Of His own will begat He us with the word of truth, that
we should be a kind of first-fruits of His creatures.'
My friends, all these things were written for our examples. God
grant that we may lay the lesson to heart. A dark night may come to
any one of us, a night of darkness upon darkness, and sorrow upon
sorrow, and bad luck upon bad luck; till we know not what is going
to happen next; and are ready to say with David--'All thy waves and
thy billows are gone over me;' and with Hezekiah--'I reckoned till
morning, that, as a lion, so will he break all my bones: from day
even to night wilt thou make an end of me.'
God grant, that before that day comes, we may have so learnt to know
God, as to know that the billows are God's billows, and the storms
his storms; and, after a while, not to be afraid, though all earthly
hope and help seem swept away. God grant that when trouble comes
after trouble, we may be able to see that our Father in heaven is
only dealing with us as he dealt with those poor Jews; that he is
all the while saying 'Peace!' to us, whether we be near him, or far
off from him; and is ready to heal us, the moment that he has worked
in us the broken and contrite heart. And we may trust him that he
will do it. With him one day is as a thousand years.
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