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The Desire of Ages
praise for the spirit of heaviness.”
Isaiah 61:3
.
And for those also who mourn in trial and sorrow there is comfort.
The bitterness of grief and humiliation is better than the indulgences
of sin. Through affliction God reveals to us the plague spots in our
characters, that by His grace we may overcome our faults. Unknown
chapters in regard to ourselves are opened to us, and the test comes,
whether we will accept the reproof and the counsel of God. When
brought into trial, we are not to fret and complain. We should not
rebel, or worry ourselves out of the hand of Christ. We are to humble
the soul before God. The ways of the Lord are obscure to him who
desires to see things in a light pleasing to himself. They appear dark
and joyless to our human nature. But God’s ways are ways of mercy
and the end is salvation. Elijah knew not what he was doing when in
the desert he said that he had had enough of life, and prayed that he
might die. The Lord in His mercy did not take him at his word. There
was yet a great work for Elijah to do; and when his work was done,
he was not to perish in discouragement and solitude in the wilderness.
Not for him the descent into the dust of death, but the ascent in glory,
with the convoy of celestial chariots, to the throne on high.
God’s word for the sorrowing is, “I have seen his ways, and will
heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him and to his
mourners.” “I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them,
and make them rejoice from their sorrow.”
Isaiah 57:18
;
Jeremiah
31:13
.
“Blessed are the meek.” The difficulties we have to encounter may
be very much lessened by that meekness which hides itself in Christ. If
we possess the humility of our Master, we shall rise above the slights,
the rebuffs, the annoyances, to which we are daily exposed, and they
will cease to cast a gloom over the spirit. The highest evidence of
nobility in a Christian is self-control. He who under abuse or cruelty
fails to maintain a calm and trustful spirit robs God of His right to
reveal in him His own perfection of character. Lowliness of heart is
the strength that gives victory to the followers of Christ; it is the token
of their connection with the courts above.
“Though the Lord be high, yet hath He respect unto the lowly.”
Psalm 138:6
. Those who reveal the meek and lowly spirit of Christ are
tenderly regarded by God. They may be looked upon with scorn by the
world, but they are of great value in His sight. Not only the wise, the