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‘The sufferings of this present time.’
Rom_8:18
But I want to engage your thoughts upon what a very striking instance this is of the way in which every single thing that can be done, every motive by which the human mind can possibly be influenced for good, is ever employed in Holy Scripture for the express purpose of bringing the souls of men nearer to God. Fear, love, self-interest, desire after that which is good, everything that can be rightly and legitimately used, is employed in the endeavour to call the soul of man to higher things.
I. The ministry of suffering.—So with sorrow and the suffering of various kinds, which the Apostle calls ‘the sufferings of the present time,’ there is a mystery about it all, and most of our questionings about the matter must of necessity remain unanswered until that day when the darkness of earth gives place to the light of heaven. But nothing can be plainer than those words in the Epistle to the Hebrews, in that very remarkable passage where we are reminded that we are the sons of God. We call to mind that the souls of the sons of God are in the hand of God, and there can no torment touch them. We are also reminded not to regard God’s chastening lightly, not to faint when we are reproved by Him, ‘for whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.’ The wisest and most loving earthly father may not always chasten wisely, but whatever chastening our Heavenly Father may see fit to send us is sure to be done wisely and lovingly, and will be, whether we judge it so or not, for our profit and our good. Every trial and every trouble that comes into the life of a believer carries with it some hidden gift from God. Here there are lessons—and the older the servant of the Lord Jesus Christ grows the more he discovers it—which can only be learned in the school of adversity, and there are blessings which can never be offered at all unless we are ready to pay the price of pain.
II. There is quite a common misconception with regard to prayer in this matter.—We may ask earnestly and with importunity that the trial and the suffering may pass, indeed we often do so, but it must always be done reverently, leaving it to God to decide what is best. There is no better example of prayer of this kind to be found than that special prayer in the Prayer Book that we use in the office of the Communion for the Sick. ‘If it be Thy gracious will’—that is the one basis on which all supplication must rest, for if God has a loving purpose and a mysterious design for our good in whatever shape He may choose to send it, we cannot afford to lose it. God never yet sent a trial to any child of man without sending at the same time strength to endure it. In the sufferings of this present time relief is not always given by the lifting up of the weight of sorrow or pain, but by the granting of God-given strength for patient and victorious endurance.
Rev. T. H. S. Polehampton.
THE MYSTERY OF SUFFERING
I. What of the sufferings?—Here our position is a very simple one. We cannot, indeed, bring the sufferings to an end. These will doubtless cover the earth while earth shall last; but we can battle with them, and seek, each one of us, to lessen the sum total of human suffering. Be our endeavour done in His Name, Who suffered past imagining for us, we become in a sense fellow-workers with Him. The thought ‘for His sake’ must be the animating idea throughout, and the caution that we must serve God with our understanding as well as with our heart must guide us to shape the work rightly.
II. Think how multifold human suffering is, and therefore how correspondingly varied must be the attempts to cope with it.—Hunger and bodily disease and pain, the helplessness of childhood, the infirmities of old age, exist in our sight, and we can all do a little, however little, to lessen the sum total. There are noble lives in the world, men and women, whose every thought is how to lessen the load of suffering. Yet there are sufferings worse than bodily pain. There is remorse for wrong done long ago, unrepented of, but unforgotten. Yet here how precious is the help that may be brought, when one who has tasted how gracious the Lord is can bid the remorse turn to repentance, can point above the mists and the clouds to the pure light shining above. These are very obvious cases; but take one less obvious. Think of the suffering arising from isolation, from the absence of kind words and looks of love, perhaps isolation further embittered by harshness or positive unkindness. How far in such a case will the mere kind word, sincerely bestowed, avail. It costs very little; perhaps many a giver of such could not give anything which costs more; yet many a mere kind speech, spoken by one who had nothing else to give, has stilled bitter pain, and, if done for Christ’s sake, will win the blessing promised to the giver of the cup of cold water. Still, when one ponders on the appalling mass of human suffering, the prospect seems to stun the mind; yet there is but one counsel for all: Do what you can, do all you can, do it for Christ and in His sight. May God help us all to realise these as our marching orders at all times.
III. Sooner or later, the worst sufferings of body or mind come to an end, the worst agonies which rack the body, the bitterest pains which torture the mind. For the servant of God, for all who, whether sooner or later, have come to know Him Whom they have believed, what matters the pain then? It is no mere cessation of the pain, no mere resumption of a sort of normal condition; it is the change to a glory, compared with which the old sufferings, aye, and the old joys, however noble and however inspiring, are of no worth. The candlelight is barely visible in the strong sunlight. In the light of the future glory how dim earth’s sorrows and earth’s joys alike!
—
Rev. Dr. Sinker.
