Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to Exodus chapter 3 and reading
for our text verse 7, particularly the last clause. Exodus chapter 3 verse 7, and
the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people
which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of
their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. And it is specifically
this last clause, I know their sorrows. But of course, we want
to keep the word in context. The word of our text, it speaks
first of the relationship that God had with his people. He says, I have surely seen the
affliction of my people, which are in Egypt. He knows their
affliction. He knows where they are. But
the point I want to make here as a way of introduction is how
much in the things of God it is a relationship, a relationship
we have in the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, a relationship
together. When he formed man of the dust
of the ground, when he breathed into him his nostrils, the breath
of life, and then he gave him and helped meet He formed immediately
a relationship. And right through the Scriptures,
as here, the Lord says, this is my people. I have a relationship
with them. They are my members. They are my chosen ones. I have formed them. I have made
them. I am their leader. I am watching over them. And
this is a very important part of the scripture, a very comforting
one. We think of how our Lord encouraged
in prayer, saying, ask and it shall be given you, seek and
you shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you. And then the encouragement that
he gives is in this way. If ye, being evil, know how to
give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly
Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" And so the
whole basis for being able to come and to ask, we have a relationship. He is our heavenly Father, our
Lord, when he teaches the form of prayer. Our Father which art
in heaven, hallowed be thy name. And again, it begins with the
relationship between God and his people. And it's a blessed
thing to be adopted into his living family, to be labelled
as here, my people. We think of when our Lord Jesus
Christ came into the world, when he was named, when he was named
to Joseph, his name shall be called Jesus, for he shall save
his people from their sins. Again, it is a relationship,
they are his people. We have a similar thing in John
10, with our Lord spoken of himself as the shepherd, the good shepherd. And then he speaks of a relationship
with his sheep, as a shepherd does have a wonderful relationship
with his sheep. He knows them. they know him,
they know his voice, they follow him, and so their whole basis
is on a relationship. And you that are members of the
Church of God, you're joined together in fellowship, in communion,
but also in relationship. You are members together of one
body. Christ is your head. You are
bound together in a covenant relationship, a loving relationship
together. May it be a precious thing to
think of. And some of us, I know when my
brother-in-law, not long ago, he joined the church when he
was 75 at East Beckham there under Mark's ministry. And I
said to him, now I said, I've got you as a brother in two ways. You're my brother-in-law, and
also you're my brother in Christ, and it's a lovely thing to have
that. We have that with a husband and
wife, both that are called. We have a relationship of husband
and wife that will be broken by death. We know that, and some
of you have, you know that, you experience it, you walk through
it, but that relationship in Christ, as brothers and sisters
in Christ, that is not broken, that is not severed. And it's
always been, it's a precious thing to feel that when you have,
like some of you have, a father and daughter, father and son,
I had my father, and then to be bound together in the ties,
in those gospel ties, everlasting ties, And so here with the Lord,
with those of his people in Egypt, it begins in this way, that they
are my people. He owns them. He had respect
unto them. He recognized them. He didn't
disown them. He owned them, even in the path
that they walked. And may we think of this You
know, here is the people in all what they're going through, and
the God of heaven and earth, who is all-powerful and almighty,
he owns his people as his. Now, sometimes we as his people
can get perhaps quite embarrassed. The world might say, well, you
worship this great God, this powerful God, why is all the
evil in the world? Why is all this trouble and this
sickness and this death? Why are these things? And if
your God was powerful, he would stop this. He wouldn't allow
this to go on. And the temptation is that the
devil will come to us as to either disallow that relationship or
be ashamed of our God. ashamed of how he is encouraging
himself. But here is the Lord is not ashamed
of his people. He doesn't disown them. And we'll look later on at some
of the implications of the will of God, the sovereign will of
God and toward his dear people. But I want to come now to what
the Lord says of his people and especially this last cause. I know their sorrows. I know their sorrows. And may
this word be a real help to some of you that walking through sorrow,
we know you have bereavement in the family and family connections. And there are other things as
well, many other things. The people of God have sorrows. And again, we think of the relationship,
our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. But looking at this word then,
firstly, I want to look at his people's sorrows. His people's sorrows. And then
secondly, how God knows his people's sorrows. How does he know? He says here, I know their sorrows. How is that? And then thirdly,
how God's knowledge of their sorrows is a comfort to God's
people. Or we could put it, how our knowledge
