DISCIPLINE OF THE SERVANT NO. 16

DISCIPLINE OF THE SERVANT NO. 16

When I heard of your sorrow I wished to write to you. Sorrow draws out the heart (where sorrow is known) more than joy. Our blessed Lord is ever near the sorrowing one, and if subject to Him it is sure to know that He is alongside. Until the heart has learned His sympathy in its deepest sorrow, there is not that discovery of His heart and interest which produces the Ruth-devotedness. Naomi became endeared to her in the hour of her desolation, therefore her devotedness exceeded Jonathan’s to David. How rarely can any one come near you in your sorrow! It is a great time! The poor heart is wrenched, and yet the blessed Lord uses this breach as an opportunity of making His heart for you better known. It is a chapter in your history which you will ever look back to. Earth almost a blank, shadowed over as it is, and it is fit that it should be, because Christ has died here, but Himself, as the clear shining of the sun after rain, binding your heart in the closest way to Himself, while life reigning in eternal glory opens out the more to you. Death in a family is never forgotten; every new sorrow only revives it. We must be prepared to find nothing after us. The Lord cheer your heart abundantly.