Oswald Chambers: Hope - A Holy Promise Sample

In a sermon some years ago, Father Frere said, “Have you ever had to do something to a pet dog in order to get it well, something which hurt it very much—pulled a thorn out of its foot, or washed out a wound, or anything of that sort? If so, you will remember the expression of dumb eloquence in the eyes of the dog as he looked at you; what you were doing hurt him tremendously and yet there seemed to speak from his eyes such a trust of you as if he would say, ‘I don’t in the least understand what you are doing, what you are doing hurts, but go on with it.’” That is an apt illustration of suffering “according to the will of God.”

Sometimes we have to look up mutely to God and say, “I don’t understand it at all, but go on with what You are doing.” That marks a real stage of learning to trust in God. Spiritual experience has begun; suffering has already deepened the soul.

Reflection Questions: What is God doing that defies understanding? What do I hope to gain by resisting? What can I hope to gain by trusting?

Quotations taken from Christian Disciplines, © Discovery House Publishers