Show the Lining by Mrs. E. M. Peebles

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 9, 1915

Show the Lining

By Mrs. E. M. Peebles

MRS. E. M. PEEBLES

“The other side of every cloud is bright and shining; I’ll therefore turn my clouds about, And always wear them inside out, To show the lining.”

CHURCH BUILT BY WILLIAM MILLER AT LOW HAMPTON, N. Y.
All those on the steps and porch are descendants of Mr. Miller. — CHURCH BUILT BY WILLIAM MILLER AT LOW HAMPTON, N. Y. All those on the steps and porch are descendants of Mr. Miller.

WHAT a beautiful showing of sunshine and color we might always present to the world if we could only learn to wear our clouds always inside out; for it is true that every cloud has a “silver lining.” It is but another way of saying that “all things work together for good,” and that we must “glory in tribulations.” And why glory in tribulations? Because “tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope.” Without trials we cannot hope to gain eternal life. They are the stepping-stones, and they test and try us, and show us what is in our hearts. By them each of us learns to “endure hardness, as a good soldier.” And are we not enlisted in a far better warfare than those men who lie in the trenches exposed to the cold, pitiless storm, often

sick from hunger and privation, and their lives always in danger? These men put us Christians to shame. They are fired with patriotism at the command of their king, who is but an earthly monarch, whose kingdom is but an earthly possession; while we are enlisted under the banner of the King of kings, whose banner over us is a banner of love, and whose cause is sure to triumph. When we win, each soldier becomes a joint heir with Christ “to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

Then when we meet others, we need not fill their ears with the sad tale of all our cares, but rather speak of the opportunities we have for overcoming and for gaining new victories. If we speak of our trials, and cannot yet say, “Come and hear . . . what he hath done for my soul,” we can tell of another proof of the care and love of him who has us in training to fit us for his kingdom, and has said, “Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.” He has given his word that he will not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able to bear, but will with the temptation make a way of escape. We can tell of our determination to hold on, and we can learn to ask God, not to remove the trial, but to give us grace to bear it, until we have learned the lesson there is in it for us.

Many of our trials are simply the way we take things, and often we can sing them away. When the dark shades of sorrow fall across our path, when the heart is overwhelmed with grief, crushed well-nigh to the breaking, then we may know that there is One by our side bearing the burden with us, saying: “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee;” “I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands;” “As one whom his mother comforteth , so will I comfort you.” He knows it all, and there is good somewhere in it. We know that when we are tried, it is that we may come forth as gold, fitted to walk the golden streets, cleansed from earthly tarnish, able to appreciate what our Saviour suffered to bring us there.