Thomas Watson · 19 of 36

The Third Petition in the Lord’s Prayer · Part 3

Use 2. For exhortation. Let us be exhorted, whatever troubles God exercises us with, aequo animo ferre [to bear with a calm mind], to resign up our wills to him, and say, ‘Thy will be done.’ Which is fittest, that God should bring his will to ours, or we bring our wills to his? Say as Eli, ‘It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good;’ and as David, ‘Behold, here am I; let him do to me as seemeth good unto him.’ 1 Sam 3: 18. 2 Samuel 15: 26. It was the saying of Harpulas, Placet mihi quod Regi placet, ‘That pleases me which pleases the king;’ so should we say, that which pleases God pleases us. ‘Thy will be done.’ Some have not yet learned this art of submission to God; and truly he who wants patience in affliction is like a soldier in battle who wants armour.

When do we not submit to God ’s will in affliction as we ought?

(1) When we have hard thoughts of him, and our hearts begin to swell against hum.

(2) When we are so troubled at our present affliction that we are unfit for duty. We can mourn as doves, but not pray or praise God. We are so discomposed that we are not fit to hearken to any good counsel. ‘They hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit.’ Exod 6: 9. Israel was so full of grief under their burdens, that they minded not what Moses said, though he came with a message from God to them; ‘They hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit.’

(3) We do not submit as we ought to God’s will when we labour to break loose from affliction by indirect means. Many, to rid themselves out of trouble, run themselves into sin. When God has bound them with the cords of affliction, they go to the devil to loosen their bands. Better it is to stay in affliction than to sin ourselves out of it. O let us learn to stoop to God’s will in all afflictive providence.

But how shall we bring ourselves, in all occurrences of providence, patiently to acquiesce in God’s will, and say, ‘Thy will be done’?

The means for a quiet resignation to God’s will in affliction are:

[1] Judicious consideration. ‘In the day of adversity consider.’ Eccl 7: 14. When any thing burdens us, or runs cross to our desires, did we but sit down and consider, and weigh things in the balance of judgement, it would much quiet our minds, and subject our wills to God. Consideration would be as David’s harp, to charm down the evil spirit of frowardness and discontent.

But what should we consider?

That which should make us submit to God in affliction, and say, ‘Thy will be done,’ is:

(1) To consider that the present state of life is subject to afflictions, as a seaman’s life is subject to storms; ferre quam sortem omnes patiuntur nemo recusat [no one escapes bearing the lot which all suffer]. ‘Man is born unto trouble;’ he is heir apparent to it; he comes into the world with a cry, and goes out with a groan. Job 5: 7. Ea lege nati sumus [On that condition are we born]. The world is a place where much wormwood grows. ‘He has filled me with bitterness (Heb with bitternesses); he has made me drunken with wormwood.’ Lam 3: 15. Troubles arise like sparks out of a furnace. Afflictions are some of the thorns which the earth after the curse brings forth. We may as well think to stop the chariot of the sun when it is in its swift motion, as put a stop to trouble. The consideration of a life exposed to eclipses and sufferings should make us say with patience, ‘Thy will be done.’ Shall a mariner be angry that he meets with a storm at sea?

(2) Consider that God has a special hand in the disposal of all occurrences. Job eyed God in his affliction. ‘The Lord has taken away;’ chap 1: 21. He did not complain of the Sabeans, or the influences of the planets; he looked beyond all second causes; he saw God in the affliction, and that made him cheerfully submit; he said, ‘Blessed be the name of the Lord.’ Christ looked beyond Judas and Pilate to God’s determinate counsel in delivering him up to be crucified, which made him say, ‘Father, not as I will, but as thou wilt.’ Acts 4: 27, 28, Matt 26: 39. It is vain to quarrel with instruments: wicked men are but a rod in God’s hand. ‘O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger.’ Isa 10: 5. Whoever brings an affliction, God sends it. The consideration of this should make us say, ‘Thy will be done;’ for what God does he sees a reason for. We read of a wheel within a wheel. Ezek 1: 16. The outward wheel, which turns all, is providence; the wheel within this wheel is God’s decree; this believed, would rock the heart quiet. Shall we mutiny at that which God does? We may as well quarrel with the works of creation as with the works of providence.

