The Secret of Suffering

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Short Summary
The discourse explores the theme of Christian suffering as a transformative and purifying experience that leads to Christlikeness, character development, and deeper reliance on God. It emphasizes that suffering, whether physical, mental, or emotional, is allowed by God for growth, teaching about sin, fostering communal support, and ultimately preparing believers for eternal life. Through scriptural readings, poetry, and personal testimonies, the message encourages trust in God’s providence, patience amid trials, and mutual compassion within the Christian community.

Long Summary
Detailed Summary of the Discourse on “The Secret of Suffering”

Introduction and Theme Overview
– The discourse begins with warm greetings and appreciation to volunteers.
– The theme of the evening is “The Secret of Suffering,” focusing specifically on suffering for Christ, not general or worldly suffering.
– The speaker references 1 Peter 4:15-16 emphasizing that suffering as a Christian is honorable and should glorify God:
> “But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on this behalf.” (1 Peter 4:15-16)
– Suffering for Christ is a privilege and a process that leads to becoming Christlike.

Christ’s Suffering as a Model
– Reading from reprint 4767 highlights Jesus’s suffering as necessary to fit Him for His priestly office.
– Jesus’s loyalty was tested in Gethsemane, perfecting His character through obedience to God’s will.
– Suffering is essential for character development, likened to a plant needing sunshine, watering, and pruning to grow strong and beautiful.

Types of Christian Suffering
– Suffering includes physical pain but also mental, emotional, and spiritual trials.
– Mental suffering can manifest outwardly in unkind behavior; brethren are urged not to judge but to be compassionate.
– A poem reminds to avoid judgment since internal struggles may not be visible:
> “Judge not the workings of the brain and of the heart thou canst not see…”
– Christians should be sources of comfort, not criticism.

Communal Aspect of Suffering
– 1 Corinthians 12:26 is cited:
> “Whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.” (1 Cor. 12:26)
– The suffering of one affects the entire body of Christ; brethren must support one another.
– Hymn 23 “Christian Fellowship” is sung to reinforce this.

Suffering Teaches Dependence on God
– The more intense the suffering, the more believers recognize God’s presence and assistance.
– Poem reading illustrates God’s help in unseen ways: through friends, strangers, messages, or even trials.
– Personal testimony shared about God’s providence orchestrating a timely phone call.
– Romans 8:28 emphasized: “All things work together for good to them that love God.”
– Even mistakes or unexpected events can be used by God for blessing.

Suffering as Training and Growth
– Suffering offers opportunities for proving God’s power and our faith.
– Story of a shepherd crossing a river with lambs symbolizes God’s care and trustworthiness.
– When “you have nothing left,” God is enough.
– Poem and analogy of a caterpillar and butterfly illustrate how suffering cuts worldly attachments, preparing believers for spiritual transformation.

Suffering Teaches About Sin and Human Weakness
– Psalm 119:67:
> “Before I was afflicted I went astray…” (Psalm 119:67)
– Hebrews 12:9-11 explains God’s chastening is for our profit, producing righteousness.
– Suffering from sin teaches patience and reliance on Christ’s covering.
– The ongoing struggle with sin in the flesh is acknowledged; Apostle Paul’s frustration in Romans 7 is referenced.
– David’s words in Psalm 51:5:
> “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.” (Psalm 51:5)
– Suffering helps us grow compassion for others.

Attitude and Trust During Suffering
– Maintaining a positive and holy attitude (“smiling when everything goes wrong”) is vital.
– Story of William Tyndale’s Bible printing ship sinking illustrates God’s higher purposes and need for patience.
– Holiness is defined as the ability to trust God fully and accept His providence without complaint.
– Hymn 247 “Take Time to be Holy” is sung to reinforce sanctification.

God’s Providence in Disappointments
– Poem by Sister Marcia Hook emphasizes seeing disappointments as divine appointments.
– Total trust in God’s overruling providence is crucial, believing that every event, good or bad, is under His control.
– Even losses or closed doors are part of God’s plan, leading to new opportunities.

The Growth Process in Character
– Growth is not linear; it involves successes and failures but moves forward overall.
– Psalm 103:13-14 stresses God’s understanding of human frailty:
> “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.” (Psalm 103:13-14)
– Suffering is tailored by God to foster holiness and spiritual maturity.

