HE DOETH ALL THINGS WELL.
By W. W. P.
WHEN one calamity after another followed in quick succession in the experience of the Lord’s servant Job, so that he was bereft of property and family, although he manifested the outward signs of grief, yet with humble submission he said, “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” Thus Job recognized that nothing happens outside the sphere of God’s providence. This is the lesson for the child of God to remember under all circumstances. “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God.” “Whate’er events betide,
Thy will they all perform;
Safe in thy breast my head I hide,
Nor fear the coming storm. “Let good or ill befall,
It must be good for me,
Secure of having thee in all,
Of having all in thee.” It was this confidence in God as “a very present help in trouble” which led the psalmist to say, “Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.” The test of our confidence in this truth as a general principle is in our ability to apply it in those individual experiences which outwardly seem to be against us. When the sun shines brightly, it is easy to say that “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all;” but when the night thickens about us, we sometimes forget that “the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.” When we remember that “clouds and darkness are round about Him,” then we may be sure that wherever there is what seems to us to be a dark place, there we may be certain of finding Him. Then “trust in Him at all times.” “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise Him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.” W. W. P.