1141. The New Vision of Suffering
The New Vision of Suffering
"That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ" (1Pe_1:7).
It seems to us that the very thorns which pierce the brow will become a crown, sparkling with precious jewels over there.
There are two things which may be said concerning this new vision of suffering.
1. What suffering does for us. "But the God of all grace, * * after ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you." Let us notice, singly, this fourfold result of suffering.
(1) "Perfect you." Jesus Christ sits as a purifier of silver. We quote the following: Illustration: "A visitor was watching a silversmith heat the silver in his crucible. Hotter and hotter grew the fires. All the while the smith was scanning closely the crucible. Presently the visitor said: "Why do you watch the silver so closely? What are you looking for?" "I am looking for my face," was the answer. "When I see my own image in the silver, then I stop. The work is done."
Why did the silversmith light the fires under the silver? To purify and perfect it. Is God's child-training an executioner visiting upon us the wrath of God? Nay, it is rather a cleansing angel pouring forth upon us the love of God. The furnace, the suffering, the agony of child-training, What do they mean? God is looking for a face! It is the face of His Son. "For He hath foreordained us to be conformed to the image of His Son."
Like all true parents, God has a model, a pattern to which He is fashioning the lives of His children. That pattern is Jesus Christ; and God's great purpose is that Christ should be "formed in us." Thus the will of the Father is to perfect us.
Have we not ever noticed that the photographer must do his work in a dark room that he may perfect his picture? So must our Lord use ofttimes darkness and sorrow and suffering in order to perfect His image in our lives. Oh, what a wonderful blessing comes to us through our sufferings! We use another quotation.
Illustration: "There is an old, familiar story of the man who went into the famous Gobelin tapestry works in Paris, and standing behind the scenes, saw the skilled workmen busy making a splendid piece of tapestry. They had their hands filled with threads of every color, and they were weaving them into what seemed to him a great, ugly fabric of patchwork. He said to his conductor, the director of the loom: 'I do not see any special artistic beauty in. that piece of work.' The other replied: 'No, not yet, but come again in a month, and see it when it is finished.'
"At the end of the appointed time the man went back, and saw the great piece of tapestry stretched out on the loom just as the finishing touches were being put into it. He was sorely disappointed at the rude jumble of colors, and said: 'I am still unable to see artistic beauty in the work.' 'No,' said the master workman. 'I dare say you do not, but come with me.' He followed the master to the other side of the loom. How wonderful the beauty that met his vision! What a mingling of colors, what exquisite design! He could not find words to express his admiration over this transcendent mechanism."
Today we are looking on the wrong side of the loom of our lives. In the "Beyond" the Master will show us the completed design from the Divine side. Today the Master has hold of the threads and is weaving a pattern according to His own will, and according to a pattern which He alone knows. The dark and unsightly patches in our lives, according to our view, and which seem to fatally mar its beauty, will be seen in their true light, and we shall find that all was for the best."
(2) Establish. The Lord not only perfects us but He establishes us. He puts us on a solid foundation. Peter once had been impetuous, impulsive, quick to speak, untrue in a crisis, but, think of what Peter became when, through his sufferings, the Holy-Spirit established him in Christ. This was all anticipated in the words of Christ when He said, "Thou art Peter, thou shalt be rock."
(3) Strengthen. We spoke a moment ago of the failures of Peter, but they were due to the weaknesses of his flesh. What Peter needed was iron put into his blood. He knew the enduement of the Spirit. We can do all things when we are strengthened in Christ Jesus. In the flesh we can do nothing. Now our sufferings have much to do with the impartation of this strength. It is Christ Who strengthens us, but our sufferings throw us upon Him. They teach us the nothingness of self. Giants and gymnasts were never made by luxury. The blacksmith is strong of arm because he is strong in his task. We will find strength as the enemy's reproaches throw us, again and again, upon the resources of our God. The effect of suffering is–"He will strengthen you."
(4) Settle you. God wants to put us in a place where He can trust us. He led the children of Israel, that He might see what was in them, and whether they would be true, dependable, trustworthy. God can not afford to commit unto us a responsibility of task, until we have been perfected, established, strengthened and settled.
2. What it does for Him. "That the trial of your faith * * might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ." This might be taken as praise and honor and glory unto us, and this is true, but it is more happily true that our sufferings here will add accumulated praise, honor and glory to Him both now and hereafter. He wants to show forth the praises of His name.
Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR