To enjoy peace in this troubled world we must learn to endure by patiently submitting ourselves to what God causes or allows— regardless of how painful it might be. Living in a fallen world, life will never be perfect. But as difficult as it might be we only make matters worse if we resent and resist it.
J. R. Miller wrote:”- – – if there are unavoidable ills or burdens, which we cannot by any energy of our own remove or lighten—they must be submitted to without murmuring. We have a saying that, “What cannot be cured—must be endured.” But the very phrasing tells of an unyielding heart! There is submission to the inevitable—but no reconciliation to it!
True contentment does not chafe under disappointments and losses—but accepts them, becomes reconciled to them, and at once looks about to find something good in them. This is the secret of happy living! And when we come to think of it—how senseless it is to struggle against the inevitable! Discontent helps nothing. It never removes a hardship, or makes a burden any lighter, or brings back a vanished pleasure. One never feels better, for complaining. It only makes him wretched!
A starling in a cage struggles against its fate, flies against the wire walls, and beats upon them in efforts to be free—until its wings are all bruised and bleeding! A canary is shut in another cage, accepts the restraint, perches itself upon its bar and sings. Surely, the canary is wiser than the starling!
