| The Secrets of a Beautiful Life |
Chapter 10 |
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Spiritual truths can be received only as we come to the experiences for which they are adapted. There are many of the divine promises which we can never claim, and whose blessedness we cannot realize, until we come to the points in life for which they were specially given. For example: “In the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion.” This word can mean nothing to the child playing amid the flowers, or to the young man or woman walking in sunny paths, without a care or a trial.
It can be understood only by one who is in trouble. Or, take Christ’s word: “My grace is sufficient for thee.” It was given first in place of an answer to a prayer for the removal of a sore trial. It meant divine strength to offset human weakness; and it cannot be received until there is a sense of need. Christ stands beside a happy young Christian and says, “I have a precious word to give you, one that shines with the beauty of divine love; but you cannot bear it yet.” The disciple moves on along life’s sunny path, and by and by comes into the shadows of sorrow of trouble. Again the Master stands beside him and says, “Now I can give you the word I withheld before. It is this: ‘My grace is sufficient for thee.’” Then the promise glows with light and love.
There is a large part of the Bible which can be received by us only when we come into the places for which the words were given. There are promises for weakness which we can never get while we are strong. There are words for times of danger which we can never know in the days when we need no protection. There are consolations for sickness whose comfort we can never get while we are in robust health. There are promises for times of loneliness, when men walk in solitary ways, which never can come with real meaning to us while loving companions are by our side. There are words for old age which we never can appropriate for ourselves along the years of youth, when the arm is strong, the blood warm, and the heart brave. God cannot show us the stars while the sun shines in the heaven; and he cannot make known to us the precious things of love which he has prepared for our nights while it is yet day about us. Christ says to us then, “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.” We could not understand them. But by and by when we come into places of need, of sorrow, of weakness of human failure, of loneliness, of sickness, of old age, then he will tell us these other things, these long-withheld things, and they will be full of joy for our hearts. When night comes, he will show us the stars.
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