As we assess our day, this scripture is the greatest thing we say and do than to quiet the sea or
raise up the dead. As we know, the apostles and the prophets worked mighty miracles but often failed
the will of God. To suffer His will requires faith. We need this sublime Christian achievement, i. e. a young
life afflicted by pain or sorrow and to see no relief; to be pinched by poverty in one’s attempt to help
family; to be chained to a life of disability; now, stripped bare of those we love. We know this is faith at
its best.
ln essence, we have a God who is a sympathizing God. Our feelings are challenged by our ability
to care and become a helper based on our own ability to suffer. Have we suffered somewhere and somehow on a cross? Can we have happiness as we succor others without tasting the cup that Jesus drank or submitting to baptism?
David’s psalms were quite comforting. when he had been pressed out by suffering. Paul had a
thorn in the flesh that accounted for his tenderness in many of his letters. My own circumstances are the
means by which I surrender to God’s hand. I can be chiseled for eternity. This involves trust. Do I push
away the tool that is shaping me?
We will face trials. We have an assurance that He falls like sunshine where we are. rle brings
peace and comfort daily; however, his judgments are a great deep. yet, God means it to be good. Even
through weary days of prison bondage, Paul was working through his waiting. God permitted afflictions
bitter and so strange, and the Lord saw the end from the beginning purpose. paul placed his hand in the
Lord’s and followed Him fearlessly through his endless days.
Marty J. Larcom