[Songs in the Night - February 17]
Your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. John 16:22
WHAT are our joys which no man taketh from us,
and which persecution and affliction and trouble can
only deepen and widen and make more sweet?
What
joy is this?
This joy is a foretaste of the blessings
to come, an earnest of our inheritance.
It is inspired
by confidence that he is both able and willing to perfect
the work which he has begun and which we desire
shall be perfected in his own best way; confident
that so long as we are firmly holding to his gracious
promises with the arms of our faith, he will not permit
us to be separated from him.
Who shall separate
us from the love of God in Christ?
Shall tribulation
and persecution?
Our confidence is that no one is able
to pluck us out of the Father's hand (John 10:29), and
that "the Father himself loveth" us, and will not turn
us away so long as we desire to abide obediently in
his love.
Yea, we are confident that all things are
working together for good to those who love God; confident
that he who is for us is more powerful than all
who can be against us.
Such confidence is sure to
bring joy beyond the world's comprehension and a
peace of God that passeth all understanding, which
keeps the heart. Z'97-305 R2232:1 (Hymn 226)