that he knows our sorrows, is a comfort to us. But firstly, here's People's
Sorrows. And again, I want to begin with
the literal account here of those in Egypt. We would always remember
that what we have here is a history book. It is the history of the
world from the formation of it right through to our Lord Jesus
Christ and the early years of the Church of God. Peter says,
we have not followed cunningly devised fables when we have made
known unto you the power and coming of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. This is not, the gospel is not
just made up by someone. and just put together as just
a cunningly devised fable, it is based upon all what God has
done since he formed and made the earth, and tracing through
the nation of Israel, right through to our Lord, all of the promises,
all of the prophecies, all of the line right through to Christ,
And we have this going back to the relationships in Matthew,
the gospel, it begins with the relationship, that line from
Abraham right through to Christ. Then we have it in Luke, going
back from our Lord, right back to Adam and to God. It is all
the relationship, father to son, and right the way through the
line, a link, an unending link. right the way through. And this
is why we have so many chapters in the Old Testament, which we
have many, many names. You think, why? Why does the
Lord use his precious inspired word to record all these names? It is verifying that this is
a history. This is the Lord's work. This
is what he has done. This is not just imaginary things. These are real things. And so
we have in Egypt a people that had been brought there by God. You go back to Joseph and he
says to his brothers, ye brought me not here, but God, that he
might save your lives by a great deliverance. And God very clearly
brought them there. He told Abraham that his seed
should be a stranger in a strange land, that they should be afflicted
400 years. And of course that time, it goes
from the first promise to Abraham, 430 years before the children
of Israel were brought out to Mount Sinai. They had 215 years that were
from that promise to Abraham to when they went into Egypt,
215 years in Egypt. Their afflictions, they started
30 years after that promise, and that was when Ishmael was
afflicting or persecuting Isaac. And so that is the lead up to
the children of Israel then in Egypt, and what God said would
happen, has happened, they are being afflicted, a king has arisen
that knew not Joseph, and they are being made ready to be brought
out of Egypt. You imagine if, instead of affliction,
so if they had, like when they first went with Joseph, the best
of the land in Goshen, If everything was going well and smoothly,
and then Moses came and said, I'm going to take you out of
this beautiful, cushy, lovely land, and I'm going to bring
you into the wilderness. They wouldn't have been ready
to do it. The Lord knows how to prepare a people to be separated,
to bring them out. He does it in In many instances,
many times, when the children of Israel later on had sinned
in the days of Ahab, Elijah, he gives three years, three and
a half years of famine before he brings them to be made willing
to kill the prophets of Baal. And with Jacob, when he was in
Laban, with Laban, the Lord said to him, return unto thy kindred. But he gave him a thorn in the
nest. Jacob saw that Laban's heart
was not towards him as it had been. And so people might say,
oh Jacob, you haven't had a word from the Lord. You are not going
about because of that. All you're doing is running away
from Laban. But no, the Lord brings the two things together. It was his will to bring them
him out from Laban back to his father. And so he gave him not
only a word, but the thorn in the flesh. It was God's will
to bring the children of Israel as a whole nation out of Egypt. And so for that to bring he brought
about, then they are afflicted. And the Lord will use it to his
honor and glory as well over Pharaoh. And so you see these
things together. And mark this just in passing,
really, in our providences. If the Lord will have us move
from one place to another, don't be surprised that there is not
two parts to that leading. One, a leading or a drawing to
another place, And the other, a thorn in the nest and something
that troubles and either helps you to move or stops you from
going back and retracing your steps. Remember that because
Israel very often, that was their sin, that whenever they got into
trouble since, then they thought, we'll go back to Egypt. And they
only thought of the good things of Egypt. the cucumbers, the
leeks, and all that. But here we are told the bad
things, the afflictions, the sorrows that they had. And so, in Egypt, it was the
hard taskmasters, the rigor that they had, even before Moses came
back. when they were then deprived
of the straw. But they groaned and they groaned
in Egypt there. And, you know, they are people
just the same as you and I. We have our providences. You
might say what they were groaning under was governmental interference
and laws that were oppressive laws. We could think the same
often happens with the people in every nation. Really, we must
not lose sight first of this is a literal people in Egypt
under a government and oppressed and persecuted there in the land. where they are. But the Lord
is going to use it for good. And he's going to use it as a
way to separate and to bring them out. Then we think of it
in a spiritual way. Israel is a typical people. We know that because Paul says
that when they came into the wilderness, they drank of that
spiritual rock that followed them. And that rock was Christ. we read also that it was the
church that was in the wilderness, and they are a people very representative
of the people of God. How were they brought out of
Egypt? It was through the Passover.
