God promises that none of our pains is meaningless and that not one of our sorrows is purposeless. Rather, he works through them all to carry out his will and sanctify his people. This brief reflection from an old author has often comforted me in times of grief. It does not mean to tell why God takes those we love, but it does mean to remind us of what he accomplishes within us through our losses.
As the great Friend of children stooped down and leaned toward the cradle, and took the little one in his arms and walked away with it into the bower of eternal summer, your eye began to follow him, and you followed the treasure he carried, and you have been following them ever since. And instead of thinking of heaven only once a week, as formerly, you are thinking of it all the time, and you are more pure and tender-hearted than you used to be, and you are patiently waiting for the daybreak.
It is not self-righteousness in you to acknowledge that you are a better man than you used to be—that you are a better woman than you used to be. What was it that brought you the sanctifying blessing? Oh, it was the dark shadow on the nursery; it was the dark shadow on the short grave; it was the dark shadow on your broken heart; it was the brooding of a great black trouble.
This is an excerpt of a sermon found within the works of De Witt Talmage.
