God brings good out of evil, and in every kind of the trial of our faith He finds occasion of ministering to us, not only according to His heart, but according to our own. Of this there was none in innocence, as none in heaven. He brings all the fullness of His grace into trial to prove there is One who is interested in us in our varied sorrow. He has brought Himself nearer to our hearts in trial than at any other time, showing the perfectness of His heart of love to us. He has purged our consciences entirely. Without this our hearts could never reflect upon all that He is.
There are two characters of our intercourse with God. In Canaan Israel dwelt in God's land, in the desert they did not. In them God dwelt in ministering to their need, and in blessing them. Through daily life the Christian learns what God is for us in the desert; here God especially shows His grace and mercy, but it is not quite right to rest here, in what God is to us, in ministering to our wants in the desert. Whether in the desert or in Canaan, we are with God; but it is a different thing to have God abiding with us in the desert, and we abiding with Him where He is. Christ comes down here; He bears our sicknesses, and carries our sorrows. There is not a sorrow of the human heart that Christ does not enter into it-tried in all points like as we are. This wins the affections, because it speaks to our hearts. Cain was in the place of what you call duty, he had not a sense of sin, nor of the new thing. There is not a single thing in the character of sorrow into which Christ did not come. Trial ought not to be needed; but yet God has to put us through all kinds of sorrow and trial, that we may feel our need of God, so proud and self-sufficient are we. Jesus says, Come to Me; I stand wholly alone and out of the world. If you have a want, come to Me; if you have found the world is toil and labor, come to Me. I have tried the world, and find not one thing in it; if you have found this too, come to Me.
I meet self in its wants, sorrows, and trials. God comes to meet us where we are; but we are not to stop here.
If a friend help me in difficulty, and supplies all my need, I do not stop here, I seek fellowship and communion with that friend. God came, and said to Abraham, Fear not; this world is a place of fear. We want a shield: God says, I am thy shield. We are poor: God is our reward. Walk before Me, be with Me according to what I am-perfect, walking with God according to the revelation that God gives us of Himself. God comes into the heart, and there is not a fiber but He puts in tune by His own grace. You will have sorrows where self-sufficiency is at work; you will have trials where self-will is not judged to show you what is in God, and to ripen you for heaven; to make us think of the sorrows of others, and love others, caring for the wants of others, and not our own. When God talked with Abraham, he fell upon his face; ha did not ask God for anything. When He has emptied us, and we have learned Him, He talks with us, telling us of Himself— “I am the Almighty God.” He expects us to care for Himself. He cares for us surely. Whatever your trial, come to Himself; do not reason about it, but bring it to Him. God talks to you of His plans and purposes, of His own blessedness. I put Myself into this blessed relationship with thee, that I may bring thee into enjoyment with Myself. Abraham falls upon his face. This is holy reverence, the spirit of worship. God is not ashamed to be called your God.
How far can you intercede for others? I find this often a test to my own soul. God would have us live in the knowledge of Himself, and in the blessed enjoyment of Himself, in a spirit of intercession. If I am in the presence of God, I shall fall on my face and be nothing-God is everything.