Communal Care in Suffering
– James 1:27 stresses the importance of caring for those in affliction:
> “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction…” (James 1:27)
– A sad story is shared about a faithful brother who became ill and was neglected by brethren, reminding listeners to visit and support suffering members.
– A poignant poem by Brother Bob Gray encourages awareness and action to ease others’ burdens.

Facing Suffering unto Death
– The fear of death is a significant challenge, especially for the great company.
– Little flock believers’ suffering often leads unto death, but this fear should be conquered.
– Jesus endured the cross, looking forward to the joy set before Him.
– Poem by Sister Bernice Swan expresses overcoming fear of death to enter peace and service with the Lord.

Closing Encouragement and Final Hymn
– Emphasis on drawing close to God through prayer and Bible study during suffering.
– A poem about journeying with the Bible as a source of comfort and guidance.
– Closing hymn 105 “Satisfied with Thy Likeness” celebrates the ideal goal of Christian suffering—becoming like Christ.
– Final prayer is offered for blessings and spiritual growth through suffering.

—

Key Bible Verses Referenced:

– 1 Peter 4:15-16
– 1 Corinthians 12:26
– Romans 8:28
– Psalm 119:67
– Hebrews 12:9-11
– Psalm 51:5
– Psalm 103:13-14
– James 1:27

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Summary Conclusion:

This discourse provides a comprehensive, scripturally grounded meditation on the nature, purpose, and blessings of Christian suffering. It emphasizes that suffering for Christ is a sanctifying process designed by God to develop Christlike character, teach humility and dependence on God, deepen faith, and foster compassion within the Christian community. Believers are encouraged to maintain a holy attitude, trust God’s providence even in disappointments, and support one another in their trials. The ultimate goal is to be spiritually transformed, overcoming fear—including the fear of death—and to gain the joy and peace that come from a close walk with God.

Transcript

Thank you very much, Brother David. Appreciate that, and as he said, for those of you that have so lovingly volunteered to read, you just have to stay in your seats so Brother Fernando will find you, and I have to share one little thing that was shared with me. Brother Ezekiel’s son Tim is here.

And Tim told his grandma Fina, I didn’t know conventions could be so good.

Isn’t that lovely? Isn’t that lovely? Well, dear brethren, it’s lovely to be here with you this evening. We’ve appreciated vesper services for as long as I’ve been in the truth as an opportunity for us to meditate upon themes that are holy, themes that are praiseworthy. One might wonder how the subject of suffering, as you can see, our theme, the Secret of Suffering, could be an uplifting theme for a vesper service.

Well, rest assured, dear brethren, that this, like any other scriptural subject, is quite worthy of an evening’s worth of meditation, and we hope tonight that the thoughts shared would touch your heart with a deeper appreciation of the wonderful privilege that we have to suffer in the name of Christ. Now, what suffering are we talking about? Well, not suffering as a chastisement. Not suffering over losses in the stock market.

Not suffering because of a speeding ticket. No, the suffering we’re talking about is the suffering for Christ. First Peter 4, 15, 16. Read this. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters.

Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on this behalf. Dear friends, the secret to Christian suffering which escapes the notice and belief in the world is that it is the extraordinary means by which we become Christlike, and not us only. As we mentioned earlier, and as you’ve seen in all of the presentations today, Jesus himself was exercised in a most wonderful way by the suffering that was a joy for him to bear, and it was a joy for him to bear because he knew he was doing the Heavenly Father’s will. We’re going to have a number of readings tonight, and our first reading is going to be by Brother John Baker, and he is going to read an excerpt, a couple paragraphs from reprint 4767.

Brother John, Our Lord asked, ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory to be fitted for the priestly office to which he was called? Our Lord must be proved beyond all peradventure. His loyalty was put to the extremest test in the Garden of Gethsemane. Possibly he himself did not realize the strength of his righteous character until brought face to face with his trial. There he was tried and proved to the uttermost.

And under trial his character always perfect to the measure of its testing, the fullness, its glorious perfection of completeness. Thus through suffering he learned obedience to the perfect will of God, down to the lowest depths of self abnegation, and God permitted it so to be, because such proving was necessary both for the development and the manifestation of that perfection of character which would be worthy of the high exaltation to which he was called, and so we also must suffer if we would be footstep followers of the Lamb. Character cannot be developed wholly without trial.