Illustration‘We ask, as men for many ages have asked, why such a state of things exists. Why does God permit it to be? Some people speak as though believers in a Supreme, All-ruling Providence must be unduly pressed, as though by a logical dilemma, when it is asked—Does God permit evil, or does it exist independently of His will? If the former, there is a defect in His goodness; if the latter, in His omnipotence. They forget that logic only has force when the disputant is able to command the whole field. We are seeking to reduce a law of the Infinite God within the area of finite human thought.’
‘I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.’
Rom_8:18
I. The sufferings of this life.
(a) The sufferings of the early Christians of St. Paul’s time.
(b) The sufferings of ordinary Christians in peaceful times—(1) in mind, (2) in body, (3) in estate.
II. The glory which issues from sufferings.
(a) The sufferings must be rightly endured as coming from God for the purpose of discipline, and then—
(b) They work out glory—(1) the glory of humility, (2) the glory of patience, (3) the glory of holiness, (4) the glory of all these perfected in heaven.
Illustration
‘How blissful an employment will it be hereafter, in the mansions of the kingdom, to place the past sufferings and the present glory side by side, when at every stage of the comparison we are constrained to break out into astonishment and delight, “Who would have imagined such an issue? How little now do my trials appear! Who would not have passed through fifty times as much of sorrow to reach this blessed land? Ah, that illness; that disappointment; that loss: I see now wherefore it was sent: all was mercy. How could I ever be so impatient and disquieted! How little I knew its fruit! Hallelujah! for the sorrows, as for the joys of my pilgrimage, again I say, Hallelujah.” ’
PREPARATION FOR GLORY
I. The thought of the consummation, to which it is all preparatory, ought to be sufficient to swallow up all the pain of this present world.
(a) What, if the body ‘groans, being burdened’ with its infirmities, rent with its pangs, prostrate with its weaknesses—what, when it is all ‘but for a moment’—what, when it is leading on to that painlessness, when this body shall be capable of serving continually, with the most exquisite sense of delight? What are years spent upon a sick bed, when we think of an eternity of rapturous ministrations?
(b) Or, what is the anguish of this little life, which is being made shorter, by its own sufferings, to the rest which shall be for ever and ever, when we shall rest upon the bosom of God?
(c) And does not it become a very little matter to be very poor, for a few brief fast-flowing years, to him that can say, ‘Lo, I inherit all things’?
(d) Or, what if you be separated, for a season, from those who have made the very joy of life to you—do not you know that they are taken away for this very purpose, that, being made subjects of faith for a while, you may presently hold them again by a surer tenure, in an unclouded union? And may you not well look across the little valley of the separation, to that sweet fellowship of the soul, which is waiting for you, now, upon the mountain of light?
(e) And all the unkindnesses of this harsh world—its little sympathy, its hard judgments—will you not appreciate more the name, the sweet fellowship of the Church, breathing only love?
II. The problem solved.—St. Paul seems to say, ‘I have added up both sides, and I have struck the difference. I have counted the sufferings and the glory, and I have balanced them together, and I find them so wide asunder in their measure, one with another, that they are not even commensurate. I have gone through the problem in all its process, and “I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” ’
Illustration
‘St. Francis de Sales was sent for to a labouring man, who greatly desired to receive his bishop’s blessing before his death. Francis found the sick man almost dying, but quite clear in mind. He was delighted to see his bishop, and said, “I thank God for the happiness of receiving your blessing before I die.” He then asked, “Sir, do you think I am dying?” Francis thought that some natural fear had come over the sick man, and he answered tenderly, that he had seen men quite as ill recover, but that the best thing was to put one’s whole trust in God, for life or death. “Oh, but, sir, do you think I am dying?” “My friend,” answered the bishop, “a doctor would be better able to tell you that than I am, but I am able to say that I think you well prepared to die, and possibly at a future time you might be less prepared to go hence. Your best course is to leave God to work out His will, which is sure to be the best and happiest thing for you.” “Oh, sir,” the man exclaimed, “I do not ask you this because I am afraid to die, but because of all things I am afraid of getting well.” Francis asked the sick man why he feared to live, a fear which is so contrary to nature. “Sir,” he answered, “this life is so worthless, I cannot think why men cling to it, and if I did not know that God wills us to abide here till He calls us, I should not be here now.” Such indifference to life surprised the bishop, who inquired if the old man had any hidden sorrow. “Far from it,” was the reply; “I am seventy, and so far I have had the blessing of perfect health, and I have never felt the sting of poverty; my home is happy, and if I have any regret in leaving this world, it is the parting with my wife and children.” “Whence then, brother, your longing to die?” Francis asked. “Sir,” the peasant answered, “every sermon I have ever heard has taught me so much concerning the joys of Paradise, that this world has gradually grown to look like a mere prison.” ’