"Wonder why the test
When we try to do our best."
They are not the only ones who can say,
"Trials dark on every hand
And we cannot understand,"
But they and all the redeemed, God's real children, can say,
"We will understand it better by and by."
Till then they can rest upon His word, that "the trial of your faith,
being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be
tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the
appearing of Jesus Christ,"--1 Peter 1:7; for "we know that all things
work together for good to those that love God, to those who are the
called according to his purpose."--Rom. 8:28.
"Thou art as much His care as if beside,
Nor man nor angel lived in Heaven or Earth."
_FOR FURTHER STUDY_:--Some readers may conclude, because trials come
to the lives of the unredeemed as well as the redeemed, to those who
are not God's children, as well as to those who are God's children,
that, therefore, their characters are likewise developed by trials.
Let such readers consider two facts:--
First, it is a creature of God being developed in one case; in the
other, it is one who has been redeemed and adopted as a child of God
(Gal. 4:4-7), and born of the Spirit (John 3:8), that is being
developed.
Second, the characters being developed in the two classes, while they
may appear to men as similar, in the sight of God are as different as
light and darkness are to men, as different as Heaven and Hell. Let
it be remembered that character is dependent, not on the deed, but
_on the motive back of the deed_ (1 Cor. 13:1-3).
No unredeemed man can have that motive, because it springs from
complete redemption through Christ (2 Cor. 5:14, 15). Hence, "they
that are in the flesh cannot please God."--Rom. 8:8. Their motive
power is all wrong and cannot be otherwise; hence their characters,
however they may be developed, are all wrong in the sight of God.
Jesus said, "Cleanse first the inside of the cup and of the platter,
that the outside may be clean also."--Matt. 23:26. The child who, from
love, bears trials and burdens placed upon him by the father, the
slave who, from fear of the lash, bears trials and burdens placed upon
him by the master, the hireling who, from desire for the wages, bears
trials and burdens, and the stoic who, from sheer force of will, or
from a cold sense of duty, bears trials and burdens, because he
must,--are developing altogether different characters. Even so, the
child of God, redeemed and adopted, who, from love, bears the trials
and burdens of life, the unredeemed one who, from fear of the law,
from fear of Hell, bears the trials and burdens of life; the
unredeemed one who, from what he hopes to gain thereby, a home in
Heaven (as the hireling his wages), bears the trials and burdens of
life, and the unredeemed one who, from a cold sense of duty, bears the
trials and burdens of life, are developing widely different characters
for eternity. Which shall it be in your case, reader?