_SERENITY IN THE TEMPEST_
JOB xix. 23-27.
Perhaps I am akin to Job in having experienced the pressure of calamity. I
have felt the shock of adverse circumstances, and the house of my life has
trembled in the convulsion. Or death has been to my door and has returned
again and again, and every time he has left me weeping! All God's billows
have gone over me! Verily, I can take my place by the patriarch Job.
But can I share his witness, "_I know that my Redeemer liveth_"? Have I a
calm assurance that my ruler is not caprice, and that my comings and
goings are not determined by unfeeling chance? When death knocked at my
door, did I know that the King had sent him? When some cherished scheme
toppled into ruin, had I any thought that the Lord's hand was concerned in
the shaking? Even when my circumstances are dubious, and I cannot trace a
gracious purpose, do I know that my Vindicator liveth, and that some day
He will justify all the happenings of the troubled road?
I will pay for this gracious confidence. I would have a firm step even
among disappointments; yea, I would "sing songs in the night!"