Tribulation to a Christian is like the rocks to a brook; remove them and there is no sweet music of God’s Grace. It is not necessarily when all goes well that the lost man can see the need of a Saviour. It is the courage a Christian manifests in the face of adversity that teaches the lost man there is a source of strength he does not possess. As the stream of time flows through the life of a Christian, trials of different size and shape come so our lives can play a sym phony of God's grace to a world that needs saving and for whom Christ died. I believe each sorrow is designed by God to produce a special part of the symphony. We may not understand them at the time. Some may be hard to bear, but God’s grace “ is sufficient” for our every need. As a jeweler dis plays diamonds on the background of black velvet, so they will spar kle in their brightest brilliance, just so God may place us against the darkest hour so His grace will beam more brightly in our lives. Sorrow in the life of Christians has given rise to some of our more meaningful and most lasting hymns of God’s grace. It was so in the life of Fanny J. Crosby when she wrote “ All the Way My Saviour Leads Me.” A mistake in administering medicine early in her life had left her blind, but instead of being de feated by it, she walked by the “ babbling brook” of God’s grace and could say: “ All the way my Saviour leads me Cheers each winding path I tread Gives me grace for every trial Feeds me with the living Bread “ Though my weary steps may falter And my soul a-thirst may be Gushing from the Rock before me Lo! a spring of joy I see.” It was so in the life of L. B. Bridges and the hymn “ He Keeps Me Singing.” He had penned the first three stanzas, all filled with joy and exuberance , and had thought to end it there when an accident happened that took the lives of the members of his family.
For a long time he was in sorrow and mourning and could see but little reason for trying to carry on. Then he learned the lesson of the “ babbling brook” and wrote the fourth stanza. “ Though sometimes He leads thru waters deep, Trials fall across the way, Though sometimes the path seems rough and steep See His footprints all the way.” Jesus says: “ In this world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Possibly no one has suffered more unjustly than the apostle Paul. In II Corin thians 11:22-27 he lists the many trials that came his way, but he does not spend the rest of his life bemoan ing them . Instead, he learned the lesson of the “ babbling brook” and wrote: “ For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be re vealed in us” (Rom. 8:18). The power of the peace of God’s grace can also be seen in the paint ing, “ Peace.” It is a painting of a raging storm and blowing rain with the trees bending beneath the on slaught of the storm, but there on a limb of a swaying tree amid the furor one sees a bird, its head tucked under a wing. It is fast asleep with complete trust in God’s keeping and care. As I thought today of the “ bab bling brook” I was reminded of a poem I learned a long time ago that has meant much to me. I walked a mile with happiness She chattered all the way And left me none the wiser By all she had to say, I walked a mile with sorrow And ne’er a word said she But many were the lessons I learned When sorrow walked with me. — Unknown J. W. Lasater is Pastor of Milby Road Baptist Church, Arlington, Tex. 19
where we used to take our swim, and the old tree — now fallen — where the Big Swing hung, and the pool where I fished for the “ big ’un” that always got away. I stood by the brook that sang so sweetly during the spring rains. It was mu sic sweeter than any composition of Mozart, or Beethoven, or any rendition by a symphony. As I stood listening to the “ bab bling” of the brook and the singing of the birds, it dawned upon me that no other sound was audible except those which were the crea tion of God. No man-made sound could be heard at all. The more I listened, the more there seemed to be a divine message in the “ bab bling brook.” As I walked up and down by the brook, I began to gaze intently into the stream and to notice the many rocks. I thought how much more freely the stream could flow if they were removed from its pathway. As I gazed and thought on this, I be came aware that it was the rocks that gave rise to the music, that as the water flowed over each rock, a sound was produced that varied with the size and shape of the rock. Then I knew that it was the rocks that made a Beethoven of the wa ter. Today as I was “ just thinkin’ ” of that experience, I believe there is a message in the “ babbling brook” for God’s people. We live “ in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation” (Phil. 2:15) and in a world “ gone mad” in a craze for “ pleas ure for a little season.” Abounding on every hand are sorrow, suffer ing and affliction of one degree or another. In one place it is sudden death, a stricken body in another, and in still another there are ad verse circumstances or disappoint ment in a friend. But are we to des pair of life and forsake God and His church because these hindrances come? Is He to be a God of pleas ure, joy, and happiness and of no value when misfortune strikes? Paul says “ No,” for “ For thy sake we are killed all the day long, and in all these things we are more than conquerors” (Rom. 8:36-37). OCTOBER, 1970
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