How are God's people brought out to the world and the spirit
of it? Through the blood of Christ alone. And so we would think of it being
of God's people in this world. By nature, we don't have sorrow
like that, do we? The world does have sorrows,
they have losses, they have illnesses, they have deaths, they have sorrows,
just the same as what God's people have. With God's people, often
there is another element with that, is that which joined to
it. Think of what Roy Polly said
to me when I said to him once that I thought perhaps that the
thorn in the flesh that Paul had could not have been affliction
because it was said a messenger of Satan. And he looked at me,
he said, it's not the affliction. He says it's what Satan does
with them in stirring us up against our God and making us think hard
thoughts of him That is the messenger of Satan. And that's the difference. There might have been many, many
people in Geelong, in Perdeval, that had arthritis as painful
as Roy's, who had to have a gold injection every three months.
But they didn't have that added element of that trial. that he, because he knew the
Lord and feared the Lord, then when Satan came in and said,
Roy, your God that's allowed you to have such pain, how unjust
he is, how hard, how cruel he is, that he should allow you
to do this, and poisoning him against his
God. The world doesn't know that.
But he did, and it may be with you. You have those things, and
you say, well, they're the same troubles that those that don't
know the Lord have. But have you that added where
Satan comes in, or your own evil heart? And it frets, it rises
up, it's stirred up by these outward things. You find evils
there you thought were never there. Before you came into that
fire and into that trial, you thought, well, I'm a good Christian.
I'm getting on very well. Then along comes this trial and
all of the dross, all of the evil comes up from your heart
you never thought was there. But in a spiritual way, you know,
we are like the children of Israel. in Egypt, and those trials and
those things that we go through, that we toil under them, we sorrow
under them. When God would bring his people
out and separate them and deliver them from this world, then he'll
make this world so that they are ready to leave it, they want
to leave it, they're made willing to do what they wouldn't do otherwise. God's people are a prepared people,
prepared for a prepared place. But you think of the parable
of the sower, prepared ground to receive the word of God. And
the children of Israel, certainly when Moses first came, they were
prepared ground. They were ready to hear him.
