By J.R. Miller
There is no experience in life in which it is not possible for a Christian to say, "It is well." One ground for this confidence, is that this is God's world. Nothing ever gets beyond the sweep of His power. What is true of the universe at large--is true also of all events, of all affairs, even of men's cruelty and hate. God rules in all.
Pilate said to Jesus, that he had power to crucify Him and power to release Him. Jesus replied, "You would have no power against Me, except it were given you from above." God could have rescued His Son from Pilate's hand that day--if He had chosen to do so. That He did not do it--was no evidence that He did not love Him. God could free us from all that would pain us--if He would. The trouble that breaks into your life, is not an accidental occurrence, something that has escaped from the divine control, something from which God could not have delivered you. There is no lawlessness in this universe, where God is sovereign. Whatever is done--He is the doer of it, or He permits it.
A further ground of confidence is that this God, in Whose hands are all things--is our Father. If He were a cruel God, if He did not love His creatures, we would have no assurance that we shall be kept from harm amid all the strange experiences of human life. But, being our Father, we know that the least and the lowliest of us are always thought about and have a special place in God's plan and purpose.
Not only does God love us and wish our good--but His wisdom is infinite. He knows what is best for us, what things will do us the good we need. We ourselves do not know. The things we think would bring us blessing--perhaps would bring us irreparable harm! The things we dread as evil, and shrink from--perhaps are the bearers to us of divinest good. We would make pitiful work of our lives--if we had the ordering of our affairs and experiences in our own hands. If for but one day we could take matters into our own hands, out of God's hands--we would wreck everything! "My times are in Your hands!" Psalm 31:15
It seemed cruel in God to let the sons of Jacob sell the boy Joseph away into a foreign land as a slave. Could not He have interfered and prevented the crime? Certainly. Did He not hear the lad's cries? Yes, He heard--and did nothing--but let him be carried off. How can we reconcile such permission of wrong against a helpless boy--with the creed of Christendom that "God is love?" Indeed, it was just because He loved the boy--that He let him be carried away. We have only to read on to the end of the story to learn this. We see at length in the outcome, the most beautiful divine goodness and wisdom. We see Divine love working in this one story of Providence that is written out for us. It may not be written out so plainly in the experiences of our own and our friends lives--but this really is the story of all the mysterious things of life. God is willing to let us suffer today, that we may get some great, rich good--or do some noble service for the world, tomorrow.
With these truths about God and His dealings with us fixed in our minds--it is easy for us to believe that whatever our experience may be, it is well with us. We may not see the good with our own eyes--but God sees it, and that is enough. Even when we have brought the trouble upon ourselves by our disobedience of the divine laws, we may so relate ourselves to our sin as to be able to say, "It is well."
There is in the mercy of God, and in the redemption of Jesus Christ--a wondrous power that can even take the bitterness out of sin, and rob it of its curse. We may never do evil, that good may come--that would be to mock God and act presumptuously. But when we have sinned we may take our sin to God and ask Him to forgive it, and then to arrest its poison in our life and change it to good. We should understand well how to deal with our sins, when in weakness or temptation we have done evil. If we keep our sins and hide them--they will be our eternal undoing. Or if we try in any way of our own to set right that which our sin has made wrong, we shall find that the blight and curse remain. No such dealing with our sin can bring good out of it.
But if we bring our sin to Christ, our Redeemer, and put it altogether into His hands--that is what it is to confess our sin and repent of it--He will take it and forgive it, and bring out of it benefit and good. That is the way the Master does with every sin that is truly confessed and given to Him. Not only is it then forgiven--but its repetition is made impossible, for the evil within which caused the sinful act--is changed to good, and where the ugly thorn-root grew with such baleful fruit, will spring up now a lovely flower instead. That is what redemption means. That is the way Christ saves us from our sins--not from their penalty, merely, which really would not be a saving at all--but from the very sin-roots themselves!
So there is a blessed sense in which we may say, even after sinning, "It is well." We may never say it of the sin, or of our own hearts while cherishing the sin; but we may say it when the scarlet sin has become as white as snow, when the crimson red sin has become as white as wool. David's sin was black and terrible--but the blessing of forgiveness wrought in David thereafter, the noblest things of all his life. Peter's sin against his Master was pitiful in its shame--but Peter came a new man out of that night. The memory of his fall, instead of working sorrow and despair in him, wrought intenser earnestness in his Master's service!
Some time or other everyone must experience bereavement. Evermore the circles of love are being broken. How can we say, "It is well" when a loved one is taken away? How can it be well when we have lost out of our life--all the wealth of a gentle and holy affection? But there is a beatitude even for mourning--they are blessed who mourn. The reason given is that they shall be comforted. This does not mean that the lost one shall be restored--but that God will put such peace, such strength, so much of His own love, into the bereft heart--that the sorrow will be changed into joy.
The story of many a bereavement--is a story of restored joy. Those Christians who were taken out of our sight, are not really taken from us--they stay with us in memory, in love, whose clasp death cannot break, and in the benediction of their sweet lives, which abides unto the end. Those who never have mourned, have missed the deepest blessing of the divine love.
It seems to us that suffering and loss must always be evil, that they never can bring good. We cannot see how it can be good for us to lose property, to be sick, to endure pain. But it is a law of life that the higher can only be reached, through the sacrifice of the lower. There are those who can be saved for spiritual things, only through the losing of all that seems desirable in the earthly life.
A distinguished musician ordered a violin from a maker of violins--the best he could make. At length he came for his instrument. He began to draw the bow across the strings, and his face clouded. He was disappointed. He broke the violin to pieces on the table, paid the price, and went away angry. The maker gathered up the fragments of the shattered instrument and carefully put them together. Again the musician came, and taking his bow, drew it over the strings--and now the tone was perfect. He was pleased. "What is the price?" he asked. "Nothing," the maker replied. "This is the violin you broke to pieces on my table. I put the fragments together and this is the instrument on which you now make such noble music."
Just so, God can take the broken fragments of a life, shattered by sorrow or by sin, and out of them make a new life whose music shall thrill many hearts. If one is discouraged, if the life seems to be hopelessly broken, the gospel of divine love brings encouragement. There are no ruins of life out of which God cannot build beauty and blessing!
This is our Father's world. He loves us and is watching over our lives. Only our unbelief can turn the divine good into evil for us. We need never be defeated, we need never fail. Whatever our sorrow, our discouragement, our hurt, our failure--there is no day when we may not look into the face of Christ and say, "It is well." This is the meaning of the love of God to us. This is the full and final blessing of Christ's redemption--victory over all hurt, over all sorrow, over all pain, over all sin. We need only to cleave to Christ in every time of fear or danger--and He will bring us through to glory!
