TO A STRICKEN SOUL
Arthur W. Pink (1886-1952)
My dear brother,
Greetings in the precious name of Him who, in the supreme crisis of His life
said, "The cup which My Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?" (John
18:11). Those words were uttered by the Lord Jesus on the night of His
betrayal: the Cross and all it entailed was fully before His view. This
sublime utterance of the Savior's exhibits His absolute submission unto His
Father's will, the total absence of resistance and murmuring. The words He
uttered on that dark, dark night have been placed on record for our
instruction, for He has left us "an example" that we should "follow His
steps" (1 Peter 2:21).
As we read these words "The cup which My Father has given
me, shall I not drink it?" they should be turned into humble and earnest
prayer, that we may be permitted to enter more into the spirit of Christ,
that Divine grace may be given us so that we shall be enabled to meekly
acquiesce unto whatever our all-wise God may appoint. It is in
heart-submission to God's providential dealings with us, that true religion
largely consists. By nature man is born "like a wild donkey's colt" (Job
11:12): he wants his own way in everything, and chafes and kicks when his
will is crossed and his plans are thwarted. But where a Divine work of grace
is wrought in the soul this spirit of rebellion against God is subdued, and
the love of God is shed abroad in the heart. It is true the old spirit of
insubordination is not entirely cast out: yes, it often makes its evil
presence felt, for "the flesh lusts against the Spirit" (Gal. 5:17). But the
Christian strives against that hostile influence, turns to the Lord for
help, and begs Him to still the storm going on within, and to bring him into
submission.
Your letter of April 30 is to hand. My heart goes out to
you in sympathy in this dark hour, and I feel my helplessness to comfort
you. The loss you have sustained is far greater than any human creature can
make up: your suffering too acute for any fellow-mortal to alleviate. I may
endeavor to pour into your sorely-wounded heart something of "the balm of
Gilead," but only the great Physician can give any efficacy to the same. I
can do little more than point you to Him who alone can "bind up the
broken-hearted" (Isaiah 61:1). Now is the time for you to make free with
Him, for He is a "Friend that sticks closer than a brother." "Casting all
your care upon Him, for He cares for you" (1 Peter 5:7). Unburden yourself
to Him, "For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the
feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are,
yet without sin" (Heb. 4:15). "Be anxious for nothing; but in everything by
prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known
unto God" (Phil. 4:6).
Observe well, dear Brother, the words, "With
thanksgiving"—that should never be absent from our prayers even amid our
acutest sorrows. You have much cause for "thanksgiving": even amid your sobs
and groans it is your privilege and duty to own God's great goodness to you.
First, in having favored you with one who was such a
faithful wife and devoted mother to your children: that was "of the Lord,"
and His hand should be duly acknowledged. It was purely of His
distinguishing mercy that you were not plagued with a contentious, nagging,
undutiful wife, such as thousands of men have. Own, then, unto the God of
all grace His goodness, for a "prudent wife is from the Lord" (Proverbs
19:14).
Second, you should present sincere "thanksgiving" unto
God that He spared your beloved wife unto you for so many years. This, too,
is entirely of His good pleasure. A parent, a wife, a child, is loaned to us
for a season, and the One who gives, decides for how long. Often the wife is
removed from the husband quite early; often her life is taken in
child-bearing. You have been highly favored, and instead of dwelling
exclusively on her removal from you, seek, dear Brother, to praise God for
sparing her to you for so many years! It was a signal mercy and blessing
that she remained until her children attained their majority. God might have
called her years ago, and left you with motherless babes on your hands!
Third, if as your letter denotes, you have good ground to
conclude your dear wife was one of the high favorites of Heaven—an elect,
regenerated, and redeemed soul, trusting only in the merits of Christ for
her acceptance with God—then you have abundant cause for "thanksgiving" that
she has been removed from this wilderness of woe and translated to the
Paradise of bliss! Think, then, not only of your great loss, but of her
immeasurable gain! She is now done with sin and suffering forever. She is
with the spirits of just men made perfect. She is in the immediate presence
of the Lamb! Would you, if you could, call her back from Heaven itself to
this sad world?
