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Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing
of men.”
Lamentations 3:33
. When He permits trials and afflictions, it
is “for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness.”
Hebrews
12:10
. If received in faith, the trial that seems so bitter and hard to
bear will prove a blessing. The cruel blow that blights the joys of earth
will be the means of turning our eyes to heaven. How many there are
who would never have known Jesus had not sorrow led them to seek
comfort in Him!
The trials of life are God’s workmen, to remove the impurities and
roughness from our character. Their hewing, squaring, and chiseling,
their burnishing and polishing, is a painful process; it is hard to be
pressed down to the grinding wheel. But the stone is brought forth
prepared to fill its place in the heavenly temple. Upon no useless
material does the Master bestow such careful, thorough work. Only
His precious stones are polished after the similitude of a palace.
[11]
The Lord will work for all who put their trust in Him. Precious
victories will be gained by the faithful. Precious lessons will be learned.
Precious experiences will be realized.
Our heavenly Father is never unmindful of those whom sorrow
has touched. When David went up the Mount Olivet, “and wept as he
went up, and had his head covered, and he went barefoot” (
2 Samuel
15:30
), the Lord was looking pityingly upon him. David was clothed
in sackcloth, and his conscience was scourging him. The outward
signs of humiliation testified of his contrition. In tearful, heartbroken
utterances he presented his case to God, and the Lord did not forsake
His servant. Never was David dearer to the heart of Infinite Love
than when, conscience-smitten, he fled for his life from his enemies,
who had been stirred to rebellion by his own son. The Lord says,
“As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and
repent.”
Revelation 3:19
. Christ lifts up the contrite heart and refines
the mourning soul until it becomes His abode.
But when tribulation comes upon us, how many of us are like
Jacob! We think it the hand of an enemy; and in the darkness we
wrestle blindly until our strength is spent, and we find no comfort or
deliverance. To Jacob the divine touch at break of day revealed the
One with whom he had been contending—the Angel of the covenant;
and, weeping and helpless, he fell upon the breast of Infinite Love, to
receive the blessing for which his soul longed. We also need to learn