The Lord's Rod Has a Voice by
James Buchanan from Consideration 1840 Affliction does not come from
the dust, nor does trouble spring from the ground. Yet man is born
to trouble, as the sparks fly upward. Job 5, verse 6 and 7. as affliction proceeds neither
from blind necessity nor from casual accident, but from the
hand of your omniscient governor and judge. So nothing can be
more certain than that it is designed for the accomplishment
of some great and useful purpose. Now the design of affliction
is expressly revealed in the Word of God. He has condescended
to explain the reasons of His dealings with you, and it is
alike your duty and your privilege to consider and to concur in
His declared design. The general end of affliction,
as it is explained in God's Word, is the moral and spiritual improvement
of believers. In other words, their progressive
sanctification and their preparation for glory. Oh, how important
must the right use of affliction be if it is intended to terminate
in such a blessed result. It stands connected with our
everlasting welfare, with all that we can enjoy on earth and
all that we can hope for in heaven. but more particularly the day
of adversity is intended for our instruction the Lord's rod
has a voice which speaks to us lessons of heavenly wisdom therefore
we are required to hear the rod and him who has appointed it
Micah chapter 6 verse 9 The rod and reproof give wisdom. Proverbs
29 verse 15. It presents to our minds many
of the same great truths which are declared in Scripture, but
which we may have overlooked or failed rightly to understand
until they were pressed on our attention and made the matter
of our personal experience in the day of trouble. Thus it teaches
most impressively that great scriptural truth of the vanity
of the world, and its insufficiency as the portion of rational and
immortal beings. This is a truth which might almost
be regarded as self-evident, yet it is one which is very slowly
and reluctantly admitted by the young disciple. and which can
only be effectually impressed on the mind and unfolded in all
its extent by the experience of disappointment and sorrow. In like manner, the Day of Adversity
teaches us the great lesson of our entire and constant dependence
on God. But a little while before, we
were rejoicing in the midst of prosperity. our health was sound,
our business prosperous, our families entire but the sudden
stroke has come which has spitten our bodies with disease, our
business with bankruptcy or our families with death and that
stroke has come from the Lord's hand Oh, in such circumstances,
we are impressively taught that we are absolutely in God's power,
that all we have is at His sovereign disposal, that we depend on Him
day by day continually for our personal preservation, our worldly
prosperity, our domestic comfort, for all, in short, that we desire
or need on earth. These are some of the lessons
which adversity, when viewed as a means of moral instruction,
is fitted to inculcate and to impress with great practical
power on our hearts. When these lessons are duly considered,
and above all when they are submissively embraced and acted on, the disciple
will learn from his own experience the value of affliction. and
admire the wisdom with which God suits his lessons to the
most urgent necessities of his soul.