“WHO shall separate us from the love of Christ ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword ? ” —No, none of these things, because Christ has promised to be with us, to protect and save; and indeed, calamities like these mentioned in the text seem to have the effect of drawing the Christian still nearer to his God. But I think there is something which is not mentioned here that is of a still more subtle and dangerous character; something which, when everything else has no power to move us, the enemy tries as his last master effort. It is prosperity ! Ah, how many of us fail here ! When tribulations seem to overwhelm us as a flood, and we are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, and accounted as the very offscouring of the earth, ah ! then, when we can lean on no earthly support, how we fly to the protecting arms of our Father, and feel safe. Then how sweet we find the religion of Christ.
When death lays its cruel hand upon those we love, and we hear the dull echo of the clods of the valley upon the coffins of our dear ones, how our aching hearts find sweet solace in the blessed promise of our Lord,”I will come again,” and the “dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and shall come forth.”
How true indeed it is, that tribulation draws us nearer God, if we allow it. Indeed, the nearer we are to the hand that administers the stroke, the less we feel the smart of the rod. Let us remember when we ask prosperity of the Lord, that it is tribulation, and not prosperity, that “worketh patience,” and we are commanded to let patience have its perfect work. Have we not all noticed that when everything moves smoothly, and there is nothing to trouble us; when our barns seem to be filled with plenty, and We add acre to acre and dollar to dollar,—how cold our hearts are, and how formal our prayers. Ah ! we all need the scourging of the Lord; and if we are His sons and daughters, we shall receive it. It is good for us ! The great Refiner and Purifier knows well that if, we would reflect His image, we must pass through the fire.
Let us remember the words of David, “Before I was afflicted, I went astray.” Psa 119:67
The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald July 4, 1882