They were in their sorrows and they rejoiced that the Lord had
heard them. So how does that find us in this
world? Is it our home? Is it our resting
place? Is it where we enjoy? Are we
loathe to leave it? Or has God made it to be like
is said in Hebrews 11, they confessed that they were strangers and
pilgrims in the world. The Lord said, they are not of
the world, even as I am not of the world. Another sorrow is
the sorrow for sin. The Lord knows His people's sorrows
for sin. This is another sorrow that His
people have. It's a sorrow that is given them
by God. They are sinners. They will be
sinners. Sin will work in their hearts. And we have sung of that desire
to be a mourner. over our sins and after the Lord,
and sin often lays heavy on our hearts. I've been amazed as I've
gone on. You know, I've had times when
I've brought to repentance and sorrow over sins of the past,
and yet other sins have been as if I've completely forgotten
them And I've repented, I've been sorrow over those sins brought
before me. And then years later, other sins
of the past have been brought back and I brought again into
godly sorrow for those sins. And we possess, as the word says,
the sins of our youth. And the psalmist says, remember
not against me the sins of my youth. These things are with us, and
sometimes Satan will say, if you were the Lord's people, don't
you believe that as far as the East is from the West, so far
they've removed our transgressions from us, why are you still thinking
of them? Why can't you believe that they're
blotted out? They're forgiven. Yes, they are. But the Word assures us that
even those who have been forgiven, They never themselves forget
their sins. You know, Paul says when he was
converted, such a clear conversion, he says that I'm not worthy to
be an apostle because I persecuted the church of God. He can't forget
that. David, the sword shall not depart
from thine house. Every time he had trouble in
his house, his sin. What he did, his murder with
Bathsheba, these things keep coming up and they do come up
with it. It humbles us, it makes us to
feel so unworthy, but it should not make us then to cast away
our faith or to listen to Satan and say that those sins are not
forgiven and blotted out. And yet it is a sorrow It is
a sorrow that I find as I go on, gets more and more sorrow,
and then fresh contracted sin as well. Often these things lay
heavy, heavy on our heart. The sorrows of the people of
God, and really we may say this, that only the people of God know
their sin. Only the people of God really
feel sin. Sin is a transgression against
the Lord. Yes, many know the fruits of
sin and the effects of it and what is brought upon them and
upon their families, but not to see it, as David said, against
thee. Thee only have I sinned and done
this evil in thy sign. So sin is one of those sorrows
of the people of God. Then there is the sorrows in
families. We spoke at the first of relationships
and God has seen fit to put us in families and yet he has said
the man's foes are they of his own household and when he is
preaching on earth, he says that if any man, if he loves father
or mother, those in earthly relationship more than me, he is not worthy
of me. He doesn't say that we are to
literally hate, he does use that word, but it is not we are to
love one another, but we're not to set one up above the law. And so, in that, when we look
through the history of the people of God, how many times part of
the sorrows of the people of God are in their own families. You think of Jacob, Jacob and
Esau, immediately between them. And you see sorrows between,
or differences between Isaac and Rebekah, We go to when Jacob
is with Laban, and we have sorrows there. We have it with his family,
his children, what they did at Shechem, and the fear that Jacob
had. He said, you've made me distinct
amongst the nations. Then the sorrows that Jacob had
with losing Joseph, and for 22 years he didn't know where he
was. These sorrows, they're all in
the families, aren't they? And then we think of Leviticus
10. The children of Israel just come
out of Egypt, and the Lord has just consecrated Aaron and his
sons, and then they offer strange fire. And Nadab and Abihu, they
are slain before the Lord. And Aaron, he holds his peace. He's just seen two of his sons
slain, and he holds his peace. What grace! And Moses explains
the Lord will be sanctified. We get such reminders in the
Word of God that he will be worshipped in the way that he has decreed,
and no other judgment beginning at the house of God And you think
they offered strange fire, that is fire that was not kindled
from heaven upon the altar, only that fire was to be offered.
They kindled their own, sparks of their own kindling. You think
of David, when he was bringing up with gladness and joy the
ark into Jerusalem, but they were copying the Philistines,
they put it on a cart. And so Uzzah he put forth his
hand to stop the oxen shaking, and the Lord slew him. And David
feared to bring up the ark. But we need to be very careful
of this. In our worship, in all that we
do, we pattern on the Word of God. There are some things that
are not prescribed, whether we have two hymns, three hymns,
or four. But when we look at the Word of God, you see the
emphasis on the Word, on preaching, on teaching. Very little in the
New Testament of singing. There's no warrant for a service
that is 90% singing and that irreverent. and just a little part of the
Word of God. It is to be a right balance.
