EVERY DARK CLOUD HAS A SILVER LINING
Written by Haruna M. Sabo AKA Aaron Newman.
Calvary Greetings to all lovers and followers of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
UNIVERSALITY OF SUFFERING
This inspired message is about the blessings that are inherent or hidden in SUFFERING which is the lot of the majority of all citizens of the world today, including the Children of our Almighty God.
Suffering is always unpleasant to the victim, and so there is a tendency in every living creature to avoid its threat. The world has, since the early part of man’s existence on earth been a theatre of evil and suffering.
AVOIDANCE OF SUFFERING
We assure you that much of the suffering in the world today can be avoided if man will form the habit of taking time to think and act constructively in accord with God’s plan for his people.
It is true that suffering, no matter the form or shape it takes, may be purifying and redemptive. It may become the means of a clearer insight concerning conditions as they occur. But the outcome of suffering must depend on how it is accepted, whether there is rebellion against it; whether it is regarded as an experience out of which good may come or that which is wholly evil.
Whatever its form and cause, suffering may be regarded as a part of the lesson each of us must learn in this life before he or she can come into a full understanding of every condition of his path towards the eternal Divine Kingdom which is our destination and hope.
THE APPROPRIATE ATTITUDE TO ADOPT
Fellow Christian, it must be emphasized that if you cannot alter, through prayer and other acts of devotion, the situation in which you have found yourself, it is wiser to accept it, not in a spirit of resignation, which is a passive response, but with that willing cooperation which determines to use it as a means of good. You can then see, in your suffering, the opportunity to gain strength of character and the stimulating experience of triumphing over them.
VICTORY OVER SUFFERING
If the suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ on Earth was a victory, then you may find in the world’s suffering and your own share in it today, a cleansing experience which by God’s help may be transmuted into a means of spiritual renewal and power (2 Corinthians 4:8-12, Hebrews 12:2-3).
So, have faith and courage. Let the light of Christ shine through all your anxieties and complexities and know that through each experience will come a quickening and a renewal of power; and so a great peace will come to each one.
To so many of us, fellow Christians, life suffers from a dreadful doubt about the possibility of escape from irretrievable disaster. In multitudes of thoughtful mind hope lies buried and there only survives a determination to carry on, which tends to become a negation of spiritual values. That which can save mankind from complete collapse of faith and hope is the assurance that out of the worst, comes the best; out of defeat, victory; out of death, life.
PRAY FOR UNDERSTANDING
We ask that you meditate on these words so that complete understanding may come and light may shine forth out of the darkness surrounding each one on earth today.
In your Christian life, you should always bear in mind that the world is governed by Divine Law of Cause and Effect. By this law, you are in exactly the place and in the circumstances whereby you can attain the necessary development needed to prepare you for the life to come. How you respond to the experiences, is what marks the differences between individuals, communities, nations, and continents. This law may be puzzling to persons who are not properly in tune with God. It explains for the inequality we see everywhere we go today. Think and pray earnestly about the puzzle and the Holy Spirit will come to your rescue. Think about the yearning, the quest deep down your mind linked to God radiating as LIGHT guiding you along the path to the Kingdom of Heaven.
LIFE’S CONFLICTING EXPERIENCES
Life is very worthwhile, though hard and bitter it may seem. In consideration of what you are learning and absorbing, it is indeed worthwhile as God’s plan for humanity. Remember that all the experiences and lessons of life are absolutely necessary for your spiritual growth. There can be no slipshod methods in your spiritual march towards the life to come. If you construct an important building, you must have every stone in a perfect condition for the construction of a strong and reliable edifice.
When you operate in line with God’s Laws, you should never look back and feel sorry for yourself because this is a share waste of time. You should simply march on, facing, with courage and equanimity, the task ahead of you.
In many places of worship, it is customary to call God the merciful. What do we call Him when life becomes bitter? Some may be inclined to see Him as a merciless God. Just as you praise and thank God for all the good things of life, you should also do the same for the adverse conditions and unpleasant happenings that must come to each in this life for our own good. All things work for good to them that love the Lord (Romans 8:28).
SUFFERING AS A BLESSING
Most people who ask for Divine blessing usually ask for such blessings relating to material needs or worldly advantages, and they do not recognize that Divine Blessing may come through physical misfortune, sorrows and worldly loss as well as through more agreeable ways. If you think more deeply about all that has happened to you in life, you may see how good sometimes comes out of apparent evil.
When the heart does not open to God to come in, it may, by certain events be broken into to let God in. When a life, with a mission, has lost its way and wanders or falters, the ego may need to suffer as a means of reawakening, because it is only when the rule of the self fails that a more Divine rule takes its place.
