We are not acquainted with grief in the way in which Our Lord was acquainted with it; we endure it, we get through it, but we do not become intimate with it.

At the beginning of life we do not reconcile ourselves to the fact of sin.

We take a rational view of life and say that a man by controlling his instincts, and by educating himself, can produce a life which will slowly evolve into the life of God.

But as we go on, we find the presence of something which we have not taken into consideration, viz., sin, and it upsets all our calculations.

Sin has made the basis of things wild and not rational.

We have to recognize that sin is a fact, not a defect; sin is red-handed mutiny against God.

Either God or sin must die in my life.

The New Testament brings us right down to this one issue.

If sin rules in me, God's life in me will be killed; if God rules in me, sin in me will be killed.

There is no possible ultimate but that.

The climax of sin is that it crucified Jesus Christ, and what was true in the history of God on earth will be true in your history and in mine.

In our mental outlook we have to reconcile ourselves to the fact of sin as the only explanation as to why Jesus Christ came, and as the explanation of the grief and sorrow in life.

We read in 2 Samuel 5:17, “When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over Israel, they went up in full force to search for him.”

The moment we receive anything from the Lord worth fighting for, the Devil comes seeking to destroy us.

When the Enemy confronts us at the threshold of any great work for God, we should accept it as evidence of our salvation, and claim double the blessing, victory, and power. Power is developed through resistance.

The force and the amount of damage created by an exploding artillery shell appear to be greater because of the resistance at the point of impact.

A power plant produces additional electricity by using the friction of the rotating turbines.

And one day, we too will understand that even Satan has been used as one of God’s instruments of blessing.

DAYS OF HEAVEN UPON EARTH

A hero is not fed on sweets, Daily his own heart he eats; Chambers of the great are jails, And head winds right for royal sails. RALPH WALDO EMERSON

Tribulation is the door to triumph. The valley leads to the open highway, and tribulation’s imprint is on every great accomplishment.

Crowns are cast in crucibles, and the chains of character found at the feet of God are forged in earthly flames.

No one wins the greatest victory until he has walked the winepress of woe.

With deep furrows of anguish on His brow, the “man of sorrows” (Isaiah 53:3 NASB) said, “In this world you will have trouble” (John 16:33).

But immediately comes the psalm of promise, “Take heart! I have overcome the world.”

The footprints are visible everywhere. The steps that lead to thrones are stained with spattered blood, and scars are the price for scepters.

We will wrestle our crowns from the giants we conquer.

It is no secret that grief has always fallen to people of greatness.

The mark of rank in nature Is capacity for pain; And the anguish of the singer Makes the sweetest of the strain.

Tribulation has always marked the trail of the true reformer.

It was true in the story of Paul, Luther, Savonarola, Knox, Wesley, and the rest of God’s mighty army.

They came through great tribulation to their point of power.

Every great book has been written with the author’s blood.

“These are they who have come out of the great tribulation” (Revelation 7:14).

In spite of his blindness, wasn’t Homer the unparalleled poet of the Greeks?

And who wrote the timeless dream of Pilgrim’s Progress?

Was it a prince in royal robes seated on a couch of comfort and ease?

No! The lingering splendor of John Bunyan’s vision gilded the dingy walls of an old English jail in Bedford, while he, a princely prisoner and a glorious genius, made a faithful transcript of the scene.

Great is the easy conqueror; Yet the one who is wounded sore, Breathless, all covered o’er with blood and sweat, Sinks fainting, but fighting evermore— Is greater yet.

The disappointments of life are simply the hidden appointments of love. C. A. FOX

My child, I have a message for you today. Let me whisper it in your ear so any storm clouds that may arise will shine with glory, and the rough places you may have to walk will be made smooth. It is only four words, but let them sink into your inner being, and use them as a pillow to rest your weary head. “This is my doing.”

Have you ever realized that whatever concerns you concerns Me too? “For whoever touches you touches the apple of [my] eye” (Zechariah 2:8). “You are precious and honored in my sight” (Isaiah 43:4). Therefore it is My special delight to teach you.

I want you to learn when temptations attack you, and the enemy comes in “like a pent-up flood” (Isaiah 59:19), that “this is my doing” and that your weakness needs My strength, and your safety lies in letting Me fight for you.

Are you in difficult circumstances, surrounded by people who do not understand you, never ask your opinion, and always push you aside? “This is my doing.” I am the God of circumstances. You did not come to this place by accident—you are exactly where I meant for you to be.

Have you not asked Me to make you humble? Then see that I have placed you in the perfect school where this lesson is taught. Your circumstances and the people around you are only being used to accomplish My will.