You wouldn't go and make a cake and instead of putting two cups
of flour, you'd put two cups of salt in it. You could have
the same ingredients, but you put a different measure and you'll
never get a right cake. And so with the things of God
and in our worship, it must be done in a right way. The Lord
has chosen through the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe it is through the Word of God. And so those families
like Aaron, the sorrow that he had, you think of Samuel's sons,
they must have hurt him. Godly Samuel, so raised up, and
yet coming to the end of his life, and the children of Israel
come, they say, make us a king. Thou art old, thy children follow
not in thy ways. His children did not fear the
Lord. You think, Godly Samuel, how
is that possible? Yes, that is what happened. You
think of David. David says in 2 Samuel 23, Although
my house be not so with God, yet hath he made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordering all things and sure. There were so many
troubles and sorrows in his house. Yes, he could trace it. The sword
shall not depart from my house. But he had that covenant. He was a man after God's own
heart. And so we have Absalom and his
great sorrow when he died. Oh, Absalom, my son, my son Absalom,
he didn't have a hope of Absalom. But all his sorrow and Joab had
to come and to really bring him back down to earth. But you can
really feel for poor David. And we're not going to be exempt,
dear friends. Those who know the Lord will
also know that there are those of their families that don't.
Remember dear Alice Robinson, many of you would have remembered
her, and she spoke of her brother, and he'd gone on a coach holiday,
he didn't fear the Lord, didn't know the Lord at all, he stood
up in the coach, and he told a lot of jokes, and he's joining
on with them, he sat down, he died, he'd just taken away in
a stroke, and Alice's response was, it was in the last part,
I think of hymn four, O may my name be recorded in some humble
place beneath my Lord the Lamb. You might say, well, that's selfish.
But it's not, you know. When you know the worth of your
soul, and when we know our own sins, when we have another taken
away, then the value of what the Lord has done for us, the
need for that to be right, O may my soul May that be our response
when we have those things in our families. Remember Mr Burrows? Probably none of you have known
him. He's now in glory. He was first
at Hayward's Heath and then with Gerald at Chippenham. Very quaint
minister. But he was once an altar boy
in the Church of England. And he said he was the only one
of his family that was actually truly called and brought out.
And I asked him how he felt about that. And he said, well, what
a mercy that the Lord has called me. And, you know, he could leave
the rest. And many of us have our siblings
that do not know and follow the Lord. And to hear these godly
men and how they're able to leave it with the Lord, but be so thankful
The Lord has called them. And, of course, it doesn't stop
us from praying every day, more than once in a day, for our loved
ones and trying to speak to them the Word of God and to bring
them to Christ. But let it not be then a hindrance
to pull us back. This is the people of God's sorrow,
because they know the Lord. They know what is awaiting those
who don't. We think of the two, as it were,
joined together with Eli, godly Eli. Not only were his sons very
wicked and the Lord took them away, but when the ark was taken
into battle, we read that he trembled for the ark of God.
And sometimes we do that. The people of God, when they
see the low state of the churches, they see what is going on, their
heart trembles for the Ark of God, for the people of God, for
the Lord's honour and glory and for his name. Paul speaks of
the burden of all the churches that he had. And so the word
says, every heart knoweth his own bitterness. And God's people
have those sorrows that the world does not know. They may be very
closely joined with the sorrows of the world, but a spiritual
aspect that lays on their heart that others might see the outward,
they can't tell the inward. But here we have in our text
the Lord saying, I know their sorrows. How does the Lord know
his sorrows? I want to look at this in our
second point. How does the Lord know our sorrows? You might say, firstly, well,
how he knows is by his omniscience. He knows all things. He is everywhere. He feels all things. And as the
hymn writer says, not a thought can fly, but the Lord knows it. And the thought of foolishness
is sin. The Lord knows those thoughts.
