Texts That Have Helped and Comforted Me

Coleridge’s remark that “the Bible is the only book that always finds me,” has been abundantly verified in the experiences of myriads of Christians. Other cisterns of thought run dry; this divine fountain of all truth is inexhaustible. For every mood of mind, for every perplexity, every emergency, and every trial there is a precious message for us. My dear old mother’s Bible had its margins lined with pencil marks against her favorite and well-tested texts.

There is one text that has helped me wonderfully; it is that not unfamiliar one in the fifty-fifth Psalm; “Cast thy burden upon the Lord.” The Hebrew word translated “burden” signifies that which is given to us to bear. The Psalmist means to say that 6i whatever Providence appoints to us, we must lay it upon the Lord. He has cast thy lot for thee; then cast thy lot upon Him. It may seem at first sight as if there was a contradiction between this text and that other one, “Every man shall bear his own burden.” But there is no contradiction at all. We have our duties to perform, sometimes very difficult duties; God does not release us from them, but He sustains us in doing them. The load laid upon us does not crush us, for He gives us strength equal to our day; we lay the load upon the strength which our loving Father imparts to us. God’s wonderfully gracious offer to us in this text is to lighten our burdens by putting Himself, as it were, into our souls and underneath the burdens. This is a supernatural process; and the whole walk of faith through life is the simple but sublime reliance upon the almighty arm that is never seen but often felt.

This is a world of worries, and all around us are overloaded people; each one thinks his or her burden is the biggest. In the 62 meantime our merciful Father keeps saying to every one of them, ‘’Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sutain thee.” As if this one offer were not enough it is repeated again in the New Testament: ‘’Cast all your anxieties upon Him, for He careth for you.” This is the more accurate rendering in the Revised Version; for the word translated “care” in our Common Version does not signify wise forethought but that wretched thing worry. This text has been delightfully helpful to me because I have a natural tendency to anxieties, and the reason given for rolling them over upon God is very tender and very touching. “He careth for you.” He takes a deep interest in you. He has you on His infinitely loving heart. He is the One who says to me, “My child, don’t break yourself down with that burden.” The infinite Ruler of the Universe, who is Avise in counsel and wonderful in working — the God who guarded the infant Moses in his cradle of rushes; who sent His messenger-birds to Elijah by the brook Cherith; who quieted Daniel among the ravenous 63 lions, and calmed Paul in the raging tempests — He it is who says to us, Roll your anxieties over on me, for I have you on my loving heart! What fools we often are, when we trudge along with bended backs and weary, careworn hearts; and all the while God’s omnipotent arm is stretched out to relieve us.

These twin-texts I have just quoted have more than once exorcised that demon of ‘’worry,” and made me move nimbly over the path of duty. Sometimes in a season of great perplexity a passage of Scripture has suddenly darted its light upon me, and made the pathway very clear to my eyes. A remarkable illustration of this occurred to me during my ministry in New York. My field of labor was a very difficult one, and a very attractive call was put into my hands from a prominent, wealthy, and prosperous church in Chicago. The invitation from that church was pressed upon me for several months most persistently. I became sorely perplexed and sought divine guidance. One day I opened that richly suggestive book, 64 “Cecil’s Remains,” and my eye rested on a passage in which Richard Cecil remarks that changes in life are often dangerous, especially if they appeal to selfish ambition. Then followed this text from the prophet Jeremiah, “Why gaddest thou about to change thy way?” I had never noticed this peculiar passage before, and it decided me in an instant. Never have I ceased to thank God for that little text; but for it I might have missed a distinct call from God to come — soon afterwards — to this city of Brooklyn, in which I have been permitted to do the most important work of my life.

We ministers are constantly required to administer consolations to afflicted souls, and we are often in sore need of heaven-sent comfort ourselves. Once when God had smitten the four corners of my house by the death of a beautiful and beloved daughter, the following text came to me like a dove of peace flying into my window: “And now men see not the bright light which is in the clouds; but the wind passeth and cleanseth (or cleareth) them.” A very dark cloud of 65 bereavement was overhanging me. I needed some revealing wind to clear away the dark and dreadful mystery of that affliction and let some ray of light into my troubled heart. One of the truths that beamed in upon me was that there is a great want in all of Chrits’s ministers who have had no personal education in the bearing of sharp trials. I saw that I needed some lessons that could only be learned through tears, just as Paul needed a thorn in the flesh, and Joseph needed to be shut up in a prison in order that he might reach a palace and a premiership in the kingdom of Egypt. I needed to be taught for myself that dark clouds often rain down precious blessings; that Christ’s people are never so exalted as when they are brought low, never so enriched as when they are emptied, never so advanced as when they are set back by adversities, and never nearer a crown than when they are under a cross.

If affliction drives us from God it becomes

a curse; if it sends us closer to Him it

becomes a priceless blessing. Through the

parted clouds of sorrow, O, how many

66 angels of mercy descended upon me! One of them said to me, ‘’Whom I love I chasten.” Another angel said, ‘’All things work together for good to them that love God.” Another said, “Let not your heart be troubled; believe also in me.” Still another angel voice whispered, “This affliction, which is but for a moment, shall work out a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,” And so, as my vision was cleansed with tears I began to see the bright light breaking through the clouds; and that text has been fraught with precious comfort to me ever since.

I might quote many other passages that have rendered infinite help and consolation; but I close with an incident that happened in my own household very recently. A few weeks ago a beloved member of my family was compelled to undergo a very severe and critical surgical operation in order to save her life. On the morning of the day that the surgeon was to operate, she opened her little book of “Daily Light,” and the text for that day at the top of the page was this: “Thou 67 shalt be steadfast, and shalt not fear; because thou shalt forget thy misery and remember it only as waters that pass away.” Those words came like a voice from heaven; and they were as cheering as they have since proved to be prophetic. Truly God’s book is a wonderful treasure-house of truth for every step in our pathway of life and every emergency that we encounter. Happy is he who makes it a lamp unto his feet, and the song in the house of his pilgrimage.