01.06. TWO DANGEROUS AND OPPOSITE ERRORS
"I have refined you but not in the way silver is refined. Rather, I have refined you in the furnace of suffering." Isaiah 48:10 The rays of the sun soften wax, but harden clay. Very different effects are produced on men by the same event. The gospel is preached. Some believe; others despise and wonder and perish. To some, the glad tidings are a savor of life unto life; to others a savor of death unto death.
It is just so with afflictions. To some, sadness is sanctified, and their moral character is thereby improved. As Daniel expresses it, they are purified and tried and made white. This effect always follows where afflictions are received with meekness, reverence, submission and true humility. Though the conduct of such is not exactly all it should be, yet it is in the main right, and God declares His approval of it in many parts of Scripture.
"Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself—The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him." The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young. Let him sit alone in silence, for the Lord has laid it on him. Let him bury his face in the dust—there may yet be hope. Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him, and let him be filled with disgrace. For men are not cast off by the Lord forever. Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men." Lamentations 3:22-33
It was when the church said, "I will look unto the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me," that she was able to rise higher, and say, "Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light. Because I have sinned against him, I will bear the Lord’s wrath, until he pleads my case and establishes my right. He will bring me out into the light; I will see his righteousness" (Micah 7:8-9). The pious Mr. Jay somewhere speaks of losing both our comforts and our afflictions. We lose our comforts by the providence of God removing them; but we lose our afflictions when we do not view them aright, nor act wisely under them. Errors respecting a time of trial are of two kinds that seem quite diverse from each other, but really are based in the same principle of unbelief. Against them both we are warned in the Old Testament, and also in the New. "My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of His correction." "My son, do not take the Lord’s discipline lightly, or faint when you are reproved by Him; for the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and punishes every son whom He receives" (Proverbs 3:11; Hebrews 12:5). To despise God’s chastisements is to be hard and unfeeling under them, to indulge the spirit of contempt. God complains of such, "Why should you be stricken any more? You will revolt more and more" (Isaiah 1:5). This is both a very wicked and a very dangerous line of conduct. While there is hope, a good father chastens his child; but when all hope is lost and he discards him, he chastens him no more. The other error consists in being weary, in fainting, or in impatience under the rod of divine correction. One says there is no hope, when every good ground of expectation is left to him. The former hardens his heart in pride, and says, "I don’t care for it; I will make my heart as hard as adamant." The latter says, "My punishment is greater than I can bear;" and he melts away and dies. One is stiff-necked and defiant; the other is broken-hearted, encourages a puling sensibility and is pleased with nothing.
It was Pharaoh who said, "Who is Jehovah, that I should obey Him?" It was Belshazzar who said, "I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God." Such desperation often cries out in its agony, but when relieved from pressing distress, repeats its former follies. Such conduct is considered very daring. Its seeming submission is feigned or deceptive, as when Agag said, "The bitterness of death is past!" (1 Samuel 15:32). But the disposition to pining and impatience is perhaps much more common, and by man more readily exercised. Jonah was a godly man, but at one time had much need of severe discipline. Even in his attempted flight to Tarshish, where he suffered so much, he was not cured of his disposition to prescribe to the Almighty. How foolishly he behaved about that gourd. He said, "It is better for me to die than to live." And God said to Jonah, "Do you well to be angry for the gourd?" And he said "I do well to be angry, even unto death" (Jonah 4:8-9).
Let us see to it that we avoid both these errors: that we yield ourselves to God. What can be more reasonable?
"Is resignation’s lesson hard? Examine, you shall find That duty calls for little more Than anguish of the mind." Who has hardened himself against God and prospered? Or who has unbelievingly pined away in affliction and been the better for it? Some have destroyed health so as lead to insanity and then to death. Let us never forget that the judge of all the earth will do right, and that all opposition to His will, whatever form it may assume, is criminal, and leads to misery and shame.
"When the sky is dark and lowering, When your path in life is drear, Upward lift your steadfast glances, ’Mid the maze of sorrow here.
"From the beaming fount of gladness Shall descend a radiance bright; And the grave shall be a garden, And the hours of darkness, light.
"For the Lord will hear and answer, When in faith His people pray;
Whatever He has appointed Shall but work you good always.
"E’en your very hairs are numbered, God commands when one shall fall; And the Lord is with His people, Helping each and blessing all."