Silver Linings for Your Dark Cloud
During the late 1950’s I was a seminary student in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was a time of great learning, and unforgettable growth experiences. Since then I have developed the habit of jotting down good thoughts I encounter in my readings, as well as to capture in writing, ideas which percolate in my own mind, to expand them later.
One significant reminder which I copied then, and still have, is the wise affirmation that “no branch escapes the pruning knife; no jewel the wheel;no child the rod; and no chosen vessel the thorn.”
Indeed, human suffering has followed countless generations of human beings since the fall of our first parents. Not only is our race affected, but the cosmic consequences of sin are most real and present in the entire universe. The apostle Paul, in Romans 8:22, reminds all readers that “the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.”
Yet, amidst all suffering, the child of God may still have the peace and assurance that He is with us while troubles occur, even when He might choose not to remove us from the place of trouble. He promised to His own never to leave them, nor forsake them.
These, and many more reassurances recorded in Holy Scripture, in addition to the vast illustrations of how that was experienced by countless of God’s chosen vessels, offer hope and perspective to those who continue to encounter major hardships in their earthly trajectory, which entails all of us!
Sometimes we are too distracted by the good things of life that we need to face difficult moments as a reality check, and a means of learning needed, essential, spiritual lessons. Life teaches us in joy and in sorrow. The lessons learned are tools for better living, as our years unfold. Often, the greatest and best lessons are those learned in pain, in dark valleys. Yet, any lesson will be fully valid only if and when applied to daily experience.
God intends for us to learn from life in all circumstances, not just when things are going our way! The apostle Paul, in spite of all the hardships which often befell him, was able to exclaim with conviction: “I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation” (II Corinthians 7:4b). He also recognized that “our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (II Corinthians 4:17).
Understanding that human suffering is an inevitable element of life on earth, the 16th century reformer, John Calvin, found solace in the fact that when God allows that to affect any of His children, “His meaning is to draw us to Him, in order that we should love HIm not only when He does us good but also when He chastises us for our sins.”
Rabbi David J. Wolpe offered good perspective on the issue when he pondered: “We suffer the peculiar blindness of those who see only the visible.” Yet, the hand of God continues to point the only way we need to follow, ever aware that “the sufferings of this present age are not worthy to be compared to the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18).
