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by L B Cowman
He Refines Them
"God forbid that I should glory, save in the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I
unto the world" (Gal. 6:14).
They were living to themselves; self with its hopes, and promises and dreams,
still had hold of them; but the Lord began to fulfill their prayers. They had
asked for contrition, and had surrendered for it to be given them at any cost,
and He sent them sorrow; they had asked for purity, and He sent them thrilling
anguish; they had asked to be meek, and He had broken their hearts; they had
asked to be dead to the world, and He slew all their living hopes; they had
asked to be made like unto Him, and He placed them in the furnace, sitting by
"as a refiner and purifier of silver," until they should reflect His image; they
had asked to lay hold of His cross, and when He had reached it to them it
lacerated their hands.
They had asked they knew not what, nor how, but He had taken them at their word,
and granted them all their petitions. They were hardly willing to follow Him so
far, or to draw so nigh to Him. They had upon them an awe and fear, as Jacob at
Bethel, or Eliphaz in the night visions, or as the apostles when they thought
that they had seen a spirit, and knew not that it was Jesus. They could almost
pray Him to depart from them, or to hide His awfulness. They found it easier to
obey than to suffer, to do than to give up, to bear the cross than to hang upon
it. But they cannot go back, for they have come too near the unseen cross, and
its virtues have pierced too deeply within them. He is fulfilling to them His
promise, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me"
(John 12:32).
But now at last their turn has come. Before, they had only heard of the mystery,
but now they feel it. He has fastened on them His look of love, as He did on
Mary and Peter, and they can but choose to follow.
Little by little, from time to time, by flitting gleams, the mystery of His
cross shines out upon them. They behold Him lifted up, they gaze on the glory
which rays from the wounds of His holy passion; and as they gaze they advance,
and are changed into His likeness, and His name shines out through them, for He
dwells in them. They live alone with Him above, in unspeakable fellowship;
willing to lack what others own (and what they might have had), and to be unlike
all, so that they are only like Him.
Such, are they in all ages, "who follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth."
Had they chosen for themselves, or their friends chosen for them, they would
have chosen otherwise. They would have been brighter here, but less glorious in
His Kingdom. They would have had Lot's portion, not Abraham's. If they had
halted anywhere--if God had taken off His hand and let them stray back -- what
would they not have lost? What forfeits in the resurrection? But He stayed them
up, even against themselves. Many a time their foot had well nigh slipped; but
He in mercy held them up. Now, even in this life, they know that all He did was
done well. It was good to suffer here, that they might reign hereafter; to bear
the cross below, for they shall wear the crown above; and that not their will
but His was done on them and in them. --Anonymous.
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