What a compassionate, gracious arrangement!
Susannah Spurgeon, “Words of Cheer and Comfort for Sick and Sorrowful Souls!” 1898
(You will find it helpful to LISTEN to the Audio, as you READ the text below.)
Psalm 31:15, “My times are in Your hand!”
Why then, need I worry or tremble? That great, loving, powerful hand keeps all the events of my life sealed and secure within its almighty clasp! Only He, my Maker and my Master, can permit them to be revealed to me as His will for me. What a compassionate, gracious arrangement! How eminently fitted to fulfill that sweet promise of His Word, “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You!” If we fully believed this, then we would be absolutely devoid of the worry which corrodes and chafes the daily life of so many professing Christians.
“My times.” Not one or two important epochs of my history only, but everything that concerns me:
joys that I had not expected,
sorrows that must have crushed me, if they could have been anticipated,
sufferings which might have terrified me by their grimness,
surprises which infinite love had prepared for me,
services of which I could not have imagined myself capable–
all these lay in that mighty hand, as the purposes of God’s eternal will for me.
But, as they have developed gradually and silently–how great has been the love which appeared, enwrapping and enfolding each one!
Has not the grief been measured–while the gladness has far more abounded?
Have not the comforts and consolations, exceeded the crosses and afflictions?
Have not all things been so arranged, ordered, and undertaken, and worked out on our behalf–that we can but marvel at the goodness and wisdom of God, in meting out from that dear hand of His, all the “times” that have passed over us?
You agree with me in all this, do you not, dear reader? Then I beg you to apply it to your present circumstances, however dark or difficult they may be. They have come directly from your Father’s hand to you, and they are His dear will for you!
“We know that God causes all things to work together for good, to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28
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Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001 chaplain@alaskaseniors.com
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