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XII.
Christian Growth and Experience
Chapter 124
:
The Ministry of Sorrow
1. WHY is it better to
go to the house of mourning than to the house of
feasting?
"It is better to go to the house of
mourning, than to go to the house of feasting:
for that is the end of all men and the living
will lay it to his heart." Eccl. 7:2.
2. What did David ask
God to teach him?
"Lord, make me to know mine end,
and the measure of my days, what it is, that
I may know how frail I am." Ps. 39:4 See
also Ps. 90:12.
3. Why is sorrow better
than laughter?
"Sorrow is better than laughter:
for by the sadness of the countenance the heart
is made better." Eccl. 7:3.
NOTE.-"Many of the loveliest songs of peace
and trust and hope which God's children sing
in this world they have been taught in the
hushed and darkened chambers of sorrow. . .
. Afflictions, sanctified, soften the
asperities of life. They tame the wildness
of nature. They temper human ambitions. They
burn out the dross of selfishness and
worldliness. They humble pride. They quell
fierce passions. They reveal to men their
own hearts, their own weakness, faults,
blemishes, and perils. They teach patience
and submission. They discipline unruly
spirits. They deepen and enrich our
experience."- Week-Day Religion," by J.
R. Miller, D. D., pages 92, 93.
5. Does God delight to
afflict any?
"For the Lord will not cast off
forever: but though He cause grief, yet will He
have compassion according to the multitude of
His mercies. For He doth not afflict
willingly nor grieve the children of men."
Lam. 3:31-33.
6. Does He afflict to
leave the one chastened in despair?
"Behold, happy is the man whom God
correcteth: therefore despise not thou the
chastening of the Almighty: for He maketh
sore, and bindeth up: He woundeth, and His hands
make whole." Job 5:17,18.
7. In what language is
the same truth again expressed?
"Come, and let us return unto the
Lord: for He hath torn, and He will heal us;
He hath smitten, arid He will bind us up."
Hosea 6:1. See also Isa. 61:1-3.
8. Whom does the Lord
chasten?
"For whom the Lord loveth He
chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He
receiveth." Heb. 12:6.
9. Is this, for the
time being, a source of pleasure?
"Now no chastening for the present
seemeth to be joyous, but grievous:
nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable
fruit of righteousness unto them which are
exercised thereby." Verse 11.
NOTE.-"Many of the sweetest joys of
Christian hearts are songs which have been
learned in the bitterness of trial." "Many a
cold, icy nature is made warm and tender by
the grief that crushes it."- "Week-Day
Religion," by J. R. Miller, D. D., pages 91,
93.
10. What, aside from
sin, causes more sorrow than all else?
Death, or the loss of loved ones.
11. Does death bring to
Christians unassuaged sorrow?
"I would not have you to be ignorant,
brethren, concerning them which are asleep,
that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no
hope." 1 Thess. 4:13.
NOTE.-The loss of loved ones God often uses
as a means of conversion and of severing the
ties which bind to earth. Persecution;
sickness; the loss of sight, hearing, or
limb; the loss of property; or other
calamities may likewise be instrumental in
drawing us nearer to God. See Ps. 119:71;
Isa. 26:9.
12. What do our
transient afflictions do for us?
"For our light affliction, which is
but for a moment, worketh for us a far more
exceeding and eternal weight of glory." 2
Cor. 4:17. See Rom. 8:28. |