It is like a plant at first it is very tender it needs an abundance of the sunshine of God’s love, frequent watering with the showers of his grace, and much cultivating through the applied knowledge of his character as a foundation for faith and an inspiration to obedience. Then, when thus developed under these favorable conditions, it is ready for the pruning hand of discipline, and is also able to endure some hardness, and little by little, as strength of character is developed, the tests applied to it serve only to develop more strength, more beauty, more grace, until it is finally fixed, developed, established, perfected through suffering. Thus we learn to realize that all things work together for good to the called according to his purpose, to those who are to be members of his body. Reprint 4767 thank you, brother John.

Like our Lord, we must be tried, and the trial produces suffering. So the suffering we wish to meditate on tonight primarily is the that suffering that we do to become Christlike. Christlike suffering. Suffering, as it says, we endure because of our pursuing a Christlike life of consecration. This suffering is not necessarily restricted to physical or bodily pain, though we don’t want to minimize that.

But we want to include things like suffering of the mind, suffering, suffering of the emotions, suffering of the spirit. For it is such suffering of all these things by the overruling and merciful providence of Jehovah, that we can learn things possible to learn no other way. Such mental suffering is sometimes hard to see in others, and at times it produces outward effects that don’t always seem to be positive. Perhaps you’ve seen your brethren at times to be surly, perhaps not paying attention, perhaps snapping back a little bit. We must be very careful, dear friends, in our judging such matters, as the following poem suggests, to be read by Sister Janelle Stewart.

Reading number two.

Judge not the workings of the brain and of the heart thou canst not see what looks to thy dim eye A stain in God’s pure light may only be a scar brought from some well known field where thou wouldst only fade and yield the look the air that frets thy sight may be a token that below the soul hath closed in deadly fight with some internal fiery foe Whose glance would scorch thy smiling grace and cast the shuddering on thy face.

How careful we should be that to each other we are sources of comfort and consolation rather than than judgment and criticism. Brethren, we need to develop a sensitivity to the suffering of our fellow body members. They’re undergoing this and most of us are undergoing some type of suffering at all times, and remember that when our brethren suffer, we also suffer. As the Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 12:26.

Whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it. Where one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it. Let’s sing together a hymn. Hymn number 23, Christian Fellowship.

Ra.

Bless.

As we meditate more deeply on this subject of Christian suffering, we find there are various components to it. Let’s look at the first component. Suffering teaches us about God. As we suffer, we learn to depend upon God and we begin to develop a feeling of his presence with us in the suffering experience, and the more difficult the tribulation, the more difficult the suffering, the more closely we begin to see his hand.

Let’s listen to our third reading by Sister Vicki Grillo.

He’s helping me now, this moment though I may not see it or hear Perhaps by a friend far distant Perhaps by a stranger near perhaps by a spoken message, perhaps by a printed word in ways that I know and I know not. I have the help of the Lord. He’s keeping me now this moment, however I need it most Perhaps by a single angel, perhaps by a mighty host, Perhaps by the chain that frets me or the walls that shut me in in ways that I know and I know not he keeps me from harm and sin.

If I were to open this vesper service in as a testimony meeting at this point, you would all have experiences that show the truth of what we just read. Helping a stranger, perhaps in a far distant land, or a friend, or help with a spoken message. Each line that’s in this poem takes us to some wonderful experience that many of us have had that we have a correspondence to God takes care of us in marvelous ways, wonderful ways. I remember my dad telling me an experience he had. He had been sort of separated from the brethren for a while, hadn’t been coming to meetings and he had a disconcerting feeling inside himself and just felt the need to talk to someone.

So he got up and he went to the phone, and as he’s reaching for the phone, it rings. Hello? Hi, Mel. This is Bernd Eckholt.

How are you today?

You can’t make this stuff up. Brother Al Kauffman would always say that. Do you think it was a coincidence? Not at all. You think the Lord, in showing that wonderful promise, was interested in drawing dad closer?

At that point? Brethren, he will do that same thing to each one of you. If we pray to him for a closer walk and a closer relationship with our fellow members in the body of Christ, it is a prayer that will be answered. At that very moment, God inspired Brother Byrne to give Dad a call. It’s just fantastic.

