frustrated our plans, disappointed our expectations?
Has He taught us in schools most trying, by a discipline most severe, and lessons most humbling to our nature?
Has He withered our strength by sickness, reduced us to poverty by loss, crushed our heart by bereavement?

And have we been tempted to exclaim, “All these things are against me!”
Ah! no! faith will yet obtain the ascendancy, and sweetly sing:
“I know in all things that befell,
 My Jesus has done all things well!”

Beloved, it must be so, for Jesus can do nothing wrong! –Octavius Winslow

“Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.” – Revelation 2:4-5

It’s often said,”The best things in life are free”, and that is true–if you really understand what things are “best”. However, it’s also a fact that some of the things deemed “free” are actually quiet costly. An example of this is found in the words by the late Adrian Rogers:

The Sixties ushered in the sexual revolution. Now tell me one more time how “free love” was to bring peace and harmony to our world?

People are being sucked into swirling sewers of sin. Homes are coming apart at the seams. Precious little unborn babies are being put to death. Sexually transmitted diseases are rampant.

The time is half past late, and we must return to our “first love.” It’s time to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, and with all our souls, and with all our minds; and love our neighbors as we love ourselves (see Matthew 22:36-39).

It’s time to introduce people to the “free love” offered by our Savior when He died to forgive us our sins and purchase our salvation for eternity.

Our knowledge of Christ is somewhat like climbing one of our Welsh mountains. When you are at the base you see but little: the mountain itself appears to be but one-half as high as it really is. Confined in a little valley, you discover scarcely anything but the rippling brooks as they descend into the stream at the foot of the mountain. Climb the first rising knoll, and the valley lengthens and widens beneath your feet. Go higher, and you see the country for four or five miles round, and you are delighted with the widening prospect. Mount still, and the scene enlarges; till at last, when you are on the summit, and look east, west, north, and south, you see almost all England lying before you. Yonder is a forest in some distant county, perhaps two hundred miles away, and here the sea, and there a shining river and the smoking chimneys of a manufacturing town, or the masts of the ships in a busy port. All these things please and delight you, and you say, “I could not have imagined that so much could be seen at this elevation.” Now, the Christian life is of the same order. When we first believe in Christ we see but little of Him. The higher we climb the more we discover of His beauties. But who has ever gained the summit? Who has known all the heights and depths of the love of Christ which passes knowledge? Paul, when grown old, sitting grey-haired, shivering in a dungeon in Rome, could say with greater emphasis than we can, “I know whom I have believed,” for each experience had been like the climbing of a hill, each trial had been like ascending another summit, and his death seemed like gaining the top of the mountain, from which he could see the whole of the faithfulness and the love of Him to whom he had committed his soul. Get thee up, dear friend, into the high mountain.–Charles Spurgeon, “Morning and Evening”

Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God– 2 Corinthians 1:4

God gives us comfort in all our tribulation. There is not a sickness, or a loss, or a pain, or a frustration for which God does not provide comfort.

He comforts us in his Word, the Bible. When we read His promises and discover His character, we receive the great comfort that is meant for us in His Word. We are reminded that God is good and that God is sovereign. And we are told that His sovereign goodness is at work in this universe on behalf of believers.

He comforts us with His Spirit. In fact, the Spirit of God is called our Comforter. When no human can understand, when no words can relieve, the Spirit of God is still able to minister to our soul. By pointing us to the finished work of Christ and drawing us to the person of Christ, the Holy Spirit sets our feet on solid ground even when our world is falling apart around us.

But there is another way, Paul tells us, in which God comforts us. The very trials and consolations we have experienced will be used to help others through their personal pains. God’s Word brings comfort to others as we share with others the scriptures that have helped us. The Spirit of God brings comfort as we testify of the sufficiency of Christ even in the midst of our personal agonizing.

Through the very comfort that we ourselves have received, others receive comfort; this, in turn, consoles us that our trial has not been in vain.—“A Good Thing”

— my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped.–Psalm 73:2

One of the best lessons we can learn, and the sooner the better, is that we are always on dangerous ground. As a preacher of old well said:
We may fall into sin — even when we cannot fall into hell.
We may break our bones — when we cannot break our neck.
We may make sad work for repentance — when we do not incur a sentence of final condemnation.
We are liable to fall by error — which is specious and powerful.
We are liable to fall by Satan — who is crafty and malicious.
We are liable to fall by our weakness — which is very great.
We are liable to fall by sinful pleasures — in which the flesh takes delight.
We are liable to fall by our unhallowed tempers — which need constant watchfulness and incessant prayer.
We are liable to fall by erroneous people — who may, like Satan, lie in wait to deceive us. (James Smith, 1865)

Being on such dangerous ground we are in constant need. We better be ready! We need more than a strong resolve, sincere effort, or great ability. We need divine assistance. We need what God alone can provide. Thankfully that is exactly what we are promised— He keeps the feet of His saints. Let this then be our prayer–“Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe: and I will have respect unto thy statutes continually”.(Psalm 119:117)