Heaven will be joy without sorrow. Hell will be sorrow without joy.

Posted : 12 Aug, 2013 02:08 AM

Psalm 119:143 Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me: yet Your commandments are my delights.





Christian! expect not unmixed sorrow or uninterrupted joy as

your present portion. Heaven will be joy without sorrow. Hell

will be sorrow without joy. Earth presents to you every joy

mingled with grief-every grief tempered with joy. To be

accounted small and despised does not comprise the whole of

your trials. Like the great apostle, you must expect not only

trouble without, but anguish within. Others may not have it.

But your Savior engages-"You shall." To all His people He has

not meted out the same measure. Some have rebuke. Some

have a scourge. But all have the cross, and this a daily cross-

not a single or an occasional trial-but a life of trial-constant

contradiction to the will-constant mortification of the flesh. And

this takes hold of us. We cannot escape from it. Should we

wish to escape it? This discipline, as Luther observes in his

own way (and who was a better calculator in this school?), 'is

more necessary for us, than all the riches and dignities of the

whole world.' And the exercise of faith and patience in the

endurance will bring more honor to God and profit to

ourselves than a life of ease and indulgence. The instruction

of the rod delivers us from its curse, and brings a substantial

and enriching blessing.

But how precious is the sympathy of Jesus-"in all things made

like unto His brethren"-enduring trouble and anguish

inconceivable to human apprehension, "that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest to support His tempted

people!" How does it lift up our head amid the billows, when in

communion with our Lord we can call to mind, that His sorrow

was for the sake of His dear purchased people; that they

might drink their lighter cup bereft of its bitter ingredients!

The Psalmist did not find that the Lord afflicted him to leave

him in misery, but rather to increase his happiness. The

precepts which he had not forgotten, were now his delights.

The scriptural records of the trials of the Lord's people bear

similar abundant testimony to the inexhaustible resources of

support in the Book of God: and they are written for our

learning, "that we through patience and comfort of the

Scriptures might have hope." The child of God, whose

thoughts are habitually occupied in the word, will always find it

to be his food and light, his joy and strength; witnessing

within, the presence and power of God, even where its

sensible comfort may not be enjoyed.

But specially is affliction the time, that unfolds the delights of

the word, such as more than counterbalances the painful

trouble and anguish of the flesh. Such cheering prospects of

hope and deliverance does it set forth! Such mighty supports

in the endurance of trial does it realize! Truly the experimental

power of the word in keeping the soul alive-much more than

this- cheerful-sustained-established-is there any blessing like

this-the fruit of the cross? Can we mourn over that cross, that

brings so gainful a harvest? The bitterness of the cross then

best realizes the delights of the commandments. But never

does the believer more "rejoice in tribulation," than when the

trouble and anguish which take hold of him, is for the love he

bears to the name of his dear Lord. Persecution for His sake,

far from appalling him, only endears His service to his heart. It

is in his eyes-"not a penalty endured, but a privilege

conferred," "to suffer for His name's sake." But contrast the condition of the child of God and the follower

of the world, in the hour of affliction. The one in the midst of

his troubles drinks of the fountain of all-sufficiency; and such

is his peace and security, that, "in the floods of great waters

they shall not come near unto him." The other, "in the fullness

of his sufficiency, is in straits." David could look upward, and

find the way of escape in the midst of his trouble: but for Saul,

when trouble and anguish took hold of him, no source of

comfort opened to his view. "God was departed from him, and

was become his enemy." It was therefore trouble without

support, anguish without relief-trouble and anguish; such as

will at length take hold of them that forget God, when nothing

will be left, but the unavailing "cry to the mountains and the

hills to fall upon them, and cover them." Thanks be to God for

deliverance from this fearful prospect! Thanks for the hope of

unfading delights, when earthly pleasures shall have passed

away! The first sheaf of the heavenly harvest will blot out the

painful remembrance of the weeping seed-time which

preceded it. The first moment of heaven will compensate for

all the troubles and anguish of earth; and these moments will

last throughout eternity. "Say to the righteous, it shall be well

with him"-eternally well.



by

Charles Bridges

Post Reply