“Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.”
Psalm 30:5b
Today we think again on John Newton’s “Amazing Grace” hymn and the line, “Grace my fears relieved”:
“The Lord’s appointments to those who fear Him are not only sovereign, but wise and gracious. He has connected their good with His own glory and is engaged … to make all things work together for their advantage. He chooses for His people better than they could choose for themselves. If they are in heaviness, there is a need-be for it, and He withholds nothing from them but what … it is better they should be without.
“Furnished with these principles, we are at no loss to suggest motives of patience and consolation to our afflicted brethren. We can assure them … that if they are partakers of the promises, their concerns are in safe hands; that the things which now are … grievous shall in due season yield the peaceable fruits of righteousness. … We can prove … from the history of Joseph, David, Job, and other[s] recorded in Scripture that, notwithstanding any present dark appearances, it shall certainly be well with the righteous.”
“The Lord’s appointments to those who fear Him are not only sovereign, but wise and gracious. He has connected their good with His own glory and is engaged … to make all things work together for their advantage. He chooses for His people better than they could choose for themselves. If they are in heaviness, there is a need-be for it, and He withholds nothing from them but what … it is better they should be without.
“Furnished with these principles, we are at no loss to suggest motives of patience and consolation to our afflicted brethren. We can assure them … that if they are partakers of the promises, their concerns are in safe hands; that the things which now are … grievous shall in due season yield the peaceable fruits of righteousness. … We can prove … from the history of Joseph, David, Job, and other[s] recorded in Scripture that, notwithstanding any present dark appearances, it shall certainly be well with the righteous.”
Scripture Focus
Psalm 62
Insight
“God … often produces the greatest good from those events which we are apt to look upon as evil.” (John Newton, 1725-1807)
Bible In A Year
- Isaiah 9-10
- Psalm 76
- John 17
