Nether Springs

May God give us to drink deeply into our eternal springs, that we may "joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Rom. 5:11. But we are in a world that is contrary to us, where sickness, sorrow, and suffering abound and sometimes affect ourselves and our loved ones. Then we need to fall back upon the nether springs, and find God in everything. Paul was assured of this when he wrote in Rom. 8:28, "We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose." Our hearts should draw from that same blessed assurance. These things that seem most painful and sad, and we might think so unlike Him, are among the "all things" in which He is, and which He is working together for our good.
Hezekiah learned that his sickness and bitter tears were among the things "by [which] men live," and in which was the life of his spirit. (Isa. 38:16.) We think so much of our temporal blessings, but God, while supplying our necessities, has specially in view our spiritual welfare. He would have us find, in trying and sorrowful circumstances, those nether springs whereby our spiritual welfare is maintained and increased. This is blessedly evidenced in Psa. 84:5-7. The man whose heart is in God's ways, while passing through the valley of Baca, or weeping, makes it a well. Being refreshed thereby, he goes from strength to strength making the trials and sorrows, as it were, stepping stones to greater nearness to God.