Oh! what a pillow on which to rest your aching head!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

(John MacDuff)

"If need be!" 1 Peter 1:6

Three gracious words!

Not one of all my tears has been shed for nothing! Not one stroke of the rod has been unneeded--or might have been spared! Your heavenly Father loves you too much, and too tenderly--to bestow harsher correction than your case requires!

Is it loss of health--or loss of wealth--or loss of beloved friends? Be still! there was a needs be! We are no competent judges of what that "needs be" is; often through aching hearts we are forced to exclaim, "Your judgments are a great mystery!" But God here pledges Himself, that there will not be one unnecessary thorn in the believer's crown of suffering. No burden too heavy will be laid on him; and no sacrifice too great will be exacted from him. God will "temper the wind--to the shorn lamb."

Whenever the "need be" has accomplished its end--then the rod is removed, the chastisement suspended, and the furnace quenched!

"If need be!" Oh! what a pillow on which to rest your aching head--that there is not one drop in all your bitter cup--but what a God of love saw to be absolutely necessary!

Do not too curiously be prying into the "WHY it is?" or "HOW it is?" But be satisfied that "SO it is," and, therefore, that all must be well!

Trust His loving heart--even though you cannot trace His mysterious hand!