Sunshine with Rain

“j ma7iy times the su7i sJtijicth when the ramfalleth, so there may be in the soul a mixture of spiritual rejoicing a?id holy moumingj a deep sense of Gods love, and yet a ?nourm?ig because of the relics of corruption All spiritual persons understand this. The inexperienced ask how a man can be “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.” But this is no puzzle to a Christian. Our life is a paradox. Never in the world elsewhere is there such sunshine of delight as we enjoy, and never such rain as that which damps our joys. It seems at times as if heaven and hell met in our experience. Ours is a joy unspeakable, and yet an agony unutterable. We rise to the heavenlies in Christ, and sink to the abyss in ourselves. Those who have seen fire burning on the sea, trees living and flourishing upon a rock, feathers flying against the wind, and doves vanquishing eagles, have begun to see a list of marvels, all of which are to be found within the believer, and much more of equal or greater singularity.

Lord, when my own experience puzzles me, let me be comforted by the thought that it does not puzzle thee. What I know not now thou hast promised to make me know hereafter; and there I leave it.