Fantastic. Brethren, our Heavenly Father and our Lord Jesus are ever with us in times of need. Never forget that. Never doubt that how powerful God is and how ubiquitous is his presence. Let’s have our next reading by Brother Keith Bellhumer.

Reading number four.

He was better to me than all my hopes. He was better than all my fears. He made a bridge of my broken works and a rainbow of my tears. God will work with each one of us in showing his presence and giving to us what we need at that moment. We were talking at supper tonight, and I was relating an experience I had just last week.

And this is another emphasis on Romans 8:28. All things work together. I got an email from our dear sister Margaret Verlajewski. Only it wasn’t meant for me. It was meant to go to another sister, and there was a nice little attachment to it.

About five minutes later she wrote, oh, dear Brother David, I’m so sorry. As you can see, this wasn’t meant for you. I made a mistake. Seems like I’m making a lot more mistakes lately. Well, I wrote her back.

I said, dear Sister Margaret, you and I haven’t communicated in almost a year. It wasn’t a mistake. That action was meant for me, and that attachment was pretty nice, too. That’s the way the Lord works.

He works through our mistakes, even, or what we consider to be our mistakes to be a blessing to the brethren. God is wonderfully faithful in that, even during the times he’s faithful, when we’re not. He loves us so dearly, and those of you that are parents know what tender love you exercise toward your children, and you know the lengths and breadths that you would go to to help them in time of need.

Dear friends, that describes our Heavenly Father. He is building our faith by being there when we need it. Let’s go to our next reading. Reading number five, by Sister Estelle Gill.

If all were easy, if all were bright, where would the cross be? Where would the fight? But in the hard place, God gives to you chances for proving what he can do.

Anyone who has ever participated in sports either young, when you were young, you know that it takes training to be able to develop the skills necessary to play that sport. Brethren, the skills that we need as under priests are being developed in each one of you by the Heavenly Father, and he puts you through a lot of training. Flesh isn’t happy about it sometimes, but it all leads to the same objective. Now, doesn’t that put an interesting slant on our study here of suffering, that God puts us in places to show us what he can do.

And again, thinking back over the testimony meetings that we’ve contemplated through the years and meditated upon the brethren who have found themselves in very unusual and often difficult and tribulative experience, there was God just in time when he was needed. Just consider our testimony meeting from today, our harvest testimony meeting. You can see that the. The Heavenly Father places in our hands tools that we can use to be a blessing to the brethren, to be a blessing to the public. We know that we’re supposed to preach.

That’s part of the. The great privilege that we have as Christians. He opens up opportunities for us sometimes marvelous opportunities. I haven’t heard the background story of Sister Sonia and Brother Eddie other than Brother Mark mentioned, but I’m very interested in finding out how the Lord has been working in their lives leading up to this point in time.

Dwight Moody used to talk about a story of a Christian couple who lost two children in a horrible accident. They were devastated, cut to the heart, and they seemed unable to recapture the joy that they had before. So they decided to go on a little trip just to get away from everyday experiences. They traveled in Europe, and in the midst of their traveling, one day they were observing a shepherd with his sheep, trying to get them to cross a stream.

And the waters were running pretty hard and heavy in those streams. As a result, the sheep were afraid to go across. No matter what the shepherd did, he couldn’t get them to cross. So finally, in exasperation, he picked up two of the little lambs, relatively newborn, small one in each arm, and he walked across the river. The sheep mother, watching what was going on, seeing that her babies were being taken from her, immediately plunged into the stream and crossed it.

That Incented the rest of the flock to go across as well. When the couple saw that, they saw a lesson for themselves. Their two little children, their two little lambs had been taken from them, and yet, just as those as those lambs were in the arms of the shepherd, they remembered that God is a God over all and that their children are in good hands, and with that recognition, they regained their joy.

They regained their faith. Here’s a little saying. When you have nothing left from God, for the first time, you become aware that God is is enough. I thought there was an animated movie some years ago called the Prince of Egypt. It was about Moses.

And they had some music in there. But in one of the lines in the music they sang, when all you’ve got is nothing, there is a lot to go around.

Well, brethren, when we feel like we’ve had nothing, God is sufficient. He zeroes out to nothing. Or maybe I should say he plusses out the than nothing with his own presence. Isn’t that a delightful saying, though? Very often God brings us to an extremity, Most of us tend to be strong willed.

