05. Chapter 5: Pleasure In Infirmities

Chapter V.

PLEASURE IN INFIRMITIES The subject of our last chapter connects itself with this, as the whole with the part. We have looked upon “circumstances” in their entirety as representing, as conveying, to the Christian the will of God. Here we have before us a special class of circumstances, or of conditions under which we meet them. In 2Co 12:7-9, we read a passage full of manifold instruction about the ways of Christ with His people in their life of grace and faith. St. Paulhas been spiritually privileged to a degree inconceivable without the same experience. He has been present, it matters not how, in the Third Heaven, in Paradise, and has heard words there not to be reported by a mere human being; words, very possibly, expressive of eternal kindness and approval towards himself and his work. He returns from this more than Tabor to the plain of common life. And he is put at once under severe discipline; “the thorn in the flesh,” “the buffeting angel of Satan,” is “given to him. ” Yes, this was the next “gift on behalf of Christ” (Php 1:29). And, as if to make thorn and buffeting more unbearable, we might think, it was intimated somehow to him that this was all done, all assigned by his Master, for a reason most humiliating. It was “lest he should be exalted above measure”; it was to check personal vanity in advance, to prevent something coming up in his experience which otherwise would have come up — self-satisfaction. Such wasSt. Paul, it thus appeared, that strong measures on Jesus Christ’s part were needed, in an acméof spiritual experience, if he was not thus to sin.

Such a fact, painfully real for the Apostle then, speaks an abiding word of holy humiliation to all true believers, since and now. It is manifestly written “for our learning,” and says to us that “this infection of nature doth remain, yea in them that are regenerated. ” [Note: Art. IX. of the Church of England. ] True, it has been argued — I have heard it so argued — that even St. Paul’s experience is not to be our standard; and we should aim, in Christ, to rise above even it! And there is thus much truth in this, that most surely the only true standard of inner principle and outer practice is the Lord. But then, when the Holy Spirit instructs an Apostle to record his own experience as part of a passage of instruction, as here, it is obvious that the experience is meant to embody and illustrate permanent truth. The Lord is, as ever, the unaltered standard. He, who needed no discipline to keep HIM meek and lowly, is the standard; and we are in Him. Nevertheless, we gather hence that it is a permanent fact of the life of grace and faith on earth that, notwithstanding our being in Him, we need His discipline to keep us low. It is meant to keep us low; it can do so; accepted, it will do so. But let His hand be taken off, and self will reappear indeed. It “lusteth,” it tendeth, “against the Spirit” still (Gal 5:17).

Let us not be discouraged. Our souls are touched from above — and from within, for it is by the Indweller — with that desire, longing, and choice for conformity to Him which nothing but Himself can satisfy. But let us not be discouraged by the Holy Spirit’s intimation here that “this infection of nature doth remain. ” In the very recognition of this humiliating fact on the witness of the Holy Word, in a meek submission to this condition, mystery that it is, there can come to the soul a direct gift of sanctifying peace and power.

Even thus, as this passage clearly indicates,St. Paulfound it to be. He thrice asked the Lord, the Master, to remove the thorn, to forbid the buffets. And He who knewSt. Paulbetter than he knew himself, though he had been in heaven, said no. It was to remain. I think we gather that it was lastingly, at least indefinitely, to remain. Whatever was the pang, the burthen, the restraint, the hindrance (and doubtless he said much to the Lord about this, for see Php 4:6), he was to go on with it, and to know all the time why he was to do so; lest he should be exalted above measure. But now comes in the glorious other side of the matter. The prayer was never granted. But how fruitful was that prayer!It was denied, yet answered. The Master’s “no” was not mere peremptory negative, decisive and perfectly authoritative as it was. It took the form of a positive assurance inestimably better; the form not only of a promise, let us observe, but of a present certainty of divine life and love. “My grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is made perfect in weakness. ”The weakness, of whatever special kind, so profoundly, so intensely felt by St Paul, so destructive in itself of his comfort, so obstructive in his work, was to be no unfavourable condition from his Master’s point of view. It was rather the true condition under which the Master’s indwelling strength was to work out its proper issues, so that “the patient” gave himself up to the process. And so, what was “sufficient” forSt Paul’s peace, and strength, and growth, was — not the removal of the humiliating thornandthe grace of Christ, but simply, merely, the grace of Christ, that is to say Christ, by His Spirit, divinely present and divinely working inSt Paul. Yes, this was enough for the whole demands of the case. It was sufficient up to the level of the need. It was adequate to take the whole circumstances, and fill them all with peace, with power, with love, with God.

“My grace is sufficient for thee” (2Co 12:9). I have heard of a life in which that sentence was a great spiritual turning point. In the midst of an agonizing prayer, “Let Thy grace be sufficient for me,” the eye of the overwhelmed Christian were casually raised towards a text upon the wall, where this sentence appeared. The word “is” stood out conspicuous in colour. And with the sight of it came, through the Spirit, the simple but divine intuition that what was implored was possessed already. Reader, have you read that “is”? Does your experience this hour include faith that rests as well as seeks? If so, is it not a sacred, a blessed reality? If not so, why not? Here is the warrant, phrased in the present tense, and the words are yourMaster’s, your Possessor’s, words. Believe them now — that is to say, practically, act upon them now.

