A LOVING PURPOSE Let the Lord
be magnified, who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant. Psalm 35 verse 27 What is prosperity? Is it threads of life, weaved
into a bright outcome? A full cup? ample riches, worldly
applause, an unbroken circle? No, these are often a snare,
received without gratitude, dimming the soul to its nobler destinies. Often, spiritually, it rather
means God taking us by the hand into the lowly valleys of humiliation,
leading us, as He did His servant Job of old, out of his sheep,
oxen, camels, health, wealth, children, in order that we may
be brought before Him in the dust, and say, Blessed be His
holy name! Yes, the very reverse of what
is known in the world as prosperity forms the background on which
the rainbow of promise is seen. God smiles on us through these
rainbows and teardrops of sorrows. He loves us too well. He has
too great an interest in our spiritual welfare to permit us
to live on in what is misnamed prosperity. When he sees duties
languidly performed or coldly neglected, the heart deadened,
and love to himself congealed by the absorbing power of the
present world, he puts a thorn in our nest to drive us to the
wing and prevent our being grovelers forever. I may not be able to
understand the mystery of these dealings. I may be asking, through
the tears, why this unkind arrest on my earthly happiness? Why
so premature a lopping of my bows of promise? Why such a speedy
withering of my most cherished gourd? The answer is plain. It is your soul's prosperity. He has in view. Believe it. Your true Ebenezers will yet
be raised close by your Zarepaths, the Place of Furnace. His afflictions
are no arbitrary appointments, there is righteous necessity
in all he does. As he lays his chastening hand
upon you, and leads you by ways you know not, and which you never
would have chosen, he whispers the gentle accents in your ear,
Beloved, I wish above all things that you would prosper and be
in health. Rest in the quiet consciousness
that all is well. Murmur at nothing which brings
you near his own loving Presence. Be thankful for your very cares,
because you can confidently cast them all upon him. He has your
temporal and eternal prosperity, too much at heart to appoint
one superfluous pang or one needless stroke. Commit, therefore, all
that concerns you to his keeping, and leave it there.