God does not call wimps to the high calling, does He? We always have our own solution to a problem. We always want to fix it, and so at times we employ our own mind, our own ideas. But God wants to show us just how complete we are in.

In Him, and sometimes he dashes our pieces to solution. He breaks our fixes until we have nothing left, and then, as it suggests there, we become educated. We find that God is enough for us.

Dear friends, this is one of the secrets of suffering, the extraordinary way that it connects us with God, and once we are connected with God, we can walk with him and receive mature many blessings. Our next reading will be a poem read by our sister Gail Fraser, reading number seven.

Sometimes I walk in the shadow, sometimes in sunlight clear. But whether in gloom or brightness, the Lord is very near. Sometimes I walk in the valley, sometimes on the mountain’s crest. But whether on low or high land, the Lord is manifest. Sometimes I walk in the desert, sometimes in the waters cold.

But whether by sands or streamlets the water the Lord doth me enfold. Sometimes I walk in green pastures, sometimes on barren land. But whether in peace or danger, the Lord hold fast my hand. Thank you, Sister Gail. It requires faith to discern the presence of the Lord.

But the faith should be in the precious promises. His promise is that he will never leave us or forsake us. The only possibility is us for to leave and to forsake him not the other way around. Let’s go on to our next item about what suffering teaches. Suffering teaches us about sin.

We remember the psalmist who said, before I was afflicted, I went astray. Psalm 119:67 Sometimes the Lord has to afflict us so that we know where we went wrong. The Apostle Paul sounded in on this topic as well. Hebrews chapter 12, verses 9 through Furthermore, we had fathers of our flesh to chasten us, and we gave them reverence.

Shall we not rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live for indeed for a few days they chastened us as seemed good to them but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. All chastening seemeth for the present not to be joyous, but grievous yet afterward it yieldeth peaceable fruit unto them that have been exercised thereby, even the fruit of righteousness. To be sure, suffering due to our own sin is not Christlike suffering. However, even this suffering by the compassions of our Heavenly Father is instructive and corrective in several ways. We learn both the inevitable consequences of sin, but we also learn about the patience of God.

And even more importantly, we learn that we have many weaknesses that merit the covering of Christ, that require that covering.

We need to really need to rely upon him for all of these things, and for those of you who have been sinned against by your brethren or your friends, you learn to be godlike.

Sorry, I hit my keypad here and backed me up.

So we really need to rely upon God for all of these things. For those of you who have been sinned against by your brethren or your friends, you learn to be Godlike in being patient and compassionate with those who sinned against us. Our weaknesses and slips in faith are very frustrating, and yet we’ve all experienced them. We have a desire for full fidelity to the Lord, to be faithful him, to ever be doing his will, and yet you know and I know.

The lesson we learn many times is that we fail frequently. Let’s look at our weaknesses and slips of faith for a moment. We’ll have our next reading by brother Randy Shahan, Reading Number eight.

It is God’s will that I should cast my care on him each day. He also asks me not to cast my confidence away. But oh, how stupidly I act when taken unaware, I cast away my confidence and carry all my care. Randy brethren, does that describe you? It certainly describes me.

The persistence of sin in my body is a constant frustration to me. The Apostle Paul said it too. He said Miserable man I am. He wrote about how the law of sin was a constant frustration and exasperation to him. But, dear friends, this is part of what the battle for Christ is all about.

A part of the battle that we have in our own flesh. Remember our three the world, the flesh, and the devil. This is the battle with our flesh. No matter what we do, no matter how hard we desire it, we cannot get rid of all the vestiges of sin in our flesh. I want to illustrate how fundamental this problem is.

I’m going to show you a picture of someone plagued by inborn sin.

Remember what David wrote. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Dear friends, this has been another source of suffering for us as we watch the suffering of our children. Every innocent baby ever born in the whole history of mankind has had to suffer because of sin, and these young children, they don’t understand why.

There are billions, dear friends, that have died in childhood. Can you imagine in the resurrection, in the millennium, how many children are going to be there? But, dear friends, we’ve been given the truth about sin, about inborn sin, about original sin. We understand the nature of sin suffering, and we understand that it helps to work toward our growth because it allows us to be compassionate, to be compassionate to others who are saddled by the same sin that we are. We should never let our guard down.

We should never accept sin in our life as natural or normal. We need to fight it as an abnormal component in our life. That’s the battle. But God is faithful as we battle it. He tries us.