(3) Consider that there is a necessity for affliction. ‘If need be, ye are in heaviness.’ 1 Pet 1: 6. It is needful some things be kept in brine. Afflictions are needful upon several accounts.

[1] To keep us humble. Often there is no other way to have the heart low but by being brought low. When Manasseh ‘was in affliction, he humbled himself greatly.’ 2 Chron 33: 12. Corrections are corrosives to eat out the proud flesh. ‘Remembering my misery, the wormwood and the gall, my soul is humbled in me.’ Lam 3: 19, 20.

[2] It is necessary that there should be affliction; for if God did not sometimes bring us into affliction, how could his power be seen in bringing us out? Had not Israel been in the Egyptian furnace, God had lost his glory in their deliverance.

[3] If there were no affliction, then many parts of Scripture could not be fulfilled. God has promised to help us to bear affliction. Psa 37: 24, 39. How could we experience his supporting us in trouble, if we did not sometimes meet with it? God has promised to give us joy in affliction. John 16: 20. How could we taste this honey of joy if we were not sometimes in affliction? Again, he has promised to wipe away tears from our eyes. Isa 25: 8. How could he wipe away our tears in heaven if we never shed any? So that, in several respects, there is an absolute necessity that we should meet with affliction; and shall not we quietly submit, and say, ‘Lord, I see there is a necessity for it?’ ‘Thy will be done!’

(4) Consider that whatever we feel is what we have brought upon ourselves; we have put a rod into God’s hand to chastise us. Christian, God lays thy cross on thee; but it is of thy own making. If a man’s field be full of tares, it is what he has sown in it: if thou reapest a bitter crop of affliction, it is what thou thyself hast sown. The cords that pinch thee are of thy own twisting; meme adsum qui feci [it is myself here who made them]. If children will eat green fruit, they may thank themselves if they are sick; and if we eat the forbidden fruit, no wonder we feel it gripe. Sin is the Trojan horse that lands an army of afflictions upon us. ‘A voice publisheth affliction:’ ‘Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee; this is thy wickedness.’ ,Jer 4: 15, 18. If we by sin run ourselves into arrears with God, no wonder if he set affliction as a sergeant on our back to arrest us. This should make us patiently submit to God in affliction, and say, ‘Thy will be done.’ We have no cause to complain of God; it is nothing but what our sins have merited. ‘Hast not thou procured this unto thyself?’ Jer 2: 17. The cross, though it be of God’s laying, is of our making. Say, then, as Micah (chap 7: 9), ‘I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him.’

(5) Consider that God is about to prove and try us. ‘Thou, O God, hast tried us as silver is tried, thou laidst affliction upon our loins.’ Psa 66: 10, 11. If there were no affliction, how could God have an opportunity to try men? Hypocrites can serve in a pleasure boat: they can serve God in prosperity; but when we can keep close to him in times of danger, when we can trust him in darkness, and love him when we have no smile, and say, ‘Thy will be done,’ that is the trial of sincerity! God is only trying us; and what hurt is there in that? What is gold the worse for being tried?

(6) Consider that in all our crosses God has kindness for us. As there was no night so dark but Israel had a pillar of fire to give light, so there is no condition so cloudy but we may see that which gives light of comfort. David could sing of mercy and judgement. Psa 101: 1. It should make our wills cheerfully submit to God’s, to consider that in every path of providence we may see a footstep of kindness.

There is kindness in affliction when God seems most unkind.

[1] There is kindness in that there is love in it. God’s rod and his love may stand together. ‘Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth.’ Heb 12: 6. As when Abraham lifted up his hand to sacrifice, Isaac loved him; so when God afflicts his people, and seems to sacrifice their outward comforts, he loves them. The husband man loves his vine when he cuts it and makes it bleed; and shall not we submit to God? Shall we quarrel with that which has kindness in it, which comes in love? The surgeon binds the patient, and lances him, but no wise man will quarrel with him, because it is in order to a cure.

