Have
you ever attended an inspiring seminar on the family and as you left
for home you felt as if you were lifted to a higher spiritual plane?
You floated home determined that you were going to be different and
that your family life was going to be an oasis of peace and
tranquillity. It would be heaven on earth. But within the first half
hour on arriving home the children are fighting and knock over a
favorite lamp which causes you to lose your patience and raise your
voice. You come to the conclusion that if your spouse, children or your
daily circumstances were different then your family would be able to
reach that wonderful ideal that was just presented to you at the
seminar and your family would be holier.

This is not an uncommon
dream. One thing that I have noticed, though, in the old writings is
that they did not separate the spiritual from the secular the way our
generation does. For instance, it would have been thought irreverent to
put scripture on a math book to make it holy. The application of math
became a holy duty when done neatly, accurately and for the glory of
God. Duty was given a much higher standing that it does today. It was
taught that one of the first principles of holiness was to trust that
our days were given to us in exact portion from the hand of the Lord.
That our Lord has placed us here,in this home with this husband and
these children, and here will we glorify him in our daily duties.

Resting
in the sovereignty of God as our day unfolds is truly a rare grace
called ‘contentment.’ We all know the scripture where Paul says that he
had ‘learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content’
Phil.4:11. This scripture is most commonly used when teaching on money,
or the lack thereof. Think on that scripture for a moment, in light of
our topic. If Paul’s circumstances provided him money, in that he was
content. If his circumstances lacked money, he still was content. He
trusted the hand of God in his life. It was something he had to learn,
not something that came naturally.

When our souls have learned
their lessons in contentment, taking pleasure in God’s disposal of what
He sends our way, our eyes will look upward and not at the instrument
or the means by which it comes. The crosses of the present moment
always bring their own special grace and consequent comfort with them;
we see the hand of God in them when it is laid upon us.

There
are so many temptations each day to grumble and complain against the
hand of God. We do not see God’s sovereignty in the child who will not
cease from his crying. Our nerves are spent, we are tired and we feel
anger rising up against this child as he refuses to fit into our plan
for the day. Look up, tired maiden of the Lord, can you see His hand?
Can you see that He is ultimately sovereign, that He is God and no
power of circumstance is above or out of His ultimate control? He has
foreordained that whatsoever comes to pass He will work for our good
and His glory. (Eph 1:11,Romans 8:28). Can you see His hand in the
never-ending piles of laundry? The unending ‘WHY’ questions from your 2
and 3 year olds? Do you see the cross being worked in your life as you
submit to these duties out of obedience? Can you see the fruit of
self-control being manifested from the life of Christ within you as you
die to your own selfish desires to have an easy life that goes just as
YOU planned? There is patience being learned and displayed as you look
upward towards the Lord of your days, as your child spills his drink
for the third time in 10 minutes? There are lessons to be learned,
minute by minute, hour by hour in each and every trial.

An old
puritan saying is that ‘trials do not make us what we are but that they
expose who we really are.’ God tested the Israelites that they might
see what was in their hearts.

Every inconvenience and
affliction of our days will be used for our good in changing us into
the image of Christ if we constantly remember that the Lord’s loving
eyes are upon us and that He only has our good in mind. Offer
everything up to Him. Turn to Him, trusting that He has ordered your
day and that in His wisdom He knows the exact portion to serve you.
(Psalm 16:5)

Georgene

Copyright 1998. Georgene Girouard. You may reproduce this article in it’s entirety.

“And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount
Sion.”
— Revelation
14:1

The apostle John was privileged to look within the gates of
heaven, and in describing what he saw, he begins by saying, “I looked, and, lo,
a Lamb!” This teaches us that the chief object of contemplation in the heavenly
state is “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world.” Nothing
else attracted the apostle’s attention so much as the person of that Divine
Being, who hath redeemed us by His blood. He is the theme of the songs of all
glorified spirits and holy angels. Christian, here is joy for thee; thou hast
looked, and thou hast seen the Lamb. Through thy tears thine eyes have seen the
Lamb of God taking away thy sins. Rejoice, then. In a little while, when thine
eyes shall have been wiped from tears, thou wilt see the same Lamb exalted
on His throne. It is the joy of thy heart to hold daily fellowship with
Jesus; thou shalt have the same joy to a higher degree in heaven; thou shalt
enjoy the constant vision of His presence; thou shalt dwell with Him for ever.
“I looked, and, lo, a Lamb!” Why, that Lamb is heaven itself; for as good
Rutherford says, “Heaven and Christ are the same thing;” to be with Christ is to
be in heaven, and to be in heaven is to be with Christ. That prisoner of the
Lord very sweetly writes in one of his glowing letters—”O my Lord Jesus Christ,
if I could be in heaven without thee, it would be a hell; and if I could be in
hell, and have thee still, it would be a heaven to me, for thou art all the
heaven I want.” It is true, is it not, Christian? Does not thy soul say so?

“Not all the harps above
Can make a heavenly place,
If
God His residence remove,
Or but conceal His face.”

All thou needest to make thee blessed, supremely blessed, is “to
be with Christ.”

Charles Spurgeon