THE SECOND CRISIS IN CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE
34 -- ENLARGEMENT THROUGH DISTRESS
Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress" (Psalms
4:1.) Thus testified David after he had passed through a great trial and
conflict. That trials may become a great source and avenue of blessing, has
become a fact well known and understood by such as have gone on to know the
Lord. The philosophy of this is very simple; it is while in adversity and
perplexity that we seek God, and pray the most, and lean the hardest upon Him. It
was said of ancient Israel, "Jeshurum waxed fat, and kicked." (Deut.
32:l5). "But when he slew them then they sought him, and they returned and
inquired early after God." (Ps. 78:34.)
The facts are, that but very few, if any, can stand
continued success and prosperity. It is when full, and with everything coming
our way, that we are in greatest danger of becoming self-sufficient, haughty
and arrogant; we are apt to conclude, because of our prosperity, that we are
favorites with the Lord, and forget our own weakness and utter dependence upon
God; under these conditions it is very easy to become negligent and careless,
and cease to watch and pray as we should. The history of the church in all ages
has been that just in proportion as she prospered and became rich and popular,
in that proportion her spiritual declension and worldliness and formality
increased. On the other hand, when she was despised and persecuted, and thus
driven to her knees in utter self-abnegation, then did she have power to
prevail with God and with men in the real salvation of the multitudes. This
same principle obtains in the individual experience.
It is well for us to understand the divine program.
"Many shall be purified and made white, and tried." (Dan. 12:10.)
Hence Peter has said, "Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery
trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you; but
rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings."
"Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are
in heaviness through manifold temptations: 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 appearance of Jesus
Christ." We need to learn that the spirit of heaviness because of manifold
temptations, is perfectly compatible with the spirit of holiness; and then we
need to remember that adversity is not necessarily an indication of divine
displeasure; and then we also need to learn how to make use of contrary winds.
A good sailor will utilize a head-wind by so shifting his sails as to carry him
forward to his desired haven
Many souls, having been purified and made white, but being
ignorant of the divine program, and supposing that the experience of
sanctification would henceforth exempt them from trial, have become confused
and bewildered when the "fiery trial" came upon them, and have cast
away their confidence and gone down in despair. Had they remembered that immediately
after Jesus received the Holy Ghost, he went into a forty-day hand-to-hand
conflict and battle with Satan; and that this was according to the divine
program for His sanctified children, and was the divine method of weaning them
from human dependencies, and developing in them the iron graces of patience,
and courage, and fidelity; they too might have maintained their integrity and
come out more than conquerors; not only gaining the victory, but gathering some
spoils.
There is an old adage which says, "What cannot be cured
must be endured," but the man who has learned the secret of victory, will
not simply endure it, but glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation
worketh patience," etc. It is one thing for us to trust God, and another
thing for us to get where God can trust us. God desires a tried people. Even as
men do not give positions of great responsibility and importance to such as are
inexperienced and untried, so they who are to be made the custodians of
heaven's treasure, and are to become the representatives and ambassadors from
the Court of Heaven, must first be tested and tried. The time when God proves
us is the time for us to prove Him; the trial should be regarded as the
challenge to our faith for greater victories.
The reward of faithfulness in the time of trial is
promotion, with increased confidence and power. The trial itself is the pledge
of greater grace. Great trials make way for great grace. There can be no
victory without a conflict. The fiercer the battle, the greater the victory. So
that in this life, as in the life to come, "Our light affliction, which is
but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of
glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which
are not seen." Hence our greatest trials become our greatest blessings –
blessings in disguise. After Job had passed through his trial, "the Lord
gave Job twice as much as he had before." (Job 42:10.)
