The Necessity of Affliction
John MacDuff (1818-1895)
"Though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials" 1 Peter 1:6
What a blessed motto and superscription over the dark lintels of sorrow: "There is a necessity for this!" Every arrow from the quiver of God is feathered with it! Write it, child of affliction, over every trial that your God sees fit to send!
If He calls you down from the sunny mountain-heights, to the darksome valleys—hear Him saying: "There is a necessity for this!"
If He has dashed the cup of earthly prosperity from your lips, curtailed your creature comforts, diminished your "basket and store"—hear Him saying: "There is a necessity for this!"
If He has plowed and furrowed your soul with severe bereavement, extinguished light after light in your dwelling—hear Him thus stilling the tumult of your grief, "There is a necessity for this!"
Yes, believe it—there is some profound reason for your trial, which at present may be indiscernible to you. No furnace will be hotter than He sees to be needed.
Be still, and know that He is God! That "necessity," remember, is in the hands of infinite Love, infinite Wisdom, and infinite Power! Trust Him in little things, as well as in great things; in trifles as well as in disasters. Seek to have an unquestioning faith. Though other paths, doubtless, would have been selected by you had the choice been in your hands—be it yours to listen to His voice at every turn of the road, saying, "This is the way, walk in it!"
We may not be able to understand it now, but one day we shall find that affliction is one of God's most blessed ministers, sent forth to "minister to those who are heirs of salvation."
Sorrowful one! There is a reason for your chastisement. "For the Lord disciplines those whom He loves, and chastens every child whom He accepts." Hebrews 12:6
What! God loves me, when He is discharging His quiver upon me, emptying me from vessel to vessel, causing the sun of my earthly joys to set in clouds? Yes, afflicted, tempest-tossed one! He chastens you, because He loves you! This trial comes from His own tender, loving hand—from His own tender, unchanging heart!
Are you laid on a sick bed, are sorrowful months and wearisome nights appointed unto you? Let this be the pillow on which your aching head reclines: It is because God loves me!
Is it bereavement which has swept your heart and desolated your dwelling? God appointed that chamber of death, He opened that tomb—because He loves you!
Believer! Rejoice in the thought that the chastening rod is in the hands of the living, loving Savior who died for you! Tribulation is the King's Highway, and yet that highway is paved with love. As some flowers require to be pressed before shedding their fragrance—so does your God see fit to bruise you, to bring out your graces.
If your heavenly Father's smile has for the moment been exchanged for the chastening rod, be assured there is some deep necessity for the discipline. There is nothing capricious in His dealings. Love is the reason of all that He does. There is no drop of wrath in that bitter cup you are called upon to drink!
Erring human wisdom has no place in God's allotments. An earthly father may err—yes, he is ever erring. But "as for God, His way is perfect!" This is the explanation of His every dealing: "Your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things!"
In our seasons of trial, when under some inscrutable painful dispensation, how apt is the murmuring thought to rise in our hearts:
"All these things are against me! Might not this overwhelming blow have been spared. Might not this dark cloud, which has shadowed my heart and my home with sadness, have been averted? Might not my trial have been less severe? Surely the Lord has forgotten to be gracious!"
No! These afflictions are errands of mercy in disguise! "He does not afflict willingly." There is nothing capricious or arbitrary about your God's dealings. Unutterable tenderness is the character of all His allotments! He appoints no needless pang. He has precious lessons that could not otherwise have been taught!
Afflicted one! Be assured that there is some deep necessity in all that He does. In our calendars of sorrow we may put this luminous mark against every trying hour: "It was needed!" Some excess branch in the tree required pruning, to increase its fruitfulness.
Mourning one! He might have dealt far otherwise with you! He might have cut you down as a fruitless, worthless cumberer! He might have abandoned you to drift—disowned and unpiloted on the rocks of destruction, joined to your idols! He might have "left you alone" to settle on your lees, and forfeit your eternal bliss! But He loved you better. It was kindness—infinite kindness, which blighted your fairest blossoms, and hedged up your way with thorns!
