"He is Faithful that Promised."
"If need be."--1 PETER i. 6.
A Condition in Chastisement.
Three gracious words! Not one of all my tears shed for nought! Not one
stroke of the rod unheeded, or that might have been spared? Thy heavenly
Father loves thee too much, and too tenderly, to bestow harsher
correction than thy case requires? Is it loss of health, or loss of
wealth, or loss of beloved friends? Be still! there was a _need be_. We
are no judges of what that "need be" is; often through aching hearts we
are forced to exclaim, "Thy judgments are a great deep!" But God here
pledges himself, that there will not be one redundant thorn in the
believer's chaplet of suffering. No burden too heavy will be laid on
him; and no sacrifice too great exacted _from_ him. He will "temper the
wind to the shorn lamb." Whenever the "need be" has accomplished its
end, then the rod is removed--the chastisement suspended--the furnace
quenched. "If need be!" Oh! what a pillow on which to rest thy aching
head,--that there is not a drop in all thy bitter cup but what a God of
love saw to be _absolutely_ necessary! Wilt thou not trust Him, even
though thou canst not trace the mystery of His dealings? Not too
curiously prying into the "_Why_ it is?" or "_How_ it is?" but satisfied
that "So it is," and, therefore that all _must_ be well! "Although thou
sayest, thou canst not see Him, yet judgment is before Him, _therefore_
trust thou in Him!"
"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON
WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!"