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One can learn to be at peace with everything, knowing that God causes the believer to benefit in all things (Ro 8:28)! “Be anxious for nothing.” “Let not your heart be troubled” (Phl 4:6; Jn 14:1, 27). One can achieve these commands when in the right understanding of their impress; and this obedience (strengthened faith) admits to the greatest satisfaction, encouragement and exhortation! One will have occasional problems, and this is for the learning and strengthening of our faith, which mostly comes through the trials, but one does not have to allow anything to escalate to the point of “trouble”; and I’ve eventually learned (after 20 of my 45 years in the Lord Jesus) not to allow anything to trouble me, because I’m certain that God uses everything, one way or another—for my “good.” May our beloved Father teach you to be at peace in all things. Blessed be God!
NC
Beneficial Sorrow
It is ten years this month since the Lord called away our son, then 18 years of age, to Himself. It seemed almost unaccountable to me that He should have deprived me of him when he was so thoroughly devoted to Him, and therefore could have been such a help and comfort to me.
It is very easy for me to weep with you. I never realized the exit of a saint until I saw our dear boy pass away. It then made a very decided mark on me. Stephen looking up steadfastly into heaven came before me in quite a new way. Thank the Lord it grows upon me: the hardness seems shorter. The Spirit leads to the brightest spot, and the Father allows the wave of death to overtake us here so “that we may be partakers of His holiness” (Heb 12:10). It is His doing. Surely, from the bottom of my heart, I desire and pray that this immeasurable sorrow may be only the night before your brightest say. God comfort you in His own blessed way.
Your chief friend is the one who is found near you in sorrow. Anyone can share in your joy, but there is really only One who can enter into the nature of your sorrow, and He, blessed be His name, is very near you in your desolation. He proves to us that “it is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting” (Eccl 7:2 – “by the sadness of the countenance, the heart is made better” - Ecc 7:3). The silence of death is a terrible reality; though, through divine grace you can anticipate the great day when we shall all surround our Lord Jesus, and be with Him forever (if we are not certain of this, we still are not at the level of peace God’s desires us to be, and are in grave need of learning—NC).
There is no sorrow as great as the sorrow of death, and this the more so as the one removed is near and dear to you. There is a desolation about death that no one can understand who has not been in it. But your desolation is the Lord’s opportunity of making known to you the deep interest He takes in you, not merely in your bright hours, but in the moment when you are well-nigh crushed with sorrow.
It imparts the deepest sense of His interest that He should draw near to me when absorbed with my own sorrow, to console me with Himself that He becomes more to me than my sorrow. This His sympathy effects. It is an effect never to be forgotten, or rather the impression He will give you of Hs love which will never be forgotten, so that your deep affliction through His grace will be turned into the deepest blessing (blessings for sorrows forever to exchange—NC); “the dry ground into watersprings,” “The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness” (Psa 107:35; Isa 61:3).
There are sorrows that the heart thinks that it only knows; and this is true, speaking naturally, and yet there is One who knows well the deepest, and far more than the deepest sorrow ever in our hearts (His own past sorrows which were the greatest of all—NC). Sorrow is to me not only the deepest feeling known to the heart, but it is, I might say, the sublimest, because entirely one’s own. No one else can have the exact same. How aptly it suits one in sorrow to sit alone. How truly the heart can say, “My sorrow lies too deep for human sympathy,” and yet, when the Lord Jesus joins you in this great solitude you will find in Him, as Mary did, that not only He knows your sorrow, but that His sorrow is deeper, beyond any comparison. A Man of Sorrows” (Isa 53:3).
The darkness of sorrow is deep indeed, but I pray that the deepest joy may be known to you with the Lord Jesus Himself. The deepest sorrow here, but the deepest joy with Him in company with Himself. Surely when we are in our spirit apart from this place, and with the Lord Jesus at the other side of death, we taste a joy and a solace which bears us above the deepest anguish here (because our eternal guarantee supersedes all sorrows—NC). There is a blessed comfort for the heart in sorrow when you are drawn to His side where He is. Nothing mellows anyone so much as sorrow does, when the heart has found sympathy in it from the Lord Jesus.