The method of attraction, one to another, and also of human development, involves the use of suffering, either physical, mental or spiritual. However the evils and pains of life may be, they have only a passing existence and are aligned to the good and joy of life. Their existence is eventually controlled by the Divine Laws and used for a universal good. How could any Universe come into being without good and evil, light and darkness, joy and sorrow coming with it? (Isaiah 45:7).
LIFE CANNOT BE A BED OF ROSES
If you ask for a painless existence, then you are certainly asking for a joyless one. The ebb and flow between joy and anguish, possession and loss, give to you a sense of values you could not attain in any other way. It is only by experience that the Soul gains the needed balance which helps to form a just estimate of life on Earth, a truer knowledge of its transiency, and in this way will bring you closer to God and the consciousness of spiritual life.
Fellow Christians, remember that the original POWER behind the whole universe is Good in the highest sense (Psalms 86:5, Psalms 107:1). If you look behind the scene of mortal life you will see that the beneficent rule and love of God has never been dethroned.
Pain and sorrow do not represent the whole truth of life on Earth. Pain can be likened to BLISS lost for a while; sorrow is peace obscured for a time; Love will one day bring harmony to the world’s tumult; Light will pour forth into the dark places. There is an Infinite Wisdom in God’s Great Plan which chaos and unrest may hide for a time but which can never be obliterated.
DIVINE RELIEF IN SUFFERING
Sometimes when great suffering comes, physical or mental, it is a source of amazement both to the victims and to those with them, how unexpected stores of strength are developed which give them peace within themselves and an inner security which has been a revelation of character and an experience of God. In many an emergency, in this time of distress upon the Earth, those who have passed through the utmost pain and terror have found at the critical moment a calmness of spirit which has sustained them. And strange as it may seem, such peace has come, not only in the suffering, but by means of it. The very experience of suffering has been the source of strength.
Suffering may, in some cases, embitter, it may lead to loss of faith, hope and courage; for its effect upon the character will depend on the spirit in which it is accepted. If it is seen as an opportunity to learn some of the most valuable lessons or regarded as part of life’s experience which cannot be avoided and therefore accepted without complaint or bitterness, then suffering becomes of great value to the soul.
PEACE IN ANGUISH
Peace is not the absence of struggle, but inner peace is the essential of all creative struggle; and this is true whether a man is seeking to achieve the conquest of self, or the conquest of evil in the outer world. For peace means harmony and integration, and the personality which is achieving this is overcoming the weakness which arises out of disunity; its energies are not dissipated by inward division and strife. What is true for an individual is also true for a nation and for the whole world. The tragedies of the world today might well harden mankind and dry up the springs of compassion and love. But these tragedies may also bring humanity together in a fruitful unity, and reveal, if they do not create, a spirit of kindliness and generosity and mutual service, which will then fulfill the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ.
So, keep in mind, my dear brothers and sisters, that peace may come to you if you understand how to draw upon the fount of your own inner strength, and recognize the value of all life’s lessons no matter how bitter they may be.
We want you, dear friends, to remain completely assured of eventual victory as you look towards the Golden City of God and as you climb the steep mountain with faltering feet, and sometimes you feel that the struggle is useless, that you can never attain the highest peak anyhow. We encourage each of you to be steadfast because the more difficult the way is to overcome, the greater will be the final attainment, sense of fulfilment and reward.
DO NOT BE DESPONDENT
We urge you, soldiers of Christ, never to be discouraged but struggle on ever upwards and the glories of the Golden City will soon dawn before your eyes. And then greater will be your joy in the fact that you have fought the good fight and won the victory over the forces of darkness (2 Timothy 4:7-8).
THE GREAT LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES TODAY
So many today suffer spiritually, mentally and physically, perhaps more than before in the history of the world, because never before have conditions been as they are today, very complex.
Think of the humiliation and suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ culminating in his crucifixion on the Cross. Does its challenging message speak to mankind in the midst of their apparent inability to stem the tide of disaster which seems to be threatening the whole human life? If in the life of Jesus Christ the nature of the Almighty Father is shown forth, then in some way beyond your human comprehension, God shares human’s sorrows as a human father shares the sorrows of his children.
You cannot learn TRUTH from any source other than that which comes to each one in the upliftment of the whole self to God and the consciousness of His Presence in your daily life. Build a house of the spirit, a house of love furnished with kindness, the beam and rafters built of forgiveness always necessary in each human life.
Seek to be truly united in knowledge, love and service with all beings, and then you will realize yourself as you are in the all-pervading God, who is the author and essence of goodness.
May the fullness of God’s blessings be poured over you as you endure and overcome your pains and sorrows on the path of Light on your journey to Eternal Light.