God's Chastening Rod by Charles
Simeon Man is born to trouble, as surely as the sparks fly upward. But to those who have sincerely
received the gospel, there are consolations that bear them up
above all their afflictions. They know from whence all their
trials spring, even from the hand of God himself. They see
their afflictions to be the fruit of their Heavenly Father's love,
sent for the production of the most gracious ends. They feel
within themselves the humbling, sanctifying efficacy of their
afflictions. They perceive that their trials
are instrumental to the carrying on of God's work within them
and to the enhancing of that weight of glory which shall be
granted to them at the last day. They know that their afflictions,
of whatever kind they are, do not spring out of the ground. They understand that their trials
are all appointed by God in number, weight, measure, and duration. If it is disease of body, it
is God who inflicts the wound. If the trial comes from any other
quarter, it still is God's chastening rod that strikes us with a view
to our spiritual good, that we may be made partakers of his
holiness. They realize that no discipline
seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it
produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have
been trained by it. Hebrews 12 verse 11 Though now for a little while
you may have had to suffer distress in all kinds of trials, God sees
that there is a needs be for them. 1 Peter 1, verse 6. Our trials of whatever kind are
to humble us, to purge away our dross, to make us cleave more
closely to our Savior, to fit us for our eternal rest, To view
them in this light will greatly compose our minds. Instead of
murmuring against the Lord, we shall be thankful to him. Instead
of increasing our misery, our trials shall be a source of joy.
Hear the rod and the one who appointed it. Micah chapter 6
verse 9. There is no rod which has not
a voice to us. By putting us into his furnace
we shall be purged from our dross and come out of it as vessels
better fitted for his service. Malachi chapter 3 verses 2 to
3. Well, therefore, may the consideration of the end, for which afflictions
are sent and of the benefit to be derived from them, reconcile
us to the difficulty of them and dispose us patiently to wait
for the removal of them. Could Job have foreseen the outcome
of his troubles they would have been deprived more than half
their weight? All of our afflictions, of whatever
kind they are, will endure but a little time. The apostle speaks
of all, even the heaviest afflictions, as light and momentary. What is your life? You are but
a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.
James chapter 4 verse 14 And when once this frail life has
ended, there is an everlasting termination of all our sorrows,
every genuine believer enters immediately into God's presence
where there is fullness of joy forevermore. Into that blissful
world, nothing that is afflictive can ever enter to disturb their
peace. God will wipe away every tear
from our eyes. And there will be no more death,
or sorrow, or crying, or pain. All these things are gone forever.
Revelation chapter 21 verse 4 How little will the transient clouds
that once occasioned a momentary gloom be remembered when our
dwelling is forever fixed in the full splendor of the sun
of righteousness. Surely we need not be much cast
down at trials, however painful to flesh and blood, when we consider
that their duration is but as the twinkling of an eye, and
that they will so soon terminate in inconceivable and everlasting
felicity. For our light and momentary troubles
are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them
all. 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse
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