The Scriptures say that “It is good to be afflicted,” and experience
has her own confirmatory word:
The waters go out over the fields, leaving a waste, where
pasture and corn-field had been, and then gradually subside.
What have the waters done? Have they ruined the labors of the
year? They who do not know Egypt might think so indeed, but the
peasants know that to that yearly flood they owe the fertility
of the land, that it is that which makes the crops grow and
enables them to gather in the harvest. So it is with the river
of the grace of God: the waters at times overflow their banks,
and one seems to be overwhelmed; the soul is borne down by the
flood, all her fruitful land is covered by the waters--waters
of desolation, bereavement, affliction. “I am overwhelmed,
undone; God has smitten me; my life is all wrong; I shall never
smile again.” Nay, the flood which terrifies thee is the water
of the river of God. The water is washing away the impurity of
thy soul, giving thee fertility; the fruits of love, patience,
charity, shall grow now; it is not a flood of desolation, but of
blessing and fruitfulness. (Text.)
(45)
=Afraid of the Darkness=--See FEAR OF MAN.