“The trial of your faith being much more precious than gold” (I. Peter i.
7).
Our trials are great opportunities. Too often we look on them as great
obstacles. It would be a heaven of rest and an inspiration of unspeakable
power if each of us would henceforth recognize every difficult situation
as one of God’s chosen ways of proving to us His love and power, and if
instead of calculating upon defeat we should begin to look around for the
messages of His glorious manifestations. Then indeed would every cloud
become a rainbow, and every mountain a path of ascension and a scene of
transfiguration. If we will look upon the past, many of us will find that
the very time our heavenly Father has chosen to do the kindest things for
us and give us the richest blessings has been the time when we were
strained and shut in on every side. God’s jewels are often sent us in
rough packages and by dark liveried servants, but within we find the very
treasures of the King’s palace and the Bridegroom’s Love.
Fire of God, thy work begin,
Burn up the dross of self and sin;
Burn off my fetters, set me free,
And through the furnace walk with me.