Comfort for Christians

A. W. Pink was a pastor, itinerate Bible teacher, and author of many books.  The following is an insightful reminder from his book Comfort for Christians:

"How frequently God's saints see only Satan as the cause of their troubles.  They regard the great enemy as responsible for much of their sufferings.  But there is no comfort for the heart in this.  We do not deny that the devil does bring about much that harasses us.  But above Satan is the Lord Almighty!  The devil cannot touch a hair of our heads without God's permission, and when he is allowed to disturb and distract us, even then it is only God using him to 'try' us.  Let us learn then, to look beyond all secondary causes and instruments to that One Who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will (Eph. 1:11).  This is what Job did.

"In the opening chapter of the book that bear's [Job's] name, we find Satan obtaining permission to afflict God's servant.  He used the Sabeans to destroy Job's herds (Job 1:15); he sent the Chaldeans to slay his servants (1:17); he caused a great wind to kill his children (1:19).  And what was Job's response?  This:  he exclaimed, 'The LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD' (1:21).  Job looked beyond the human agents, beyond Satan who employed them, to the Lord Who controlleth all.  He realized that it was the Lord trying him.  We get the same thing in the New Testament.  To the suffering saints at Smyrna John wrote, 'Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer; behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried' (Rev. 2:10).  Their being cast into prison was simply God 'trying' them.

"How much we lose by forgetting this!  What a stay for the trouble-tossed heart to know that no matter what form the testing may take, no matter the agent that annoys, it is God Who is 'trying' His children.  What a perfect example the Savior sets us!  When He was approached in the garden, and Peter drew his sword and cut off the ear of Malchus, the Savior said, 'The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?' (Joh. 18:11).  Men were about to vent their awful rage upon Him, the serpent would bruise His heel, but He looks above and beyond them.  Dear reader, no matter how bitter its contents (infinitely less than that which the Savior drained), let us accept the cup as from the Father's hand."

And another thing to remember is that God does none of this unless it is necessary, not only for our own sakes, but for the sake of others.