the chastisements of God from
the Night Watches by John McDuff. For the Lord chastens, disciplines
those he loves, and he punishes those he accepts as his children. Hebrews chapter 12 verse 6. Chastisement, the family badge,
the family pledge, the family privilege. To you it is given
to suffer. Troubles, says a good man, are
in God's catalog of mercies. Affliction, says another, are
God's hired laborers to break the clods and plow the land.
Reader, is the hand of your God heavy upon you? Has he been breaking
your cisterns, withering your gourds, poisoning your sweetest
fountains of earthly bliss? Are the world's bright spots
outnumbered by the dreary ones? Has one tier been following another
in quick succession? You may have to tell, perhaps,
of a varied experience of trials, every tender point touched, sickness,
bereavement, poverty, perhaps all of these. Be still. If you are a child
of God, there is no exemption from the household discipline.
The rod is a father's. The voice that speaks may be
rough, but the hand that smites is gentle. The furnace may be
seven times heated, but the refiner is seated by. His object is not
to consume, but to purify. Do not misinterpret his dealings.
There is mercy on the wings of the rough wind. Our choice's
fountains are fed from the dark lowering clouds. All be assured,
we'll yet bear the stamp of love. Sense cannot discern yet the
bright lights in the clouds. Agent Jacob exclaimed at first,
all these things are against me. But at last he had a calmer
and a more just verdict. His spirit revived. At evening
time it was light. The saint on earth can say regarding
his trials in faith and in trust. I know, O Lord, that your judgments
are right. The saint in glory can go a step
further. I see, O Lord, that they are
so. His losses will then be shown to be his riches. Believer, on
a calm retrospect of your heaviest afflictions, say, were they unneeded? Was this what Augustine calls
the severe mercy of God's discipline? Was it too severe? Less would
not have done. Like Jonah, you never would have
awoke but for the storm. He may have led you to Zarephath,
a place of furnaces, but it is to show you there, one like unto
the Son of God. When was God ever so near to
you, or you to your God, as in the furnace fires? When was the presence and love
and sympathy of Jesus so precious? When the beloved comes down from
the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense to his garden
on earth, he can get no fragrance from some plants but by bruising
them. The spices in the temple of old
were crushed. The gold of its candlestick was
beaten gold. It was when the Mara fountain
of your heart was bitter with sin, that he cast in some cross
some trial, and the waters were made sweet. My soul, be still. You have in affliction one means
of glorifying God, which even angels have not, in their sorrowless
world. patience under the rod, submission
to your Heavenly Father's will. Pray not to have your afflictions
removed, but for grace to bear up under it, so that you may
glorify God even in the fires. Remember that though weeping
endures for a night, joy comes in the morning. Close your tearful
eyes, saying, I will lie down and sleep in peace. For you alone,
O Lord, make me dwell in safety. Psalm 4 verse 8