. It took the baby out of the young
mother's arms the other night, by J.R. Miller. He came to Simon
Peter, who asked him, Lord, are you going to wash my feet? Jesus
answered him, What I am doing you do not understand now, but
afterward you will understand. John 13, 7. We are assured that God has a
plan for each individual life of His redeemed children. Jesus
had a purpose in washing the feet of His disciples that night.
It was not an idle thing that He was doing. He meant to teach
these men a great lesson. He has a purpose in every smallest
thing in each event in our lives His plans run on through all
the years and are woven of the threads of the common events
of our lives. We do not know the meaning of
the small things in our everyday experiences, but the least of
them is in some way connected with a great divine plan. God's
plan for each life includes the smallest affairs of that life,
The things that come into our experience are not mere chance. Chance is not a good word, at
least we may not use it to mean something that broke into our
life independently of God. Nothing ever comes into our experience
by chance, in the sense that it is outside of God's purpose
for our life and beyond God's control. Suppose someone wrongs
you, treats you unkindly, even cruelly. If you are God's child,
your father takes the evil into his hands, and it becomes thenceforth
a secret of blessing. It will be overruled, so as to
be among all things that work together for your good. The purpose
of God for His children is always good, always love. It could not
be otherwise, for God is love. This does not mean that His plan
for us never involves suffering. Oftentimes it does. It brings
death to a mother and pain and grief to her family. It took
the baby out of the young mother's arms the other night. It leaves
the young widow brokenhearted, with little children to provide
for. It permits loss of property to come, leaving a family to
suffer pinching poverty and hard struggle. It allows a man to
lose his work in the time of financial depression and to endure
experience of sore need. It brings sickness with its pain
and cost. It lets us have bitter days of
suffering. Godly people oftentimes have
to endure bitter things which are hard and most trying. Nevertheless, the plan of God
for our lives is good. It is a plan of love. What I
am doing, it is the Master who says this, and what He does must
be good. Is affliction good? Can it be
good to endure bereavement, to suffer injustice, to bear pain? Someday we shall know that many
of the best things in life are the fruit of these very bitter
experiences. Our redemption comes from the
sorrow and suffering of Jesus Christ. Just so, the best blessings
and the holiest beauties of God's saints are the harvest of pain. we must not forget that the things
which are painful are also parts of Christ's chosen way for us,
and that they are always good. In all our life, Christ is making
us, making godly people of us, fashioning Christian character,
transforming us into His beautiful image. Let not life's pains and
trials dismay you. Submit to God, accept the providences
that come as part of His discipline, and take the lessons, the enrichings
which He sends. Someday you will know that you
have learnt many of your sweetest songs in the darkness.