I do not think that physical suffering weans the heart from the present seen to the same extent that sorrow does. Bodily suffering too often engrosses one’s personal attention; one feels so helpless, and there is such a constant effort to remove it, and indulgence (maybe even to sin—NC) often is excused on the plea of consideration for one’s weakness. But in sorrow, we grow into the sense that we are in “the valley of the shadow of death” (sorrow can bring one to the point of having no feelings for anything, but we need not to dwell in sorrow, considering what we have in Christ—NC). When there is suffering of the body there is a longing to get well; and often resistance to the suffering, so that we are taught how helpless we are, and in sorrow on account of another everything around has lost its interest to us.
In physical suffering there is inability to enjoy or to do things which others do. But in sorrow everything has lost its enjoyment; there is a dark shadow on everything and everybody (best time for the “old man” to tempt—NC). I am cut off in sadness and affliction from the present scene (God eventually brings us out of the numbness of it all—NC)—but at the very moment when all is a blank here, when I have descended to the depths, I find the Lord Jesus beside me who makes known His heart to me where no one else could reach me (Christ makes it known that He is always with us—NC). “Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.”
It is then one is really softened, because the heart knows in its saddest moments, the love of the Lord Jesus; and hence, instead of being vexed and soured, you come out of it softened, because you have learned in your sorrow the greatest love; so that where the greatest darkness was, the greatest light has sprung up (because we eventually learn not to allow ourselves to be “troubled,” as in despair, regardless how deep the sorrow we might have (Jn 14:1, 27—NC).
In illness, there is more relief; or His power and goodness one learns and looks for; but in sorrow, where there is nothing to cheer here, He makes known to the heart the greatest cheer; so that the saddest moment connected with the earth becomes the happiest moment, because of His eventual comforting presence, where there is fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore.
You will easily trace the effect of each on souls. In one, there is the knowledge of His hand and His power; they are receptive, and often depended upon. In the other, in addition, the heart refuses to bind itself to anything again here (no matter how bad you feel, restoration defiantly comes, and it’s just a matter of “patiently” waiting it out; and the more patient we are the stronger our faith is - Rom 12:12—NC).
The Lord Jesus came to Bethany when Mary and Martha were in the depths of their sorrow (due to their brother Lazarus’ illness and death—NC). That was the time for Him. He waited until things were at their worst. If He had not waited until the worst came, His ability to relieve from the worst would not have been known.
He comes to you now, in this moment, to make you know that He can comfort you in this, the saddest and darkest hour; but you must receive the rays of His comfort; you must not dwell on your sorrow, loss and bereavement—you are simply to turn to Him to make up the blank. Look to Him, and you will receive a comfort from His heart that will more than compensate you for your great loss and sorrow. “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.”
— James Butler Stoney (1814-1897)
MJS daily devotional excerpt for June 6
Often the lapidary will polish the jewel with its own dust. Just so our Father makes use of the weak and beggarly element of our nature to produce the mirror-like luster in which His image is finally reflected for all to see. “They shall be Mine. . . in that day when I make up My jewels” (Malachi 3:17).
MJS daily devotional excerpt for June 7
“We find the greatest difficulty often in bringing our sorrow to God. How can I do so, some may be saying, as my sorrow is the fruit of my sin? How can I take it to God? If it was suffering for righteousness’ sake, then I would, but I am suffering for my sin; and can I, in the integrity of my heart towards God, take my sorrows to Him, knowing I deserve them?
“Yes: the Lord Jesus has been to God about them. This, then, is the ground on which I can go. There has been perfect atonement for all my sins; Christ has been judged for them. Will God judge us both? No; I go to Him on the ground of atonement, and God can justly meet me in all my sorrow, because Christ’s work has been so perfectly done.”
