Purifying His Precious Gold.
By Charles Simeon. God has a masterful purpose for
all that he does, even in the sending of trials and troubles
to his people. He knows exactly what we stand
in need of, and he sends afflictions for our good. He chastises us,
not out of anger, as earthly parents too often do, but purely
for our good, that we may share in his holiness. as He knows
what we need, so He knows what we can bear. He will take care
either to apportion our burden to our strength or to give us
strength sufficient for our trials. In all of our afflictions, He
loves and sympathizes with us. He watches over us with the care
of a refiner who is purifying His precious gold and with the
solicitude of a tender parent. When He sees that His chastening
rod has produced its desired effect, He is glad to return
to us in the endearments of love and to confirm our confidence
in Him by the sweetest tokens of His grace. When our troubles,
like those of Job, are many and various, we are ready to conclude
that God afflicts us in anger. But it is not for us to prescribe
how many, or of what continuance, our affliction shall be. We must
consider God as an infallible physician, who prescribes everything
with unerring wisdom, and consults the benefit of His patients,
rather than their comfort. Let not any Christian write bitter
things against themselves, on account of the greatness of his
afflictions, but rather receive our every trial as a token of
his fatherly love. For the Lord disciplines the
one He loves, and chastises every son whom He receives. Let us
ever remember that whatever we have as God's, it is only lent
to us for a little while, to be recalled whenever He sees
fit. Let us learn to hold everything in this way, that we may be ready
at any moment to give up whatever He shall be pleased to require
of us. If we saw the end as God does, then instead of regarding
our losses or troubles as needless afflictions, we would adore God
for them as much as for the most pleasing of His blessings. Let
us then wait until He shall have revealed to us the whole of His
perfect designs, and be content to form our judgment of Him when
all the purposes of His afflictions are laid before us.