[2] There is kindness in affliction, in that God deals with us as children. ‘If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons.’ Heb 12: 7. God has one Son without sin, but no son without stripes. Affliction is a badge of adoption; it is Dei sigillum, says Tertullian, it is God’s seal by which he marks us for his own. When Munster, that holy man, lay sick, his friends asked him how he did? He pointed to his sores, saying, Hae sunt gemmae Dei, these are the jewels with which God decks his children. Shall not we then say, ‘Thy will be done’? Lord, there is kindness in the cross, thou uses us as children. The rod of discipline is to fit us for the inheritance.

[3] In kindness God in all our afflictions has left us a promise; so that in the most cloudy providence the promise appears as the rainbow in the cloud. Then we have God’s promise to be with us. ‘I will be with him in trouble.’ Psa 91: 15. It cannot be ill with that man with whom God is; I will be with him, to support, sanctify, and sweeten every affliction. I had rather be in prison and have God’s presence, than be in a palace without it.

We have the promise that he will not lay more upon us than he will enable us to bear. 1 Cor 10: 13. He will not try us beyond our strength; either he will make the yoke lighter, or our faith stronger. Should not this make us submit our wills to his, when afflictions have so much kindness in them? In all our trials he has left us promises, which are like manna in the wilderness.

[4] It is great kindness that all troubles that befall us shall be for our profit. ‘He for our profit.’ Heb 12: 10.

What profit is in affliction?

Afflictions are disciplinary, they teach us. They are, Schola crucis, Schola lucis [the school of the cross, the school of light]. Many psalms have the inscription, Maschil, a psalm giving instruction; so affliction has the inscription Maschil upon it, an affliction giving instruction. ‘Hear ye the rod.’ Micah 6: 9. Luther says he could never rightly understand some of the psalms till he was in affliction. Gideon ‘took thorns of the wilderness, and briers, and with them he taught the men of Succoth.’ Judges 8: 16. God by the thorns and briers of affliction teaches us.

Affliction shows us more of our own hearts. Water in a glass vial looks clear; but set it on the fire, and the scum boils up; so when God sets us upon the fire, corruption boils up which we did not discern before. Sharp afflictions are to the soul as a soaking rain to the houses; we know not that there are holes in the house till the shower comes, but then we see it drop down here and there; so we do not know what unfortified lusts are in the soul till the storm of affliction comes; then we find unbelief, impatience, carnal fear, dropping down in many places. Affliction is a sacred collyrium [eye-salve], it clears our eye-sight: the rod gives wisdom.

Affliction brings those sins to remembrance which we had buried in the grave of forgetfulness. Joseph’s brethren, for twenty years together, were not at all troubled for their sin in selling their brother; but when they came into Egypt, and began to be in straits, their sin came to their remembrance, and their hearts smote them. ‘They said one to another, we are verily guilty concerning our brother. ’ Gen 42: 21. When a man is in distress his sin comes fresh into his mind; conscience makes a rehearsal-sermon of all the evils which have passed in his life; his expense of precious time, his Sabbath-breaking, his slighting of the word, come to remembrance, and he goes out with Peter and weeps bitterly. Thus the rod gives wisdom, shows the hidden evil of the heart, and brings former sins to remembrance.

There is profit in affliction, as it quickens the spirit of prayer; premuntur justi ut pressi clament [the righteous are afflicted that in their affliction they may pray]. Jonah was asleep in the ship, but at prayer in the whale’s belly. Perhaps in a time of health and prosperity we prayed in a cold and formal manner, we put no coals to the incense, we scarcely minded our own prayers, and how should God mind them? God sends some cross or other to make us stir up ourselves to take hold of him. When Jacob was in fear of his life by his brother, he wrestled with God, and wept in prayer, and would not leave him till he blessed him. Hos 12: 4. It is with many of God’s children as with those who formerly had the sweating sickness in this land, it was a sleepy disease, if they slept they died; therefore, to keep them waking, they were smitten with rosemary branches; so the Lord uses affliction as a rosemary branch to keep us from sleeping, and to awaken a spirit of prayer. ‘They poured out a prayer, when thy chastening was upon them;’ now their prayer pierced the heavens. Isa 26: 16. In times of trouble we pray feelingly, and we never pray so fervently as when we pray feelingly; and is not this for our profit?