They are before the Lord. So, in that sense, he does know
everything that happens in this world. And, of course, in a very
special way, he does then know his people's sorrows. He knows those that are walking
through sorrows that are appointed by him. Think on that. Remember that. Our Lord says, in me shall have
peace, in the world you shall have tribulation. Tell me, do you think that tribulation
just happens by chance? Is it just that, well, it will
just happen? It might be this trouble or that
trouble or just because it's in the world. Or do you think
perhaps the Lord has appointed him? What if the Lord was to
come to us and say, you must have tribulation now, you tell
me what tribulation you would like. Would you like Job's troubles? Would you like illness? Would
you like trouble in your family? You choose. I don't know what any of us would
say. I think we would much rather say, you choose. So if that's the case, dear friends,
sorrows that we have, tribulation that we have, which is great
troubles, they come by God's appointment. It's not by chance. And in that sense, he knows them
because he has appointed them. Another way that he knows them
is because he has appointed them and he's appointed them for a
purpose and he is working through them. He's not just given the
sorrow and just left it. He is attending it every step
of the way that it is actually performing what he wants it to
do. Another way is he knows it by
his own experience and this is especially regarding his people. The Lord was with them in the
wilderness with the children of Israel. He went before them. He was partakers with them. And
the Lord says with his people that I am in them and they are
in me. My father and I will come, we'll
take up our abode with you. The Holy Spirit is with a believer. So he knows those sorrows. by experience actually walking
with them in their lives. But going back before that, going
back to Calvary or to our Lord's life here below. He has been
here below. He's known what it is to walk
this earth. He knows these things by personal
experience. And we read in Hebrews that so
he can be a sympathizing high priest over the house of God. And then when we think of His
sufferings and death, He had laid on Him the iniquity of us
all, our sorrows of sin. The Lord knew every one of those.
They were laid on Him. Those sins, those past offenses
that pain our eyes, they were laid on Christ. You say, how
do you know? Because He has called you by
grace, because He has given you life. He has opened your ears.
He's caused you to believe. That's why. That would only happen
if the Lord has borne our sin. And so he knows those sins that
perplex us, that tease us, that burden us, that grieve us. He
knows them by personal experience of bearing our sins in his body
on the tree. And we see him in the garden,
weighted down by sin. It is the idea as well that Paul
sets forth, that we as a church are like members of one body. If the finger feels a pain, the
head feels the pain. You can't say, well, that's just
my finger, that's injured, don't worry about it, the rest of the
body is fine. But the pain is felt everywhere. And so with the Lord as the head,
We spoke of that union again with the people of God. If his
people suffer pain, if they are wounded, if they are persecuted,
you know, when the Lord met with Paul on the Damascus Road, he
said, why persecutest thou me? Paul didn't say, but Lord, I'm
not persecuting you. I'm persecuting these people
that call upon the name of Jesus Christ. No, he that toucheth
you toucheth the apple of mine eye. Those sorrows that his people
were bearing at that time through Paul, the Lord says, you are
touching me, you are persecuting me. And in that way, the Lord
knows the sorrows of his people. May we think on this, how the
Lord knows. We are not on our own. We are
not alone. The Lord has not just left us
go. He knows. He understands. And this is to be then a real
comfort to us. And I want to look at our third
point, how this can be a comfort to us. The first is this, our friends,
those of our kindred, our families, they often can't help us or can't
help us effectively because they do not know the whole of the
matter. They only know part. You know, they can be like Job's
friends. They come first and they want
to sympathise. They want to mourn with Job.
But afterwards, then they falsely accuse him. They think there
must be a reason why all this trouble and sorrow had come upon
Job. There must be some reason. But
we're told in the beginning there was no reason. It wasn't chastening. It was brought because Satan
had accused Job of just following virtually for loaves and fishes.
But no. And afterwards then, Job, he
says to his friends, miserable comforters are ye all. They didn't
know the full matter. Later on they did. The Lord told
them, and the Lord told them to go and bring an offering,
and Job would pray for them. But how often this is the case.
