The soul's purification by suffering

For Thou, O God, hast proved us; Thou hast tried us, as silver is tried.

Psalm 66:10

A most natural question — one asked by tried hearts in every age since the world began — is, Why, if there be a God, a merciful God, does He permit all these repeated and accumulated sufferings to afflict us? What are the Divine uses and purposes of sorrow? For we are compelled to admit that, if there be no ultimate design in and issue from sorrow, there is a fearful waste of tears and agony in the world. Some men have asked the question and received no satisfactory reply, and consequently have hastily and foolishly concluded, "There is no God; there can be no God, or this could not have been." Even those who do believe in the existence of a merciful God, who do believe that He has the ordering and governance of all our lives, are yet confronted by the great mystery of suffering. They want an explanation; they want to know how it can all be reconciled with the existence and oversight of a merciful God. Thoughts like these are very old to most of us. How are they to be met? Well, I candidly confess that as yet the reason why God permits so much suffering in the world is wrapt in the same darkness as still surrounds that other mysterious question — Why has God permitted sin to enter into the world? There is no light; no effort of thought or imagination, no wide-reaching speculations have been able to solve the problem. But our text suggests several important thoughts.

I. THE PLACE OF GOD IN OUR TRIALS — they may be sent by God. I say, may be sent, and thereby I mean to imply that all trials are not the effect of the immediate interposition of God. There are evils and sorrows which befall men which none would dare to say are of God's sending, because it is evident that they are the fruit of wrong-doing. For instance, if a man has been extravagant and reckless, and has thus reduced himself to poverty, it would be a libel upon God if he were to declare that God had made him poor, since he only reaps the harvest of his own folly. There can, however, be no doubt, if we are to accept the testimony of Scripture, and to believe in the Fatherly providence of God, we must believe that He permits and sends affliction. We cannot, we dare not, forget that God has to do with us every day, and we cannot take any comfort in the cold conception that we have stern, unbending laws to deal with, and not the tender, compassionate heart of a loving Father. The human heart craves a personal and present God Then, further, if we can see God's hand in our troubles, does it not make our troubles easier to bear?

II. THE TESTING CHARACTER OF LIFE'S TRIALS. Men in their ordinary connections are constantly applying tests to prove the character and the ability of those with whom they have to do; seeking to discover whether there is weakness or strength, falsehood or truth. Creditors test their debtors, masters test their servants, parents test their children, and friends often prove by ingenious stratagems the faithfulness of friends. So the world, by persecutions, and flatteries, and snares, is always testing the Christian Church; demonstrating to its own superficial satisfaction the honesty or hollowness of the profession its members make. Every man having the courage to avow himself on the side of Christ is immediately put on trial by Iris relations and his neigh-bouts, who will entangle him in positions of temptation, simply to ascertain what his Christianity is worth. Little is taken on trust in this world, and we are never entirely content with any object or any pretension until it has undergone some fierce heat of trouble. Adversity is the great test. A cobweb is as good as the mightiest chain cable when there is no strain upon it. It is trial that proves one thing weak and another strong. This is true of our spiritual life, our professed faith.

III. THE PURIFYING POWER OF LIFE'S TRIALS. The words, "Thou hast tried us, as silver is tried," would express the thought here intended more clearly if read, "Thou hast purified us, as silver is purified."

(W. Braden.)