Affliction is for our profit, as it is a means to purge out our sins. ‘By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged.’ Isa 27: 9. Affliction is God’s physic to expel the noxious humour, it cures the imposthume of pride, the fever of lust; and is not this for our profit? Affliction is God’s file to fetch off our rust, his flail to thresh off our husks. The water of affliction is not to drown us, but to wash off our spots.

To be under the black rod is profitable, in that hereby we grow more serious, and are more careful to clear our evidences for heaven. In times of prosperity, when the rock poured out rivers of oil, we were careless in getting, at least clearing, our title to glory. Job 29: 6. Had many no better evidences for their land than they have for their salvation, they were in an ill case; but when an hour of trouble comes, we begin to look after our spiritual evidences, and see how things stand between God and our souls; and is it not for our profit to see our interest in Christ more clear than ever?

Affliction is for our profit, as it is a means to take us more off from the world. The world often proves not only a spider’s web, but a cockatrice egg. Pernicious worldly things are great enchantments, they are retinacula spei [the tether of hope]. Tertullian. They hinder us in our passage to heaven. If a clock be overwound, it stands still; so, when the heart is wound up too much to the world, it stands still to heavenly things. Affliction sounds a retreat to call us off the immoderate pursuit of earthly things. When things are frozen and congealed together, the only way to separate them is by fire; so, when the heart and the world are congealed together, God has no better way to separate them than by the fire of affliction.

Affliction is for our profit, as it is a refiner. It works us up to further degrees of sanctity. ‘He for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.’ Heb 12: 10. The vessels of mercy are the brighter for scouring. As you pour water on your linen when you would whiten it, so God pours the waters of affliction upon us to whiten our souls. The leaves of the fig-tree and root are bitter, but the fruit is sweet; so afflictions are in themselves bitter, but they bring forth the sweet fruits of righteousness. Heb 12: 11. This should make us submit to God and say, ‘Thy will be done.’

[5] There is kindness in affliction, in that there is no condition so bad but it might be worse. When it is dusk, it might be darker. God does not make our cross so heavy as he might: he does not stir up all his anger. Psa 78: 38. He does not put so many nails in our yoke, so much wormwood in our cup, as he night. Does God chastise thy body? He might torture thy conscience. Does he cut thee short? He might cut thee off. The Lord might make our chains heavier. Is it a burning fever? It might have been the burning lake. Does God use the pruning knife to lop thee? He might bring his axe to hew thee down. ‘The waters were up to the ankles.’ Do the waters of affliction come up to the ankles? God might make them rise higher; nay, he might drown thee in the waters. God uses the rod when he might use the scorpion.

[6] There is kindness in affliction, in that your case is not so bad as others, who are always upon the rack, and spend their years with sighing. Psa 31: 10. Have you a gentle fit of the ague? Others cry out of the stone and strangulation. Do you bear the wrath of men? Others bear the wrath of God. You have but a single trial: others have them twisted together. God shoots but one arrow at you, he shoots a shower of arrows at others. Is there not kindness in all this? We are apt to say, never any suffered as we! Was it not worse with Lazarus, who was so full of sores that the dogs took pity on him, and licked his sores? Nay, was it not worse with Christ, who lived poor and died cursed? May not this cause us to say, ‘Thy will be done’? It is in kindness that God deals not so severely with us as with others.

[7] There is kindness in affliction, in that, if we belong to God, it is all the hell we shall have. Some have two hells: they suffer in their body and conscience, which is one hell, and another hell to come is unquenchable fire. Judas had two hells, but a child of God has but one. Lazarus had all his hell here; he was full of sores, but had a convoy of angels to carry him to heaven when he died. Say, then, Lo! if this be the worst I shall have, if this be all my hell, I will patiently acquiesce: ‘Thy will be done.’

