Dear Friends,
This week’s “thought” comes to you from Charles Spurgeon in the excellent devotional, “Beside Still Waters – Words of Comfort for the Soul.” It has to do with trust. It has to do with faith in the midst of a trial. Not before a trial, or after we’ve come out the other end of a trial, but while we are stuck in the middle of a trial. Not when we are walking in the bright sunshine of noon, but when darkness falls, and dense fog and clouds obscure all light, and we must look in faith to the only One who can guide us on our way.
We don’t tend to exercise faith when the sun is shining and the trail is clearly laid out before us. It's those times of darkness when we do that. They can test our faith – especially if the darkness persists. As one wise Puritan once said, “It is not the intensity of the trial, but the longevity of the trial, that wears down our faith.” Spurgeon (in his typical fashion) offers hope and encouragement for such times. Enjoy.
“Believing in grace for past and future trials is easy, but resting in grace for the immediate need is true faith. Believer, grace is sufficient right now. Do not say that this is a new trouble, but if you do, remember that the grace of God is always new. Do not complain that some strange thing has happened, but if you do, remember that blessings are provided to meet your strange difficulties. Do not tremble because the thorn in the flesh is so mysterious (II Corinthians 12:7), but if you do, remember that grace is mysterious too, and so mystery will meet mystery.
Right now, and at all moments that will occur between now and glory, God’s grace will be sufficient. This sufficiency is declared without any limiting words. Thus, the Lord Jesus is sufficient to uphold, sufficient to strengthen, sufficient to comfort, sufficient to make trouble useful, sufficient to enable you to triumph, sufficient to bring you out of ten thousand trials, and sufficient to bring you home to heaven.
Whatever is good, Christ’s grace is sufficient to bestow. Whatever would harm, His grace is sufficient to avert. Whatever you need, His grace is sufficient to give, if it is for your good. Whatever you would avoid, His grace can shield, if His wisdom dictates.
I am glad His all-sufficiency cannot be put into words. If so, it would be finite. Since we can never express it, glory be to God, it is inexhaustible. Our demands can never be so great as to deplete His supply… Are you in trouble? If you have a trial that you cannot share, or a trouble that if you did share no one could help, then go and spread it before the Lord. Remember His words, ‘Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him from them all’ (Psalm 34:19). Go and tell Him that He has spoken, and He has pledged Himself to deliver you out of all your afflictions. We can be sure of this: God will be as good as His Word.”
This week’s “thought” comes to you from Charles Spurgeon in the excellent devotional, “Beside Still Waters – Words of Comfort for the Soul.” It has to do with trust. It has to do with faith in the midst of a trial. Not before a trial, or after we’ve come out the other end of a trial, but while we are stuck in the middle of a trial. Not when we are walking in the bright sunshine of noon, but when darkness falls, and dense fog and clouds obscure all light, and we must look in faith to the only One who can guide us on our way.
We don’t tend to exercise faith when the sun is shining and the trail is clearly laid out before us. It's those times of darkness when we do that. They can test our faith – especially if the darkness persists. As one wise Puritan once said, “It is not the intensity of the trial, but the longevity of the trial, that wears down our faith.” Spurgeon (in his typical fashion) offers hope and encouragement for such times. Enjoy.
“Believing in grace for past and future trials is easy, but resting in grace for the immediate need is true faith. Believer, grace is sufficient right now. Do not say that this is a new trouble, but if you do, remember that the grace of God is always new. Do not complain that some strange thing has happened, but if you do, remember that blessings are provided to meet your strange difficulties. Do not tremble because the thorn in the flesh is so mysterious (II Corinthians 12:7), but if you do, remember that grace is mysterious too, and so mystery will meet mystery.
Right now, and at all moments that will occur between now and glory, God’s grace will be sufficient. This sufficiency is declared without any limiting words. Thus, the Lord Jesus is sufficient to uphold, sufficient to strengthen, sufficient to comfort, sufficient to make trouble useful, sufficient to enable you to triumph, sufficient to bring you out of ten thousand trials, and sufficient to bring you home to heaven.
Whatever is good, Christ’s grace is sufficient to bestow. Whatever would harm, His grace is sufficient to avert. Whatever you need, His grace is sufficient to give, if it is for your good. Whatever you would avoid, His grace can shield, if His wisdom dictates.
I am glad His all-sufficiency cannot be put into words. If so, it would be finite. Since we can never express it, glory be to God, it is inexhaustible. Our demands can never be so great as to deplete His supply… Are you in trouble? If you have a trial that you cannot share, or a trouble that if you did share no one could help, then go and spread it before the Lord. Remember His words, ‘Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him from them all’ (Psalm 34:19). Go and tell Him that He has spoken, and He has pledged Himself to deliver you out of all your afflictions. We can be sure of this: God will be as good as His Word.”
Few things drive us to our knees faster than the pain and struggle of trials. Yet, maybe a better way to say it is that few things drive us into the arms of our God faster than the pain and suffering brought upon us by trials. When troubles come, we seek the shelter of the Almighty. We seek the embrace of the Father. We seek the comfort of the One who knows what it is to suffer and to feel abandoned by God. If we find ourselves struggling under the weight of one of life’s many trials, what is needed to face it, endure it, or overcome it, can be found in Him. The promise of our God is this: “My grace is sufficient for you…”
His, Pastor Jeff
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