| The Ministry of Comfort |
Chapter 7 |
Page 5 |
There are those who are called to long years of suffering or of sorrow. It is a comfort for such to think of their pain or grief as a friend sent to accompany them on the way. Mrs. Gilchrist wrote of Mary Lamb, “She had a lifelong sorrow and learned to find its companionship not bitter.” When the sufferer learns to think thus of the pain or the sorrow that stays and does not depart, the bitterness is turned to sweetness and the life finds blessing, inspiration, uplift, purifying in the sacred companionship.
“When first I looked upon the face of Pain
I shrank repelled, as one shrinks from a foe
Who stands with dagger poised, as for a blow.
I was in search of Pleasure and of Gain:
I turned aside to let him pass: in vain:
He looked straight in my eyes and would not go.
‘Shake hands,’ he said, ‘our paths are one, and so–
We must be comrades on the way, ‘tis plain.’
“I felt the firm clasp of his hand on mine:
Through all my veins it sent a strengthening glow,
I straightway linked my arm in his, and lo!
He led me forth to joys almost divine;
With God’s great truths enriched me in the end:
And now I hold him as my dearest friend.”
Or it may be that the will of God would take from us something very dear which we would keep. We should always remember that God’s love is the same whether He is putting new gifts into our hands or taking away those we have learned to cherish. The good things which mean so much to us are His, not ours. They have only been lent to us for a time, and for a specific purpose. When their mission is finished God recalls them, and we may be sure there is blessing in the recalling.
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