He allows us to come into diverse experiences, and they’re difficult at times. But if these suffering experiences work toward us, they will draw us closer to him and cut us out more and more from the world. Our next line of poetry, just a short poem, is going to be read by Brother Glenn Prior, reading Number nine.

Our hearts are fastened to the world with strong and various ties. But every trouble cuts a string and urges us to rise. Every trouble cuts a string. One of the purposes of the suffering and trouble in our lives is to make sure that any attachments we have to this world are tenuous and on the verge of breaking. Brother Fry used to give the illustration of a caterpillar.

A caterpillar is a very earthly insect. It’s got a lot of legs, a lot of attachments to the earth. But there comes a time in the life of a caterpillar when it needs something more. It receives, as dear brethren used to say, the upward Impulse, and now that caterpillar wants to get off the ground, to get up high.

And so it would climb and climb and find a leaf somewhere in the air that it would attach itself to and then let go, except for one attachment. All of those legs, those multiple legs, would let go one by one by one by one, until it had no more attachments and just the attachment of the leaf to its chrysalis, and you know what comes out of this chrysalis, don’t you? One of the most beautiful creatures of the air. A butterfly.

Brethren, that butterfly is a picture of us. Our attachments to the world must be cut one by one. The third thing suffering teaches us is about the need and means of character development. It’s a sad situation. If we suffer but do not learn, if we suffer but do not grow in the likeness of Christ, if we suffer but do not get insight into God’s methods, then, dear friends, we’re not meditating upon our experiences.

We may not be praying enough. Our experiences, your experiences, are tailored for each one of you and they should leave you holier and wiser at the end. That’s what God wants from us, by suffering. Every member of the little flock profits from these suffering experiences. Will you and will I be members of that blessed body?

Or will we waste our experiences and lose our crowns? We have to learn things, dear friends, and here’s one thing that we can learn. This is going to be read by Sister dawn chalhou, reading number 10.

I walked a mile with pleasure. She chattered all the way but left me none the wiser for all she had to say. I walked a mile with sorrow and narrow words, said she. But oh, the things I learned from her when sorrow walked with me. Are you learning, dear brethren, from your experiences?

Is your sorrow and suffer teaching you? We all have sorrow in our life. You can’t help look at the tragedy of the human race. Watch a newscast and see the suffering, the death, the destruction, the tragedy we’ve seen on the news recently several cold blooded killings, random, without warning. Think of the families of those dear people that were killed.

What agony they must be undergoing right now. There’s great sorrow there. But as we sorrow, we learn things. If you’ve ever sat down with a brother or sister in sorrow, you know that sometimes silence prevails. There’s a time to speak, a time to be quiet.

And sometimes words are not helpful. Just your presence, just your nearness, just your proximity to someone that is in great agony either. Emotional, physical, mental can be very comforting to them. Sorrow is A teacher, and it’s part of all the forms of suffering. Let us meditate and study them as well.

The next lesson we learn is the importance of a positive attitude and trust in the Lord in the control of your life. All the saints must eventually learn this. We’ll have reading number 11. Our dear brother Fernando, who’s already got the microphone, can read it.

It’s easy enough to be pleasant when life goes along like a song. But the man worthwhile is the man who can smile when everything seems to go wrong. Really? Duane and I were talking at supper about some brethren that can seem to ride sorrow and difficulty and be above it. Our dear brother Tim Armstrong, was one such individual.

You ever see him moaning and groaning and complaining? No. Even in difficult situations, he was on this higher level. He was with the Lord. We can and should substitute the word for man for the saints.

But the saint worthwhile is the saint who can smile when everything goes wrong. You know, there have been many incidences in the life of the saints where things don’t seem to go right, and it seems strange to us. We cannot understand it. At times I’m reminded of our dear brother William Tyndale in producing the English Bible.

You remember those of you that, like history, he was driven from England and went over to Germany, and there he produced an edition of the English translation of the Bible with 2,000 copies. Now, one would think that this is certainly the will of God to get 2,000 copies in the hand of the English people who wanted to read the Bible, and so on the ship, he loaded it into the English Channel and there it went. Do you know what happened?

The ship sank. One doesn’t the Lord want this? The ship sank. How can this be? This seems so contrary to the will of God.