The sorrows that we have from our fellow mortals, or the lack
of help, comes that they do not really understand the case. But
the Lord does. You think of your sorrows and
your troubles. You say they're unique. You say,
I can't share them with even the church or with those near
to me. Even if you could, they wouldn't
fully understand. If they hadn't been through it
themselves, they wouldn't understand. But the Lord does. Because he
knows your sorrows, then he does understand. He can properly sympathize
and He can properly help, exactly help, suitable help for you. And this should be then a comfort
to us. Another thing is this, that the
Lord will not lay upon more upon His people than what they can
bear. He knows our frame. He remembers
that we are but dust. He measures out our pains. They are not just tribulations
that are given with no respect as to who we are. Now, sometimes
I have seen, well, I've been through things myself, and the
Lord has really helped me, and I haven't really esteemed or
valued the help that I've been given. Then I've seen another
brother go through the same thing, and they haven't been able to
endure it. I had this even before I was
called by grace when I was at school. When at school we had
a bully and he really bullied myself and more by verbal bullying
and that and a friend of mine and I found it hard to cope with
and my friend, well my brother, he could beat him in a fight
But I couldn't beat my brother in a fight, and my friend could
beat my brother, and I looked upon him as being strong. But
then we come to the end of the year, and my friend left school. He was of the age, and the reason
what he told the headmaster was that he could not stand the bullying. He just crumbled under it. And
you know, when that bully found out what he'd done, He was so
kind to me, he was so apologetic, he never realized what he'd caused
the trouble. But I thought about this, there
was I physically weak, but the Lord had given me a mental strength,
and my friend who was physically strong, mentally he couldn't
cope with it. And there'd been many times through
life where you only realize the grace, blessing, and strength
you've been given when you see another walk a similar path and
they haven't had the help or strength, and you realize what
you have been given. And it is a great thing to be
able to trace it to the Lord. At that time at school, I didn't
know the Lord at all. I never gave him the honor and
glory for that. But when the Lord then measures
out our pains, he will give that grace sufficient. Remember the apostle Paul, we
said about the thorn in the flesh. The Lord wouldn't take it away
and you might have sorrows and troubles. The Lord won't take
it away. He won't answer your prayers. But he gave grace to
Paul. My grace is sufficient for thee. My strength is made perfect in
weakness. Therefore, rather, glory my infirmities,
that the power of Christ might rest on me. And so that is a
help, a comfort, to go to the Lord in prayer. Lord, do give
me more grace. I feel this trial so heavy. I feel like I'll be crushed under
it. I'll deny thee. I'll go back. Lord, do give grace and help
to be able to bear it. He hears those prayers. He understands
the sorrows. He gives that help in time of
need. And very often the very sorrows
are given to bring us to the throne of grace, so that His
grace is magnified in us. So we get some evidence of that
covenant love and the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ. And
that's another thing. That's another benefit and a
comfort. If the Lord knows our sorrows,
doesn't it bring us into fellowship with Him? Hasn't there been times
we've thought of His sufferings, His death, what He went through? Oh, those are good things that
bring us to consider the Lord and to remember His sorrows,
remember what He borne, to hear His sighs and hear His cries,
He endured the wrath of God. He endured the full weight of
our sin. We do but taste the cup. He alone has fully drunk it up. May we remember, though, the
Lord's delays in coming to aid and help. They will be so. We spoke of Joseph, Jacob, 22
years. He didn't know that Joseph was
in in Egypt. With the children of
Israel, the Lord had respect unto them. Eighty years before
this time of our text, the Lord had miraculously caused Moses
to be preserved at birth, brought for 40 years into Pharaoh's house,
and then trained for 40 years in the wilderness, 80 years had
gone by and the children of Israel are still afflicted, they're
still groaning. But the Lord is knowing that,
He knows it. And He's got things in process
to bring them out and to bless them. But to see in our way how
slowly it's taking place. We like to rush the Lord. The
Lord said, your time is already, my time is not yet. And so these
things should be a comfort and a help to us. Lord, thou knowest. May that form part of our prayers. Lord, thou knowest. Because he
says here, for I know their sorrows and he knows yours, dear soul,
as well. Though friends, though family,
though even church may not be able to fully enter into it,
the Lord does know and he understands and he is able to succour and
to strengthen and to help you, to say with the psalmist, My
help cometh from the Lord that made heaven and earth. I know
their sorrows. May the Lord add his blessing. Amen.