Trust in God Through the Furnace of Trial
By JOS. CLARKE
“SHALL we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” Job 2:10. It is in the furnace of trial that we learn to trust in God. It is comparatively a small thing to trust in God, while in prosperity; but when our hopes are crushed, when our plans are thwarted, when we are traduced by enemies and forsaken by friends, when all our love and hope and treasures seem to be about to elude our grasp, and we are almost in despair; then to look upward to Heaven, and pray to God for his pardon and his favor, and to cast all our care and burden upon him, is an act of faith, and then it is that we learn the value of an advocate on high. Every child of God must at some time learn the lesson which Job so painfully experienced—not always so severe and painful—but the furnace will be heated sufficiently to prove our sincerity; our idols will all be overthrown and broken, and we19left with only our God to appeal to for deliverance; and never before was the smile of Heaven so full of consolation as when in humble penitence, with bitter tears, and almost hopeless prayers, with a sense of our utter helplessness and unworthiness, we submit ourselves to the righteous government of God. A constant trust in God, and a lively, enduring faith in him, is what every child of God must surely possess. Says Christ, in Luke 12:29, “Neither be ye of doubtful mind.” Says Paul, in Heb. 10:35, “Cast not away your confidence.” Again, in Rom. 8:35–39, Paul asserts his faith, and asks, “What shall separate us from the love of Christ?” and he specifies some of his trials—as tribulation, distress, famine, sword, peril—and he avers most confidently that nothing shall separate him from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Says Habakkuk, chapter 3:17, 18, “Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls; yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.” That is keen experience in the Christian warfare when such utterances find vent; and could we read the records on high of the bitter tears and prayers of the holy people who have been tortured on the rack and in the flames, and long imprisoned in filthy prisons, doubtless our trials would seem light. But a living faith in God and his dear Son infinitely outweighs the price they paid; and if our trials are the means of purifying our hearts, we may be happy and joyous in them all. The beginning of the Christian life is like the enrollment of the soldier in the army; the drill, the work, the warfare, the danger, the peril, the victory, the defeat, the sorrow, the joy, come in their due order. A great error is prevalent with those entering upon the Christian life. It is this: The young convert is too apt to imagine that the work is done when the Spirit of God renews the heart and fills it with joy unspeakable; but it is a very great mistake. Strong faith and trust in God are the result of long experience and labor in the Christian life and warfare. The well-arranged, well-conducted estate is only the product of the industrious, careful hand and mind of its manager. A farm, a factory, or a school, will not run by chance, or of their own accord; neither will a heart neglected or mismanaged become thrifty; but, like a neglected garden, it will run up to weeds. Neglect to cultivate the heart, and you will soon find it full of evil thoughts and dark and gloomy fears; the world with all its train of care and perplexity, will fill up every part, and there will be no room for Jesus; faith will fail, and holy love will die out, and in their place, Satan will bring his army of appetites and passions, and he will be happy to see it so, if it can be possible for him to be happy. We may live a happy, holy life; we may lean always on the Lord; we may always trust unwaveringly in our Saviour. Let us do this; nothing else will so tranquilize the mind, and give such solid, such enduring happiness, as this confidence and trust.