| The Secrets of a Beautiful Life |
Chapter 12 |
Page 4 |
It is thus that all the Bible words must be gotten. There are many precious promises for those who are tempted; but until you are in the grip of temptation you cannot draw the blessing from the quiver which God binds on his tempted ones. There are tender and precious words for the widow; but while the beloved wife has her husband by her side, strong, brave and true, these words are yet closed storehouses to her. They can become hers only when she wears the badge of widowhood, and sits lonely by the coffin of her dead, or amid the cares and burdens which her bereavement has cast at her feet. There are sweet words for orphan children; but while the children have both father and mother with them, and are swelling in the shelter of a happy home, they cannot draw upon this reserve of divine goodness. Only when they have lost one or other or both parents can they have lost one or other or both parents can they quote such a Bible promise as this:—
“When my father and my mother forsake me,
Then the Lord will take me up.”
There are very loving promises, too, for the old; but the man or woman in youth or mid-life cannot take them. There are beatitudes for certain conditions. “Blessed are they that mourn; for they shall be comforted.” But only those who are in sorrow can experience the blessedness of divine comfort.” It never can be learned while the heart knows not grief. Another beatitude is: “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled.” But there must first be hunger and thirst before there can be heart-filling.
Page 4