Discouragement or Peace?
The Spirit of God has furnished us with a very striking and edifying contrast between Job and Jeremiah in their trying circumstances and the Lord Jesus in His.
“Job opened his mouth, and cursed his day” (Job 3:11After this opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day. (Job 3:1)). He sighed for rest, but sought it amid the shades of death and in the darkness of the tomb. Dismal rest! In the prophet Jeremiah we see the same thing (Jer. 20:14-1814Cursed be the day wherein I was born: let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed. 15Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying, A man child is born unto thee; making him very glad. 16And let that man be as the cities which the Lord overthrew, and repented not: and let him hear the cry in the morning, and the shouting at noontide; 17Because he slew me not from the womb; or that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb to be always great with me. 18Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame? (Jeremiah 20:14‑18)). Both these beloved and honored saints of God, when overwhelmed by outward pressure, lost for a moment that well-balanced condition of soul which genuine faith ever imparts.
Now, the blessed Master stands before us in glorious contrast in Matthew 11. That chapter records a number of circumstances which were entirely against Him. Herod’s prison seemed to have shaken the confidence of John the Baptist. The men of that generation had refused the double testimony of righteousness and grace, in the ministry of John and of Christ Himself. Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum had remained impenitent in view of His “mighty works.” What, then? Did the Master take up the language of His servants Job and Jeremiah? By no means. His will was perfectly blended with that of His Father, and hence, “At that time [when all seemed against Him] Jesus answered and said, I thank Thee, O Father . . . for so it seemed good in Thy sight.” Here it was that Jesus found rest. And He invites “all who labor and are heavy laden” to “find rest.” He does not point us to the grave as our resting-place, but He graciously stoops down and invites us to share His yoke with Him — to drink into His “meek and lowly” spirit —to bear about a mortified will — to meet the darkest dispensations and the most trying circumstances with a “thank God” and an “even so.” This is divine “rest.” It is rest in life and not in death — rest in Christ and not in the grave.
Do you ever find yourself disposed to wish for the grave, as a relief from pressure? If so, look at the above scriptures. Think of them, pray over them, and seek to find your rest where Jesus found His, in having no will of your own.
We often think a change of circumstances would make us happy. We imagine, if this trial were removed and that deficiency made up, we should be all right. Let us remember, when tempted to think thus, that what we want is not a change of circumstances, but victory over self. May the good Lord ever give us this victory, and then we shall enjoy peace.
From Things New and Old, Vol. 1, pp. 38-39