www.bymonline.org | SEPTEMBER 2018
utterly denied creature consolation, and then it sees
that in Jesus there is a sufficiency for all its needs. It
takes a degree of mortification almost inexpressible
to get the soul where it seeks its happiness only from
God. The infinite love and compassion of Jesus
stretches out before the soul into an ever-widening
ocean, in proportion to the felt need of the soul. were passing through the identical trials and
temptations and repentance which are now taking
place in human souls, and could they but speak to us,
they could give us such transcript of their lives as
would, in many cases, exactly fit us.
The most marvelous promises in the Bible are
offered to souls who have wandered from God, if
they will return. The Lord says He is “married” to
the backslider; and represents Himself as bending
with a mourning heart over souls that have
wandered into sin, by saying: “How shall I give thee
up, Ephraim?” (Hos 11:8; also read Jeremiah 3:11-
15). Another remedy is to cultivate a feeling of
constant sorrow for sin. There are two kinds of
sorrow for sin; one worketh death, the other life.
After the elements of guilt and depravity and
remorse have been entirely purged away, there
should be a deep tenderness of pervading,
thoughtful sorrow for sin. Paul had this constant
sorrow for having persecuted the saints. It did not in
the least weigh him down, but put wings to his
devotion.
“Return unto the Lord thy God; for thou hast
fallen by thine iniquity…I will heal their
backsliding, I will love them freely…I will be as the
dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily…His
branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the
olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon” (Hos 14:1-6).
The soul must fix its gaze for deliverance and
restoration and comfort alone on Jesus, the Son of
God! It may receive much consolation,
encouragement, and help from the church and loved
ones and the saints; but it should not expect
anything, except from God. This is the surest and
shortest road to solid comfort.
Resist Discouragement
Another remedy is a fixed determination never
to yield to discouragement. However huge the trial,
however cloudy the sky, the soul must settle it that
all discouragement is from the devil, and is always
injurious.
The psalmist says: “Why art thou cast down, O
my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me?
hope in God: for I shall yet praise Him” (Ps 43:5).
Sorrow for Sin
And although Jesus knew no sin in Himself,
yet in taking upon Himself the sin of the world, He
spent His life in a continual sorrow for sin. It lay
upon His heart as an afflicted child lies upon its
mother's breast. It was in Him as a life-long, quiet,
supernatural fountain of love, and this same sorrow
in us is our safeguard from wanderings.
Sorrow for sin as a fixed fact in the soul is the
only parallel in our lives for the constant sorrow that
Jesus had for the world. It consists in a growing
hatred of sin, and a growing sensitiveness of the
conscience as to what sin is. As we gaze upon the
refulgent glory of God, it strengthens our vision to
more clearly detect what is imperfect and unworthy.
Abiding sorrow for sin will give no resting
place for the self-life to put its foot. We grow in a
divine sadness, but with such humility and faith that
it does not allow of disquietude. True sorrow for sin
as a fixed grace in the soul is affectionate more than
self-criminating. It is a quiet fountain of tenderness,
which inclines to pra yer; and though it is a sorrow, it
is at the same time a supernatural sweetness.
Discouragement is the very opposite of
presumption. If Satan has tempted the soul in
presumption, he then opens the artillery of
discouragement, and thus attacks the soul, not only
to make it sin, but with the counter piece to keep it in
sin.
In every emergency in Christian conflict,
hopefulness is the open door to victory. Millions of
saints in heaven can very well remember when they
PAGE 3