THE DIVINE END
W. Dickson
These words were spoken to a man who had passed through a very deep sorrow, sorrow which he could not understand. It was not because Job was a wicked man, but God put him through a very long, testing sorrow and this brother (shall we call him), Elihu, was available in the power of the Spirit to test Job as to whether in what he had passed through he had gained in the knowledge of God. What now engages us is a very tender matter, and the Spirit would say to us, “Dost thou know about the balancings of the clouds? “. During these twelve months, when the clouds hung over the household and over our brother as he lay in sickness, do we know who balanced the clouds? Do we know the God who balanced the clouds? Every day was ordered in divine wisdom, every stress, every moment of joy and hope, and then again when the sorrow deepened, the clouds were balanced by God Himself in His infinite grace and wisdom—“The wondrous works of him that is perfect in knowledge”. Our gracious God knew; He was perfect in knowledge. He knew what was going on, and when our brother oft-times could not speak, God knew what was going on in his heart, and what was going on in his spirit. In these months of sorrow, the Saviour was ever near to him in the richness of His love and grace. Our brother knew what it was for his garments to become warm when the south wind blew. These blessed moments of communion are granted in times of sorrow. We have proved it in our own city. You have proved it in Kirkcaldy, how the south wind tenderly refreshes and strengthens in moments of sorrow.
It says, “Men see not the light as it gleameth, it is hidden in the skies”. ‘I have been thinking this week of John 11 and 12. The fact that our brother died in our city brought the thing very near to us and we were thinking of John 11 and John 12 in our ministry meeting. How the light gleamed through the darkness, through the cloud, in John 11. The Lord said to Martha,
“I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11: 25)—that was the light gleaming through the cloud. Four days had Lazarus lain in the tomb, but the words, “I am the resurrection and the life” were light gleaming through the cloud for Martha. Then it says, “But the wind passeth by and cleareth them”. O, beloved brethren, the cloud is not on our beloved brother now. No, it is not there. The wind has passed by and he is in the sunshine and the enjoyment of his Saviour’s love. For our sister, too, the cloud will pass by. Will it pass by because she just dismisses it? No; it will pass by as she rests afresh in the holy bosom of Jesus, in the comfort of His grace and love that has sustained her all these months.
It also says, “From the north cometh gold”. Beloved brethren, if John 11 was the light that gleamed through the cloud, John 12 was the gold that came out of the north, when Mary took the pound of ointment and anointed Jesus. O, beloved hearer, can I speak to you about Jesus?
He was the blessed Man who went into the north. He was the holy Sufferer. He was the One who died. He was the One who, in those three hours of darkness, went through all at the hands of God in order that the light might gleam for you. In order that you might know the love of God, He went into the north. But out of the north comes the gold. It will come for this locality, it will come for us all, as we understand something of the ways of God. O, beloved brethren, may our hearts be drawn to our
blessed Saviour, the holy Sufferer, the One who in His death laid a basis that for us, in the presence of death, there might be a hope, joy, peace, and a resting place with Him eternally.
May we find comfort in these words. It took Job a long time to understand the sorrow. It is difficult to understand these things sometimes, but the Spirit would tell us that the divine end is that the gold should come out of the north, for His name’s sake.
Word at the burial of Mr. T. Wilson, Kirkcaldy
1 October 1981