It was God’s purpose from the beginning not merely to redeem sinners from His condemnation but also to bring those people into a special relationship with Himself. It is His desire to draw mankind closer to Himself than any other of His creatures and to establish a most special link between His people and Himself.

Trials, then, have a purpose. They awaken us to a sense of our self-pleasing ways and to our indifference to the condition of the world we live in – not only as being a world of sin but thoroughly, and all over, a world of misery. They bring us into contact with solid certainties, and that produces thoughtfulness. They make us acquainted with grief, which drives off all levity.

Since we know that God has our best intentions in mind, what should move us? What can ruin our joy? Our rejoicing is in the Lord, and He is good and has good plans for us. We know that this current life is not our rest, nor do we wish it were, for it is polluted; but our joy is this, that Jehovah is our God, and His promised glory is our inheritance forever. We are being molded and shaped into a vessel fit for His Kingdom!

Do not seek, then, to please yourself, even as Jesus did not seek to please Himself. Live for Him, not for yourself. Live for Him, not for the world. Walk worthy of your name and calling. Walk worthy of Him who bought you as His bride. Walk worthy of your everlasting inheritance. Earth’s dream will soon be done, and then comes the day of songs and everlasting joy (Isaiah 35:10) – the long reality of delight!

About the Author

In 1808, Horatius Bonar was born into a family of several generations of ministers of the gospel. He graduated from the University of Edinburgh and was ordained in 1838. As a young pastor at North Parish, Kelso, he preached in villages and farmhouses, proving himself to be a comforter and guide. In 1843, he joined 450 other pastors to form the Free Church of Scotland after the “Disruption.” Horatius Bonar wrote numerous books, tracts, periodicals, and more than 600 hymns. He believed that people needed truth, not opinions; God, not theology; and Christ, not religion. From his first sermon to his last, he ended with “In such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh.”

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