“The guilt which the throne detects, the altar removes. If in the light of the throne one object is seen, namely, ruined, guilty, undone self; then, in the light of the altar, one object is seen, namely, a full, precious, all-sufficient Christ. The remedy reaches to the full extent of the ruin, and the same light that reveals the one reveals the other likewise. This gives settled repose to the conscience. God Himself has provided a remedy for all ruin which the light of His throne has revealed.” - John Nelson Darby (1800-1882)
NC
Beneficial Sorrow
It is ten years this month since the Lord called away our son, then 18 years of age, to Himself. It seemed almost unaccountable to me that He should have deprived me of him when he was so thoroughly devoted to Him, and therefore could have been such a help and comfort to me.
It is very easy for me to weep with you. I never realized the exit of a saint until I saw our dear boy pass away. It then made a very decided mark on me. Stephen looking up steadfastly into heaven came before me in quite a new way. Thank the Lord it grows upon me: the hardness seems shorter. The Spirit leads to the brightest spot, and the Father allows the wave of death to overtake us here so “that we may be partakers of His holiness” (Heb 12:10). It is His doing. Surely, from the bottom of my heart, I desire and pray that this immeasurable sorrow may be only the night before your brightest say. God comfort you in His own blessed way.
Your chief friend is the one who is found near you in sorrow. Anyone can share in your joy, but there is really only One who can enter into the nature of your sorrow, and He, blessed be His name, is very near you in your desolation. He proves to us that “it is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting” (Eccl 7:2 – “by the sadness of the countenance, the heart is made better” - Ecc 7:3). The silence of death is a terrible reality; though, through divine grace you can anticipate the great day when we shall all surround our Lord Jesus, and be with Him forever (if we are not certain of this, we still are not at the level of peace God’s desires us to be, and are in grave need of learning—NC).
There is no sorrow as great as the sorrow of death, and this the more so as the one removed is near and dear to you. There is a desolation about death that no one can understand who has not been in it. But your desolation is the Lord’s opportunity of making known to you the deep interest He takes in you, not merely in your bright hours, but in the moment when you are well-nigh crushed with sorrow.
It imparts the deepest sense of His interest that He should draw near to me when absorbed with my own sorrow, to console me with Himself that He becomes more to me than my sorrow. This His sympathy effects. It is an effect never to be forgotten, or rather the impression He will give you of Hs love which will never be forgotten, so that your deep affliction through His grace will be turned into the deepest blessing (blessings for sorrows forever to exchange—NC); “the dry ground into watersprings,” “The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness” (Psa 107:35; Isa 61:3).
There are sorrows that the heart thinks that it only knows; and this is true, speaking naturally, and yet there is One who knows well the deepest, and far more than the deepest sorrow ever in our hearts (His own past sorrows which were the greatest of all—NC). Sorrow is to me not only the deepest feeling known to the heart, but it is, I might say, the sublimest, because entirely one’s own. No one else can have the exact same. How aptly it suits one in sorrow to sit alone. How truly the heart can say, “My sorrow lies too deep for human sympathy,” and yet, when the Lord Jesus joins you in this great solitude you will find in Him, as Mary did, that not only He knows your sorrow, but that His sorrow is deeper, beyond any comparison. A Man of Sorrows” (Isa 53:3).
The darkness of sorrow is deep indeed, but I pray that the deepest joy may be known to you with the Lord Jesus Himself. The deepest sorrow here, but the deepest joy with Him in company with Himself. Surely when we are in our spirit apart from this place, and with the Lord Jesus at the other side of death, we taste a joy and a solace which bears us above the deepest anguish here (because our eternal guarantee supersedes all sorrows—NC). There is a blessed comfort for the heart in sorrow when you are drawn to His side where He is. Nothing mellows anyone so much as sorrow does, when the heart has found sympathy in it from the Lord Jesus.