Well, we talk about the heavens being higher than us, higher than the earth, and God’s ways are higher than our ways. We sometimes wonder, why would the Lord permit something like this to go wrong? No doubt you’ve had experiences like that as well. Maybe this effort, or maybe that effort, maybe the preaching and witnessing, the plans just fall apart and you fall flat on your face and you say, lord, why? I would have thought this is something that you wanted.

What’s the lesson? The lesson is patience and trust in him. William Tyndale had to learn that lesson. But he went back, produced another edition, and incidentally, I can’t leave this story without a good ending. Why did the Lord sink it?

Well, it permitted opportunities, and we don’t have a lot of time to go into the details. But the opportunities opened up for him to get many, many more printed. So the Lord had something to do with them, and just deviating from my script here a little bit.

I think maybe one more reason why this was permitted is that Tyndale had to learn patience and reliance upon God. He would have asked the same questions we just asked. Why? And yet when you look at it in hindsight, a year or two later, you look back, oh, I see. It opened up this door.

That’s what we need to do. Dear friend, having this attitude of smiling when everything goes wrong has a name. It’s called Holiness. We need to be holy. We need to make time for holiness in our lives.

So let’s sing another hymn together. This is hymn 247. Take time to be holy. Hymn 2 47. Let’s read this together.

Sa.

His life is shall see.

How important is the training we’re getting now fitting us for that divine body beyond the veil. We need to stop thinking as human beings. We need to holify or sanctify our minds to think as spirit creatures. Brethren, do we have this holy attitude in suffering? Do we joyfully and fully trust our God to direct our steps?

If we’ve given up our wills, the human wills, and replaced it with the divine will, then the Father will give us the Holy Spirit that we need to make that transition. We’re going to have our 12th reading by Sister Marcia Hook.

Disappointment his appointment change one letter and I see that the thwarting of my purpose is God’s better choice for me. Disappointment his appointment Whose the Lord who loves me best, understands and knows me fully. Who my faith and love would test for like loving earthly parents. He rejoices when he knows that his child accepts unquestioned all that from his wisdom flows.

Does your heart quiver a little bit hearing the voice of Sister Marcia?

Those of you that are parents, you know the joy that you had when your son or daughter trusted you implicitly in some matter. Absolute confidence and security in what you would do for them. Do we have such an attitude with our Heavenly Father? Our trust in God’s arranging of our circumstances in our life must be total, without reserve. We must assume that any and every advantage in our life, or any disadvantage that manifests itself, every promotion or every demotion in life, every open door and every closed door, is done by his overruling providence.

In one way, this is a wonderful philosophy. The world talks about a win win situation. I always like win win situations. Brethren, that’s exactly what we have here. Suppose you lose your job Did God miss that?

Did he overlook it? Was he sleeping when that happened? No. The loss of your job was by his providence. That door has closed, and another door will open.

If tragedy strikes, if great joy comes. Each and everything that happens is by the Lord. It may be strange, and we’ve talked about some strange incidents, but we must trust him nevertheless. Our 13th reading will be done by Jerry and Julie Minette.

Why dost thou dim these eyes of mine to help you see? Why bind these images, eager limbs to set you free? Why dull these ears of mine that you may hear, and thus shut out these loving friends to bring them near? Why check these thoughts of mine that you may think and purchase thus these thirsty lips of me to drink? Why break this earthly house of mine to dwell therein and endest thus this throbbing life new to begin.

Jerry and Julie.

It takes a lot of growth for us to come to the point that no matter what the Lord permits in our life, we take it as from him. Even those strange things that seem explicable to human thinking. I’m sure you have found very often that the strangest, most bizarre twists in your consecrated life have proven to be blessings that you could never have anticipated, and they come from directions that you wouldn’t have expected. Sometimes we’re impatient with ourselves.

We think, well, I should be further along. But remember, our Father totally understands us. I love this text in the 103rd Psalm, verses 13 and 14. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame and knoweth we are dust, brethren.

He knows exactly what we need to grow. He knows exactly what we need in every aspect of our Christian life. Trust him. Don’t be impatient with yourselves, except with sin. Allow him to rule your life, to direct your steps, and growth will come.

Growth of our character, which is the whole point of all this suffering. Our next reading will be done by sister Hazel McClellan.

How does the character grow? Not all in a minute. Now it may lose ground. Now it may win it. Now it resolves again the will faileth.

