“Mingling Toil with Peace and Rest”
It’s cancer.
We’re going to have to let you go.
There’s nothing more we can do.
We lost her.
I just don’t love you anymore.
When these statements are made, time stands still and everything becomes a haze. And often, if you are normal, the next question in your mind (or even out of your mouth) is Why, God?
In one of my favorite songs, we sing the answer. Carolina Sandell Berg wrote “Day by Day,” in which she placed this wonderful insight:
He whose heart is kind beyond all measure
Gives unto each day what He deems best
Lovingly, its part of pain or pleasure,
Mingling toil with peace and rest.
Did you notice the word “lovingly?”
Did God cause the cancer? the divorce? the death?
No! But will God allow us to go through trials in our lives? Absolutely, and He will do so for many and varied reasons. And, if we are honest, we may not see those reasons for a long, long time.
When that news comes that shakes your world to its core, it is perfectly normal and fine to wonder aloud. It is fine to question, so long as we remember that God allows trials in our lives.
Why? Here are five quick reasons that I hope will give you encouragement.
1. To refine us. “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, as was necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith–more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire–may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:6-7).
2. To chasten us. “It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? … For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:7, 12:11)
3. To walk with us. “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me. Your rod and Your staff comfort me” (Psalm 23:4).
4. To give us a way to help others. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).
5. To cause us to desire heaven. “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there by mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4).
May we praise God in the midst of trials, since He is able, through His providence, to “mingle toil with peace and rest.” And may we praise Him that we can go to a place where there will be no more toil, but only peace and rest!
And that is exactly what Carolina Sandell Berg wrote in the entirety of her hymn. Here is the entire first verse:
Day by day and with each passing moment,
Strength I find to meet my trials here;
Trusting in my Father’s wise bestowment,
I’ve no cause for worry or for fear.
He whose heart is kind beyond all measure
Gives unto each day what He deems best
Lovingly, its part of pain and pleasure,
Mingling toil with peace and rest.
QUESTION: Where have you seen God using trials to help you in your faith? Share your story in the comments.
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Photo credit: Ishan Manjrekar on Creative Commons
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