[8] There is kindness in that God gives gracious supports in affliction. If he strikes with one hand, he supports with the other. ‘Underneath are the everlasting arms.’ Deut 33: 27. There is not the least trial, but if God would desert us, and not assist us with his grace, we should sink under it; as the frown of a great man, the fear of reproach. Peter was frighted at the voice of a maid. Matt 26: 69. Oh, therefore, what mercy is it to have Christ strengthen us, and as it were, bear the heaviest part of the cross with us! One said, I have no ravishing joys in my sickness, but I bless God I have sweet supports; and should not this cause submission to God’s will, and make us say, ‘Lo! if thou art so kind as to bear us up in affliction, that we do not faint, put us into what wine press thou pleases: ‘Thy will be done’?

[9] There is kindness in affliction in that it is preventive. God, by this stroke of his, would prevent some sin. Paul’s ‘thorn in the flesh’ was to prevent his being lifted up in pride. 2 Cor 12: 7. Affliction is sometimes sent for the punishing of sin, at other times for its prevention. Prosperity exposes to much evil: it is hard to carry a full cup without spilling, and a full estate without sinning. God’s people know not how much they are beholden to their affliction; they might have fallen into some scandal, had not God set a hedge of thorns in their way to stop them. What kindness is this! God lets us fall into sufferings to prevent falling into snares; say then, Lord, do as it seems good in thy sight, ‘Thy will be done.’

God by affliction would prevent damnation. We are corrected in the world, ‘that we should not be condemned with the world.’ 1 Cor 11: 32. A man, by falling into briers, is saved from falling into the river; so God lets us fall into the briers of affliction that we may not be drowned in perdition. It is a great favour when a less punishment is inflicted to prevent a greater. Is it not clemency in the judge, when he lays some light penalty on the prisoner, and saves his life? So it is when God lays upon us light affliction, and saves us from wrath to come. As Pilate said, ‘I will chastise him, and let him go;’ so God chastises his children and lets them go, frees them from eternal torment. Luke 23: 16. What is the drop of sorrow the godly taste, to that sea of wrath the wicked shall be drinking to all eternity? oh! what kindness is here! Should it not make us say, ‘Thy will be done’?

[10] There is kindness in that God mixes his providence. In anger he remembers mercy. Hab 3: 2. Not all pure gall, but some honey mixed with it. Asher’s shoes were iron and brass, but his foot was dipped in oil. Deut 33: 24, 25. Affliction is the shoe of brass, but God causes the foot to be dipped in oil. As the painter mixes with his dark shadows bright colours, so the wise God mingles the dark and bright colours, crosses and blessings. The body is afflicted, but within is peace of conscience. Joseph was sold into Egypt, and put into prison; there was the dark side of the cloud. Job lost all that ever he had, his skin was clothed with boils and ulcers; here was a sad providence. But God gave a testimony from heaven of Job’s integrity, and afterwards doubled his estate. ‘The Lord gave Job twice as much;’ here was the goodness of God towards Job. Job 42: 10. God cheques his works of providence, and shall not we submit and say, Lord, if thou art so kind, mixing so many bright colours with my dark condition, ‘Thy will be done.’

[11] There is kindness in affliction in that God moderates his stroke. ‘I will correct thee in measure.’ Jer 30: 11. God in the day of his east wind will stay his rough wind. Isa 27: 8. The physician that understands the crisis and temper of the patient will not give too strong physic for the body, nor will he give one drachm or scruple too much: so God knows our frame, he will not over-afflict; he will not stretch the strings of the viol too hard, lest they break. And, is there no kindness in all this? Should not this work our hearts to submission? Lord, if thou uses so much gentleness, and correctest in measure, ‘Thy will be done.’

