| The Glory of the Common Life |
Chapter 2 |
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Some good people make the mistake of supposing, when any trouble comes upon them, that they have displeased God in some way and that He is punishing them for it. This was the though in the minds of the disciples, when they asked the Master for whose sin, his own or his parent’s, a certain man had been born blind. Jesus answered that the blindness had been sent for no one’s sin, but for an occasion of good and blessing, for an opportunity of revealing the mercy and gentleness of God. When we have sorrow or suffering, our question should not be, “What have I done that God is punishing me for?” but, “What is the mission of this messenger of God to me?”
If we would always greet pain or trouble in this way, with welcome, reverently, in Christ’s name, we should be in an attitude for receiving whatever blessing or good God has sent to us in it. There is no doubt that whatever trouble comes to us, comes from God on an errand of love. It is not some chance thing breaking into our life, without purpose, without intention. It is a messenger from God, and brings blessings to us. Our trouble is God’s gift to us. No matter what it may be – duty, responsibility, struggle, pain, unrequited service, unjust treatment, hard conditions – it is that which God has given to us. No matter through whose fault or sin it may have come to us, when the trouble is ours, we may say it is a gift of God to us. Then being a gift from God, we may be sure that it has in it a divine blessing. As it comes to us it may have a stern aspect, may seem unkindly, even cruel, but folded up in its forbidding form, it carries some treasure of mercy.
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