St Paul did so. It is a delightful “therefore” with which he pursues his story. “Most gladly therefore,” therefore, because the Lord has said this, just for that reason, “will I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me, may (literally) tabernacle upon me,” as the Shechinah-cloud upon the camp of Israel. And further, “Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then am I strong. ”

How far does he stand beyond mere resignation, in its ordinary sense!He does not merely endure; he does not merely go on with a sigh, which would signify a longing for other circumstances. Ah, he knows what sighs, what groans are (Rom 8:23). But for him, surely, they have become things not of the inmost depth; not of the spiritual centre (2Co 5:4). The central consciousness now, in Christ, who is in him, is a profound and holy pleasure in the Lord’s choice of circumstances, because they are chosen to serve the Lord’s purposes, and to develope His power. “I take pleasure in infirmities. ”

Christian reader, is it so with you?Let me not assume that it is not. Thanks be to God, in all ages of His Church it has been so with many souls, who have learnt by grace the divine secret, the open secret, of the peace of simplicity, simplicity of relations with God in Christ as at once Father and Possessor. And in our own day a growing number of His people are entering with more and more distinctness into what is meant by this holy simplicity; not craving some new truth, but applying new trust to the old. So I will assume that I speak to one who knows something of this chastened and Christian “pleasure. ”Is it not a holy, a healthy thing, a thing of the daylight?Is it not wonderful in its elasticity, its solidity, its repose, its freedom?You have read of saints who, well qualified for active life and extended influence, have been shut up for long and rigorous imprisonments in days of persecution, such days as may return to us, and are abundantly possible now in many a distant land. To them, as you have read, strange and sweet joys have sprung out of their terrible restriction. Seeing in man’s wrong and cruelty the mere implement in their Lord and Father’s hand, they have mysteriously but really rejoiced in the cell, in the dungeon. “The stones of my prison walls,” says one saint, Madame de la Mothe Guyon, [Note: *Madame Guyon undoubtedly was not exempt from errors, Romanist and other. But her sorrows and sufferings were due, above all things, to her testimony to the need and possibility of living a life hid with Christ in God. ] “have often seemed as rubies in my eyes. ”And this was no illusion on an excited brain, but the calm inference of a life hidden with Christ, and profoundly content to be a subject of His will and grace.

Well, the joy and peace of the martyr and confessor is a thing translatable, as you know, into the experience of very common days. What are your prison walls? Broken health, failing limbs, while you would chose to be all movement for God? Aching head, weary nerves, while it is your duty to be surrounded with toil and bustle? A sphere of service curiously unlike what you would have chosen, in view of your knowledge of your own capacities or weakness, yet in which you are to-day, and out of which your Lord does not — at least to-day — lead you? Home service, where you would prefer to be a missionary pioneer? A parish, when you would like to evangelize a province? A sick-room to fill with patient service, when you would like to organize a hospital? Study, when you would like out-door preaching? Out-door preaching, when you would chose study? A life of entirely secular conditions, when you would chose the holy ministry? Limited abilities, difficulty of speech, when you would like to be able, eloquent, for Christ? Poverty, when your heart aches for riches that you may spend for Him? Riches, when you would fain have done, for His sake, with their solemn responsibilities, and be free in the restful simplicity of humbler life? Surroundings marred by the mistakes and perhaps injustice of others, while you long for co-operation and intelligent, healthy sympathy?

You know, in all these things, what it is to “take pleasure. ” They are delightful, not in themselves, but from this point of view. The restraint, the negative, has become blessed to you, for it is yourLord’s chosen opportunity for saying to you, “My grace is sufficient for thee. ” Your former fret and “worry” under circumstances are gone; for circumstances are literally as full as they can hold of occasions for the acceptance and working of His power. You would rather be weak, and the subject of His power, than be strong. You would rather be at uncongenial work, and have it filled with Him, than be at your most daring occupation, of your own mere will. In the mistakes, in the wrongdoings of man you yet see and welcome the unmistaking love and wisdom of your Lord. Your deep, calm, silent desire is that He should be glorified in you. And as this is manifestly, very often, best done “in your infirmities,” you can, you do, in Him, take pleasure in them. For infirmities of every scale, for little as for great, for great as for little, by a blessed inclusion, His grace is sufficient.

It is no exhausting process; so severe an effort to-day that it can scarcely be expected to be sustained to-morrow. It is not the emission so much as the reception of spiritual power. It is a profound contact with your Head, your life; “Jesus, your strength, your hope. ”

It does not make you a visionary, or a fanatic. If trying circumstances change in some respects, you reasonably welcome the change, and remember that pain is never for its own sake good. But you have reaped, and reap, such disclosures of the Lord’s power out of “infirmities,” out of “distresses,” great or little, that you cannot help a certain love for them, for the sake of what goes with them. And so, if it is “given to you on behalf of Christ” (Php 1:29) to suffer special trial, of body, mind, means, work, surroundings of whatever sort, you meet it with a quiet welcome, and expect His overshadowing.

“’Tis your happiness below Not to live without the Cross; But your Saviour’s power to know, Sanctifying every loss. ”