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XII.
Christian Growth and Experience
Chapter 125
:
Comfort in Affliction
1. ARE God's people
free from affliction?
"Many are the afflictions of the
righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out
of them all." Ps. 34:19.
2. How does God regard
the afflicted?
"He heareth the cry of the
afflicted." Job 34:28.
3. What has He promised
to be to those in trouble?
"God is our refuge and strength, a
very present help in trouble." Ps. 46:1.
4. With what feelings
does the Lord look upon His children?
"Like as a father pitieth his
children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear
Him." Ps. 103:13.
5. What does He know
and remember?
"For He knoweth our frame; He
remembereth that we are dust." Verse 14.
6. What has the Lord
promised to be to the oppressed?
"The Lord also will be a refuge
for the oppressed, a refuge in times of
trouble." Ps. 9:9.
7. What has God
promised His children when passing through
trials and. afflictions?
"When thou passest through the
waters, I will be with thee; and through
the rivers, they shall not overflow thee:
when thou walkest through the fire, thou
shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame
kindle upon thee." Isa. 43:2.
8. What did David say
with reference to his being afflicted?
"It is good for me that I have
been afflicted; that I might learn Thy
statutes." Ps. 119:71.
9. When afflicted, for
what did he pray?
"Look upon my affliction and my pain;
and forgive all my sins." Ps. 25:18.
10. Before he was
afflicted, what did he do?
"Before I was afflicted I went
astray: but now have I kept Thy word." Ps.
119:67.
11. What did Christ
learn through suffering?
"Though He were a Son, yet learned
He obedience by the things which He suffered."
Heb. 5:8.
12. In perfecting
character, what must come to all?
"And ye have forgotten the
exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto
children, My son, despise not thou the
chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou
art rebuked of Him: for whom the Lord loveth
He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He
receiveth." Heb. 12:5,6.
13. Is this chastening
a pleasant experience?
"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.
14. What courage and
strength, therefore, should come to us even in
the hour of affliction?
"Wherefore lift up the hands which
hang down, and the feeble knees." Verse 12.
See also Job 4:3,4; Isa. 35:3.
15. What did Job say in
the midst of his afflictions?
"Though He slay me, yet will I trust
in Him." Job 13:15.
16. What is God called
in the Scriptures?
"The God of all comfort." 2 Cor. 1:3.
17. Whom does God
comfort?
"God, that comforteth those that
are cast down." 2 Cor. 7:6.
18. What promise is
made to those that mourn?
"Blessed are they that mourn: for
they shall be comforted." Matt. 5:4.
19. Why does God
comfort us in tribulation?
"Who comforteth us in all our
tribulation, that we may be
able to comfort them which are in any trouble,
by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are
comforted of God." 2 Cor. 1:4.
NOTE.-One who has passed through trouble and
affliction himself, and received comfort
from God, is better able to minister comfort
to others.
20. How should we
sympathize with others in their sorrows?
"Weep with them that weep." Rom.
12:15. "To him that is afflicted pity should
be showed from his friend." Job 6:14.
21. Does Jesus
sympathize with us in our afflictions?
"For we have not an high priest which
cannot be touched with the feeling of our
infirmities; but was in all points tempted
like as we are." Heb. 4:15.
22. How did He manifest
His sympathy in the case of Mary and her friends
weeping over the death of Lazarus?
"When Jesus therefore saw her
weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came
with her, He groaned in the spirit, and was
troubled, and said, Where have ye laid him?
They said unto Him, Lord, come and see. Jesus
wept." John 11:33-35.
NOTE.-Not alone for Mary and her friends did
Jesus weep. Looking down through the ages,
He saw the tears and the heartaches which
death would bring to mankind in this
sin-stricken world. His heart was touched
with human woe, and He wept with those that
wept.
23. Whatever may come,
what blessed assurance has every one who loves
God?
"And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God."
Rom. 8:28.
NOTE.-If one loves God, he may rest assured
that out of every trial and affliction good
will come.
24. In bereavement,
like whom should we not sorrow? "As
others which have no hope." 1 Thess. 4:13.
25. When our friends
fall asleep in death, with what words are we
told to comfort one another?
"For if we believe that Jesus died
and rose again, even so them also which sleep in
Jesus will God bring with Him. . . . For the
Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a
shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with
the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall
rise first: then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the
clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so
shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore
comfort one another with these words."
Verses 14-18.
26. What promise has
God made to bereaved mothers?
"Thus saith the Lord; Refrain thy
voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears:
for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord;
and they shall come again from the land of
the enemy." Jer. 31:16.
27. What did Christ say
would be the experience of His people in this
world?
"In the world ye shall have
tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have
overcome the world." "Ye shall weep and
lament, but the world shall rejoice: and
ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall
be turned into joy." John 16:33, 20.
28. In what respect is
the reaping of God's people to differ from their
sowing?
"They that sow in tears shall reap
in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth,
bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come
again with rejoicing, bringing his
sheaves with him." Ps. 126:5,6.
SOMETIME when all life's lessons have been
learned,
And sun and moon forevermore have set,
The things that our weak judgments here have
spurned,
The things o'er which we grieved with lashes
wet,
Will flash before us, out of life's dark night,
As stars shine most in deepest tints of blue,
And we shall see how all God's ways were right,
And how what seemed reproof was love most true.
MAY RILEY SMITH.
BE
of good cheer! I know sometime
Life's song will run in perfect rhyme.
Somewhere, I know, all things will be
Attuned to perfect harmony.
Sometime, somewhere, each sad refrain
Shall be its own surcease of pain.
The compensation love will send
Will be in bringing friend to friend;
And all the heartaches that we bore,
In God's good time will be no more.
ROBERT
LEE WALDEN. |
