It
is because God is leading them that these things come upon them. Trials
and obstacles are the Lord’s chosen methods of discipline and His
appointed conditions of success. He who reads the hearts of men knows
their characters better than they themselves know them. He sees that
some have powers and susceptibilities which, rightly directed, might be
used in the advancement of His work. In His providence He brings these
persons into different positions and varied circumstances that they may
discover in their character the defects which have been concealed from
their own knowledge. He gives them opportunity to correct these defects
and to fit themselves for His service. Often He permits the fires of
affliction to assail them that they may be purified.
The
fact that we are called upon to endure trial shows that the Lord Jesus
sees in us something precious which He desires to develop. If He saw in
us nothing whereby He might glorify His name, He would not spend time in
refining us. He does not cast worthless stones into His furnace. It is
valuable ore that He refines. The blacksmith puts the iron and steel
into the fire that he may know what manner of metal they are. The Lord
allows His chosen ones to be placed in the furnace of affliction to prove what temper they are of and whether they can be fashioned for His work.
The
potter takes the clay and molds it according to his will. He kneads it
and works it. He tears it apart and presses it together. He wets it and
then dries it. He lets it lie for a while without touching it. When it
is perfectly pliable, he continues the work of making of it a vessel. He
forms it into shape and on the wheel trims and polishes it. He dries it
in the sun and bakes it in the oven. Thus it becomes a vessel fit for
use. So the great Master Worker desires to mold and fashion us. And as
the clay is in the hands of the potter, so are we to be in His hands. We
are not to try to do the work of the potter. Our part is to yield
ourselves to be molded by the Master Worker.
“Beloved,
think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as
though some strange thing happened unto you: but rejoice, inasmuch as
ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when His glory shall be
revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.” 1 Peter 4:12, 13.
In
the full light of day, and in hearing of the music of other voices, the
caged bird will not sing the song that his master seeks to teach him.
He learns a snatch of this, a trill of that, but never a separate and
entire melody. But the master covers the cage, and places it where the bird will listen to the one song he is to sing. In
the dark, he tries and tries again to sing that song until it is
learned, and he breaks forth in perfect melody. Then the bird is brought
forth, and ever after he can sing that song in the light. Thus God
deals with His children. He has a song to teach us, and when we have
learned it amid the shadows of affliction we can sing it ever afterward.