John MacDuff (1818-1895)
"Though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials" 1 Peter 1:6
What a blessed motto and superscription over the dark lintels of sorrow: "There is a necessity for this!" Every arrow from the quiver of God is feathered with it! Write it, child of affliction, over every trial that your God sees fit to send!
If He calls you down from the sunny mountain-heights, to the darksome valleys—hear Him saying: "There is a necessity for this!"
If He has dashed the cup of earthly prosperity from your lips, curtailed your creature comforts, diminished your "basket and store"—hear Him saying: "There is a necessity for this!"
If He has plowed and furrowed your soul with severe bereavement, extinguished light after light in your dwelling—hear Him thus stilling the tumult of your grief, "There is a necessity for this!"
Yes, believe it—there is some profound reason for your trial, which at present may be indiscernible to you. No furnace will be hotter than He sees to be needed.
Be still, and know that He is God! That "necessity," remember, is in the hands of infinite Love, infinite Wisdom, and infinite Power! Trust Him in little things, as well as in great things; in trifles as well as in disasters. Seek to have an unquestioning faith. Though other paths, doubtless, would have been selected by you had the choice been in your hands—be it yours to listen to His voice at every turn of the road, saying, "This is the way, walk in it!"
We may not be able to understand it now, but one day we shall find that affliction is one of God's most blessed ministers, sent forth to "minister to those who are heirs of salvation."
Sorrowful one! There is a reason for your chastisement. "For the Lord disciplines those whom He loves, and chastens every child whom He accepts." Hebrews 12:6
What! God loves me, when He is discharging His quiver upon me, emptying me from vessel to vessel, causing the sun of my earthly joys to set in clouds? Yes, afflicted, tempest-tossed one! He chastens you, because He loves you! This trial comes from His own tender, loving hand—from His own tender, unchanging heart!
Are you laid on a sick bed, are sorrowful months and wearisome nights appointed unto you? Let this be the pillow on which your aching head reclines: It is because God loves me!
Is it bereavement which has swept your heart and desolated your dwelling? God appointed that chamber of death, He opened that tomb—because He loves you!
Believer! Rejoice in the thought that the chastening rod is in the hands of the living, loving Savior who died for you! Tribulation is the King's Highway, and yet that highway is paved with love. As some flowers require to be pressed before shedding their fragrance—so does your God see fit to bruise you, to bring out your graces.
If your heavenly Father's smile has for the moment been exchanged for the chastening rod, be assured there is some deep necessity for the discipline. There is nothing capricious in His dealings. Love is the reason of all that He does. There is no drop of wrath in that bitter cup you are called upon to drink!
Erring human wisdom has no place in God's allotments. An earthly father may err—yes, he is ever erring. But "as for God, His way is perfect!" This is the explanation of His every dealing: "Your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things!"
In our seasons of trial, when under some inscrutable painful dispensation, how apt is the murmuring thought to rise in our hearts:
"All these things are against me! Might not this overwhelming blow have been spared. Might not this dark cloud, which has shadowed my heart and my home with sadness, have been averted? Might not my trial have been less severe? Surely the Lord has forgotten to be gracious!"
No! These afflictions are errands of mercy in disguise! "He does not afflict willingly." There is nothing capricious or arbitrary about your God's dealings. Unutterable tenderness is the character of all His allotments! He appoints no needless pang. He has precious lessons that could not otherwise have been taught!
Afflicted one! Be assured that there is some deep necessity in all that He does. In our calendars of sorrow we may put this luminous mark against every trying hour: "It was needed!" Some excess branch in the tree required pruning, to increase its fruitfulness.
Mourning one! He might have dealt far otherwise with you! He might have cut you down as a fruitless, worthless cumberer! He might have abandoned you to drift—disowned and unpiloted on the rocks of destruction, joined to your idols! He might have "left you alone" to settle on your lees, and forfeit your eternal bliss! But He loved you better. It was kindness—infinite kindness, which blighted your fairest blossoms, and hedged up your way with thorns!