I do not think that physical suffering weans the heart from the present seen to the same extent that sorrow does. Bodily suffering too often engrosses one’s personal attention; one feels so helpless, and there is such a constant effort to remove it, and indulgence (maybe even to sin—NC) often is excused on the plea of consideration for one’s weakness. But in sorrow, we grow into the sense that we are in “the valley of the shadow of death” (sorrow can bring one to the point of having no feelings for anything, but we need not to dwell in sorrow, considering what we have in Christ—NC). When there is suffering of the body there is a longing to get well; and often resistance to the suffering, so that we are taught how helpless we are, and in sorrow on account of another everything around has lost its interest to us.
In physical suffering there is inability to enjoy or to do things which others do. But in sorrow everything has lost its enjoyment; there is a dark shadow on everything and everybody (best time for the “old man” to tempt—NC). I am cut off in sadness and affliction from the present scene (God eventually brings us out of the numbness of it all—NC)—but at the very moment when all is a blank here, when I have descended to the depths, I find the Lord Jesus beside me who makes known His heart to me where no one else could reach me (Christ makes it known that He is always with us—NC). “Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.”
It is then one is really softened, because the heart knows in its saddest moments, the love of the Lord Jesus; and hence, instead of being vexed and soured, you come out of it softened, because you have learned in your sorrow the greatest love; so that where the greatest darkness was, the greatest light has sprung up (because we eventually learn not to allow ourselves to be “troubled,” as in despair, regardless how deep the sorrow we might have (Jn 14:1, 27—NC).
In illness, there is more relief; or His power and goodness one learns and looks for; but in sorrow, where there is nothing to cheer here, He makes known to the heart the greatest cheer; so that the saddest moment connected with the earth becomes the happiest moment, because of His eventual comforting presence, where there is fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore.
You will easily trace the effect of each on souls. In one, there is the knowledge of His hand and His power; they are receptive, and often depended upon. In the other, in addition, the heart refuses to bind itself to anything again here (no matter how bad you feel, restoration defiantly comes, and it’s just a matter of “patiently” waiting it out; and the more patient we are the stronger our faith is - Rom 12:12—NC).
The Lord Jesus came to Bethany when Mary and Martha were in the depths of their sorrow (due to their brother Lazarus’ illness and death—NC). That was the time for Him. He waited until things were at their worst. If He had not waited until the worst came, His ability to relieve from the worst would not have been known.
He comes to you now, in this moment, to make you know that He can comfort you in this, the saddest and darkest hour; but you must receive the rays of His comfort; you must not dwell on your sorrow, loss and bereavement—you are simply to turn to Him to make up the blank. Look to Him, and you will receive a comfort from His heart that will more than compensate you for your great loss and sorrow. “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.”
— James Butler Stoney (1814-1897)
MJS daily devotional excerpt for June 6
Often the lapidary will polish the jewel with its own dust. Just so our Father makes use of the weak and beggarly element of our nature to produce the mirror-like luster in which His image is finally reflected for all to see. “They shall be Mine. . . in that day when I make up My jewels” (Malachi 3:17).
MJS daily devotional excerpt for June 7
“We find the greatest difficulty often in bringing our sorrow to God. How can I do so, some may be saying, as my sorrow is the fruit of my sin? How can I take it to God? If it was suffering for righteousness’ sake, then I would, but I am suffering for my sin; and can I, in the integrity of my heart towards God, take my sorrows to Him, knowing I deserve them?
“Yes: the Lord Jesus has been to God about them. This, then, is the ground on which I can go. There has been perfect atonement for all my sins; Christ has been judged for them. Will God judge us both? No; I go to Him on the ground of atonement, and God can justly meet me in all my sorrow, because Christ’s work has been so perfectly done.”
“The guilt which the throne detects, the altar removes. If in the light of the throne one object is seen, namely, ruined, guilty, undone self; then, in the light of the altar, one object is seen, namely, a full, precious, all-sufficient Christ. The remedy reaches to the full extent of the ruin, and the same light that reveals the one reveals the other likewise. This gives settled repose to the conscience. God Himself has provided a remedy for all ruin which the light of His throne has revealed.” - John Nelson Darby (1800-1882)