Now it rejoices. Now it bewail it. Now it hopes brings fruit. Now they are blighted. Now it walks suddenly.

Now gross be knighted. Fed by discouragement, taught by disaster. So it goes forward slower and faster, till all the pain past failure is made whole. It is full grown, and the Lord rules the soul.

Have you not found it so in the growth of your character? Sometimes you feel that you have moved on, and other times you feel so miserable because of failure. The God we serve understands that. He knows we’re dust. The point is that we are still moving forward.

Our characters are becoming more and more Christlike every day. Let’s go on to the next thing that suffering teaches us. Suffering is communal. We’ve actually touched on this a little bit this evening, but it’s important to see this clearly on our list. I heard a sad story some years ago.

A dear brother who had been very active in the Lord’s service for decades fell ill and became bedridden. This brother, who always made a sacrifice to visit the sick, suddenly found himself with few visitors. It was a very difficult trial for him and his consecrated spouse. The brethren failed in this case, but we can learn a lesson from it.

James 1:27 oh, I just this touchpad is way too There we go. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father. Is this to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. Brethren, the suffering of the body of Christ is communal. As we saw in the scripture that we read earlier.

When one member suffers, all should suffer with it. We need to keep that in mind. How important it is that we visit our brothers, especially those that cannot get out. We should try very hard not to allow the situation that prevailed in this one brother’s case to exist again. The following poem reminds us not to be too busy to miss attending the needs of others who are suffering.

Brethren, I’m going to play this, and when I first put it together, it moved me very much. You’ll hear the reason why. This poem will be read by Brother Bob Gray.

If I had known your heart was aching so with loneliness and yearning for a friend and known what road alone you had to go, had dreamed what bit of gladness I might lend I would have been the help I meant to be if I had really known you needed me.

Had I but known God led you there that day.

To wait for me.

That I might ease your pain and walk with you a mile along the way until you felt your load grow light again. Then would my blinded eyes be made to see if I had known you counted. Zone me.

It moves all of us emotionally, doesn’t it? Our dear brother Bob Brethren, we would never need to utter these words as the poem describing ourselves. We need so very, very much to realize how much the brethren who are not able to get out and meet with us need you and need me.

Our last entry in the list of sufferings is suffering unto death. We recall in our Studies that the fear of death is one of the traits of the great company. It prevents them from rendering to God what they promised, and for them the issue is to be forced to a culmination. Dear friends, our suffering, the suffering of the little flock is unto death.

Do not let that fear of death take control of you.

See what Jesus saw. He saw the joy set before him. He knew that death was there. He endured the cross. Brethren, we should have that joy as well.

Our last reading for tonight will be read by Sister Bernice Swan. Reading number 16.

Afraid. Afraid of what? To feel the Spirit’s glad release. To pass from pain to perfect peace. The strife and strain of life to cease.

Afraid of that. Afraid. Afraid of what? Afraid to see the Savior’s face, to hear his welcome and to trace the glory gleam from wounds of grace. Afraid.

Afraid of that. Afraid. Afraid of what? To enter into heaven’s rest and yet to serve the Master. Blessed from service good to service best.

Afraid. Afraid of that.

Thank you, Mr. Bernice. Brethren, we conquer fear, fear of suffering and fear of the ultimate suffering unto death with the knowledge that we have of God’s faithfulness to us, and we get that from Scripture. How important it is both before we get into suffering experiences and while we are in suffering experiences to draw close to God through study and prayer. The Bible is such a powerful tool for us to use in those times.

I came across this little poem that I think as Bible students, it could almost be a theme song. We’ve traveled together, my Bible and I through through all kinds of weather with smile and with sigh in sorrow and sunshine in tempests of calm Its friendship unchanging My lamp and my song we traveled together, my Bible and I When life had grown weary and death was nigh but all through the darkness of mist or wrong I found a solace, a prayer and a song. Let’s close our vesper service this evening with hymn Number 105. Satisfied with thy likeness.

Sa.

Now each time is my friend. I am great.

First be wash and where my feet la.

Shall fade and soon in my life.

Brethren, I trust and I hope and I pray that our meditations on suffering would reveal some secrets to each one of us that would enable us to draw closer to the Heavenly Father. May we pray for one another and for all of the body of Christ. May the Lord add his blessing.

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