[12] There is kindness in affliction in that God often sweetens it with divine consolation. ‘Who comforteth us in all our tribulation.’ 2 Cor 1: 4. After a bitter potion he gives a lump of sugar. God comforts in affliction. (1) Partly by his word. ‘This is my comfort in my affliction, for thy word has quickened me.’ Psa 119: 50. The promises of the word are a shop of cordials. (2) God comforts by his Spirit. Philip, land grave of Jesse, said that in his troubles, Se divinas martyrum consolationes sensisse, he felt the divine consolations of the martyrs. David had his pilgrimage-songs, and Paul his prison-songs. Psa 119: 54; Acts 16: 25. Thus God candies our wormwood with sugar, and makes us gather grapes off thorns. Some of the saints have such ravishing joys in affliction, that they had rather endure their sufferings than want their comforts. Oh, how much kindness there is in the cross! In the belly of this lion is a honeycomb. Should it not make us cheerfully submit to God’s will, when he lines the yoke with comfort, and gives us honey at the end of the rod?

[13] There is kindness in affliction in that God curtails and shortens it; he will not let it lie on too long. ‘I will not contend for ever, for the spirit should fail before me.’ Isa 57: 16. God will give his people a writ of ease and proclaim a year of jubilee; the wicked may slough upon the backs of the saints, but God will cut their traces. Psa 129: 3, 4. The goldsmith will not let his gold lie any longer in the furnace than till it be purified. The wicked must drink a sea of wrath, but the godly have only a cup of affliction, and God will say, ‘Let this cup pass away.’ Isa 51: 17. Affliction may be compared to frost, that will break, and spring-flowers will come on. ‘Sorrow and sighing shall flee away.’ Isa 35: 10. Affliction has a sting, but withal a wing: sorrow shall fly away. This land-flood shall be dried up. If there be so much kindness in the cross, and God will cause a cessation of trouble, say then, fiat voluntas tua, ‘Thy will be done.’

[14] There is kindness in affliction in that it is a means to make us happy. ‘Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth.’ Job 5: 17. It seems strange to flesh and blood that affliction should make us happy. When Moses saw the bush burning and not consumed, he said ‘I will turn aside and see this great sight.’ Exod 3: 3. So here is a strange sight, a man afflicted, and yet happy. The world counts them happy who can escape affliction, but happy is the man whom God correcteth.

How do afflictions contribute to our happiness?

As they are a means of bringing us nearer to God. The loadstone of prosperity does not draw us so near to God as the cords of affliction. When the prodigal was pinched with want, he said, ‘I will arise, and go to my father.’ Luke 15: 18. As the deluge brought the dove to the ark, the floods of sorrow make us hasten to Christ.

Afflictions make us happy, as they are safe guides to glory. The storm drives the ship into the harbour. Blessed storm that drives the soul into the heavenly harbour. Is it not better to go through affliction to glory, than through pleasure to misery? Not that afflictions merit glory, but they prepare us for it. No cross ever merited but that which Christ endured. Think, O Christian, what affliction leads to! it leads to paradise, where are rivers of pleasure always running. Should not this make us cheerfully submit to God’s will, and say, Lord, if there be so much kindness in affliction, if all thou does is to make us happy, ‘Thy will be done.’

(7) Consider that it is God’s ordinary course to keep his people to a bitter diet-drink, and exercise them with great trials. Affliction is the beaten road in which all the saints have gone. The lively stones in the spiritual building have been all hewn and polished. Christ’s lily has grown among the thorns. ‘All that will live godly in Christ Jesus, shall suffer persecution.’ 2 Tim 3: 12. It is too much for a Christian to have two heavens: it is more than Christ had. It has been ever the lot of saints to encounter sore trials. It was of the prophets, ‘Take, my brethren, the prophets for an example of suffering affliction.’ James 5: 10. It was of the apostles: for Peter was crucified with his head downwards. James was beheaded by Herod, John was banished into the isle of Patmos, the apostle Thomas was thrust through with a spear, Matthias (who was chosen apostle in Judas’s room) was stoned to death, and Luke, the evangelist, was hanged on an olive-tree. Those saints, of whom the world was not worthy, passed under the rod. Heb 11: 38. Christ’s kingdom is regnum crucis [the kingdom of the cross]. Those whom God intends to save from hell, he does not save from the cross. The consideration of this should quiet our minds in affliction, and make us say, ‘Thy will be done.’ Do we think God will alter his course of providence for us? Why should we look for exemption from trouble more than others? Why should we think to tread only upon roses and violets, when prophets and apostles have marched through briars to heaven?