Fourth, what "thanksgiving" should ascend from your heart
in the assurance that you have not parted to meet no more! Only for a brief
season at most will you be separated from your loved one. Before long the
call will come for you to join her in that Place where partings are no more.
You shall be united with her again, not a few brief years, but forever! Let,
then, this blissful prospect cheer your drooping heart. Dwell not on the
brief period of separation, but on the eternal dwelling together on High.
But you are not in Heaven yet. No; God sees fit to leave you on earth a
little longer. Why? To teach your heart some needed lessons, to bring good
out of apparent evil, to make this sorrowful loss a real enrichment to your
soul. This too is among the "all things" which work together for good to
them that love God. If the Spirit of God is pleased to sanctify this
affliction unto you, it will prove a real blessing in disguise. It is your
duty and privilege to ask Him so to do: to beg Him to bless to you the
chastening rod.
May I suggest several lines of meditation which, if
pursued by you and blessed to you by God, will enable you to improve this
affliction.
1. Learn anew the terribleness of sin. "Therefore, as by
one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed
upon all men, for that all have sinned" (Romans 5:12). Yes, had sin never
entered this world, no graves had ever been dug in it. Every funeral should
be a forceful reminder to us of what the Fall has brought in! Every funeral
ought to beget in us a deeper hatred of sin. It was sin which necessitated
the death of God's beloved Son. Then how we should loathe it, seek grace to
resist its evil solicitations, and follow hard after its opposite—holiness.
2. See now the great importance of holding with a light
hand all God's temporal mercies. The best of them are only loaned us for a
season, and we know not how early we shall be called to relinquish them. It
is the part of wisdom for us to recognize and remember this while they are
in our hands: not to grasp them too tightly, nor to look upon them as ours
to enjoy forever down here. Holy Writ bids us to "rejoice with trembling"
(Psalm 2:11), for that which delights my heart this morning may be taken
from me before the shades of night fall. The more I live with this fact
before me, the less shall I feel the loss when it comes!
3. Endeavor to get your heart more weaned from this
perishing world. "Set your affection on things above, not on things on the
earth" (Col. 3:2). But we are slow to heed this exhortation, and often God
has to use drastic means to bring us to a compliance with it. It is for our
own good as well as His glory, that we do so. It is only the heavenly things
which abide; then let us seek grace to have our hearts more and more set
upon them. "Change and decay in all around I see; O You who change not,
abide with me."
4. Seek to demonstrate now to your fellows the reality of
true religion. The test of a soldier is not while he is on parade, but when
he enters the battle. So it is spiritually. In seasons of prosperity even
the worldling is contented and happy, but in times of adversity it becomes
evident that he knows nothing of the Source of real and lasting joy. Only
the real child of God is enabled to say, "The Lord gave, and the Lord has
taken away: blessed be the name of the Lord." Earnestly seek supernatural
help from above, dear Brother, that you may be enabled to manifest before
your fellows the sufficiency of Divine grace to strengthen and support—to
show you do have a peace and comfort which the Christless are strangers to.
Now, dear Brother, I have snatched several hours from a
busy life to try and send you a few lines both of comfort and counsel. May
it please the God of all grace to bless them to you. Read, and re-read what
I have written, and above all turn it into definite prayer. Write me again
when you feel like so doing. Sorrow not as others who have no hope. Doubt
not the Lord's goodness. Look forward to the future, and it will nerve you
for the duties of the present. Assuring you again of my heart-felt sympathy,
and of my poor prayers. "Cast your burden on the Lord, and He will support
you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken." Psalm 55:22.
Yours by God's abounding mercy,
A. W. Pink.
(The above is a copy of a letter which was sent to one
who had suddenly been plunged into the deep waters of bereavement. We felt
that perhaps its contents might be pertinent to the cases of others of our
readers who have lately been called on by God to give up loved ones. May it
also speak to those Christian husbands who still have their wives with them,
and move them to treat their partners with that love, sympathy, patience,
gentleness, considerateness, which is their due.)