Are you having problems with money, finding it hard to make ends meet? “This is my doing,” for I am the One who keeps your finances, and I want you to learn to depend upon Me. My supply is limitless and I “will meet all your needs” (Philippians 4:19). I want you to prove My promises so no one may say, “You did not trust in the LORD your God” (Deuteronomy 1:32).

Are you experiencing a time of sorrow? “This is my doing.” I am “a man of suffering, and familiar with pain” (Isaiah 53:3). I have allowed your earthly comforters to fail you, so that by turning to Me you may receive “eternal encouragement and good hope” (2 Thessalonians 2:16).

Have you longed to do some great work for Me but instead have been set aside on a bed of sickness and pain? “This is my doing.” You were so busy I could not get your attention, and I wanted to teach you some of My deepest truths. “They also serve who only stand and wait.” In fact, some of My greatest workers are those physically unable to serve, but who have learned to wield the powerful weapon of prayer.

Today I place a cup of holy oil in your hands. Use it freely, My child. Anoint with it every new circumstance, every word that hurts you, every interruption that makes you impatient, and every weakness you have. The pain will leave as you learn to see Me in all things. LAURA A. BARTER SNOW

“This is from Me,” the Savior said, As bending low He kissed my brow, “For One who loves you thus has led. Just rest in Me, be patient now, Your Father knows you have need of this, Though, why perhaps you cannot see— Grieve not for things you’ve seemed to miss. The thing I send is best for thee.”

Then, looking through my tears, I plead, “Dear Lord, forgive, I did not know, It will not be hard since You do tread, Each path before me here below.” And for my good this thing must be, His grace sufficient for each test. So still I’ll sing, “Whatever be God’s way for me is always best.”

Oh, if only Job had known, as he sat in the ashes, troubling his heart over the thought of God’s providence, that millions down through history would look back on his trials. He might have taken courage in the fact that his experience would be a help to others throughout the world.

No one lives to himself, and Job’s story is like yours and mine, only his was written for all to see. The afflictions Job faced and the trials he wrestled with are the very things for which he is remembered, and without them we would probably never have read of him in God’s Word.

We never know the trials that await us in the days ahead. We may not be able to see the light through our struggles, but we can believe that those days, as in the life of Job, will be the most significant we are called upon to live. ROBERT COLLYER

Who has not learned that our most sorrowful days are frequently our best? The days when our face is full of smiles and we skip easily through the soft meadow God has adorned with spring flowers, the capacity of our heart is often wasted.

The soul that is always lighthearted and cheerful misses the deepest things of life. Certainly that life has its reward and is fully satisfied, but the depth of its satisfaction is very shallow. Its heart is dwarfed, and its nature, which has the potential of experiencing the highest heights and the deepest depths, remains undeveloped. And the wick of its life burns quickly to the bottom, without ever knowing the richness of profound joy.

Remember, Jesus said, “Blessed are those who mourn” (Matthew 5:4).

Stars shine the brightest during the long dark night of winter. And the gentian wildflowers display their fairest blooms among the nearly inaccessible heights of mountain snow and ice.

God seems to use the pressure of pain to trample out the fulfillment of His promises and thereby release the sweetest juice of His winepress. Only those who have known sorrow can fully appreciate the great tenderness of the “man of suffering” (Isaiah 53:3). SELECTED

You may be experiencing little sunshine, but the long periods of gloomy darkness have been wisely designed for you, for perhaps a lengthy stretch of summer weather would have made you like parched land or a barren wilderness. Your Lord knows best, and the clouds and the sun wait for His command. SELECTED

When told, “It’s a gray day,” an old Scottish cobbler once replied, “Yes, but didn’t ya see the patch of blue?”

My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry here, and watch with me.

And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.

And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow.

Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.

I looked on my right hand, and behold, but there was no man that would know me: refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul.

He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.—We have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.—It became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.—Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered.

I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.

Behold how he loved.—He took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. In all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.

It is the Lord : let him do what seemeth him good.—Whom, though I were righteous, yet would I not answer, but I would make supplication to my judge.—The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord .—What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?

Jesus wept.—A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.

Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.—Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness.—In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord.

He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

In the world ye shall have tribulation.

Because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

I looked for some to take pity, but there was none.

At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me.

The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.

Here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.

Let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.

In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

Such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners.

That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation.

Jesus of Nazareth . . . went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.

As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.—Touched with the feeling of our infirmities.

Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.—Jesus being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well.

When Jesus . . . saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled. Jesus wept.—For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.

He hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven did the Lord behold the earth; to hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death.—He knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.—When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou knewest my path.

He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.—In all their affliction he was afflicted; and the angel of his presence saved them.