September 13

“Could [Job] have seen that this was to be the outcome, he would not have uttered a single complaint, but would have given triumphant thanks for the trials which were to bring him such glorious blessing.  And could we but see, in our heaviest trials, the end from the beginning, I am sure that thanksgiving would take the place of complaining in every case.”  Hannah Whitall Smith, Daily Secrets, 9/9

But what if what we’ve lost is not going to be restored many times over as it was for Job?  Would we still not complain?  I think because this is man’s nature God won’t let us see.  He promises to bring good out of our difficulties, but He can only do this if we love Him.  This requires us to live by faith and not by sight.  I can think of several instances where I am content now even though things didn’t work out the way I wanted them to.  If I’d seen that from the start, however, my unhappiness about it would have prevented me from looking to God through it.  I would have been too focused on myself.  God uses our circumstances to build our characters--to conform us to His image.  If we knew in advance what was to be we would not have the benefit of all the little incidents that require us to turn to Him.  How much better that God keeps us in the dark and only trusts us with sight when He knows we are capable of handling it according to His ways. We must look to God with thanksgiving, trusting the outcome will be right.

“More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us.”  Romans 5:3-5

March 5

“To refine something does not mean to punish it, but only to purify it, to get rid of all its dross and rubbish and bring out its full beauty and worth....Instead of its being something God demands of us, it really is something we ought to demand of God....He created us, and we have a right to demand that He make us the best He can.  It is His duty to burn up our dross and bring out our full beauty and worth.  Love demands that He should.”  Hannah Whitall Smith, God is Enough, 3/5

This certainly causes me to look at my “sufferings”, as I’ve been wont to call them, in a different light.  I’m familiar with the verses in Scripture that speak of being refined as a good thing, but I never thought I should demand to be refined.  It always felt like something I had to go through against my will even though I knew in the end it would be good for me.  

I’m writing my grandfather’s life story for my Family History narrative and have made an outline of his diaries. One of his first diary entries in 1905 concerns how much he hated the idea of being at college for the next nine months because it was all work and no fun.  However, he added, it was for his good.  How much better if we would look at life’s lessons as something to desire so that we will become all that we were created to be.

“Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ....More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us.”  Romans 5: 1, 3-5