in this moment i feel i'd like to pause and just
agree in prayer with you for that need in that
life of yours the bible says if any two of us
shall agree in prayer and father i come boldly
before the throne of god with that one who has
a need in their life, a need in that little home,
that little family. We stand together on your
promise, knowing that he who has promised will
keep his word. You've never failed. In this moment,
meet that material need in that life. according
to your riches in glory by christ jesus be that
one's great physician just now give faith where
faith is needed for jesus sake amen well sir
for a few minutes again today We're going to
have a heart -to -heart talk about something
that affects all of us, and that is the thing
of sorrow, of suffering, heartaches. I want to
read a verse of Scripture found in the 50th chapter
of Isaiah. It's that 10th verse. and i have read
it over and over again i do not have a bible
i have never owned a bible where this one verse
was not marked it has meant much to me through
the years who is among you that feareth the lord
that obeyeth the voice of his servant that walketh
in darkness and hath no light. Let him trust
in the name of the Lord and stay upon his God.
Remember something. Sooner or later, every one
of us will have to go down to the valley of suffering.
Sooner or later, trouble will come into the life
of each of us because we are a part of humanity.
That's the reason I feel that our heart -to -heart
talk today is so important. You may not need
it today. You may not need it tomorrow. But sooner
or later, you're going to need the very thing
that I'm going to be talking to you about. And
I pray to God that every word that I speak to
you will be remembered. The Bible has a message
for every life, no matter what its duty, its
need, its test. There is nothing that ever comes
into the life of any human being but what the
Bible holds the answer. And it's just like that.
you're going to need this promise mark it in
your bible i pray it shall mean much to you in
that hour when much strength and courage and
faith is needed i repeat sooner or later all
our feet must go down that veil of sorrow and
suffering and darkness and tears. And this text
that I've just read to you describes a condition
that will sometime come to you. And what is the
condition? Here is one that fears the Lord. who
loves the Lord with all his heart. This is not
a sinner. This is not someone who has never known
the peace of God, who has never had that experience
of being born again. I must make this very clear
to you. Here is one who loves the Lord. He fears
God. He obeys the voice. of his servant, and
yet walketh in darkness and hath no light. And,
beloved, that's the condition that sometimes
comes to us in our earthly experience. That condition
is sometimes the severest test that ever comes
to us. And you know exactly what I'm talking
about. Darkness is always trying to us. Darkness
is trying to us physically, especially when we're
ill, agitated, disturbed, nervous. There's something
about darkness. Oh, how sick people dread the
night. It's darker, I believe, to one who's ill.
There's a blackness about the darkness of night
that becomes even darker. When one is sick, when
there's pain, everyone else in the house is asleep.
It's quiet. And there's something about that
darkness. And a sick person longs for morning
to come just to hear the chirping of the first...
bird that signals the breaking of a new day when
one is sick just to see the light beginning to
break in the eastern horizon there's something
about it for a sick person the hours are longer
and darker during the night than any other time
and that one always feels that when morning comes,
it's going to be better. Our troubles, somehow,
are intensified at night. Our worries are bigger
at night than they are during the day. I can't
tell you why, but it's just like that. Oh, when
we come into the realm of darkness, how terrible
such darkness becomes and how glorious is light
when it streams down on our darkness his light
his hope his courage his strength his faith imparted
unto us now then it raises an old question as
old as job And I'm not talking to you about something
that is new to you. And the very minute that
I mention the name of Job, you almost feel as
though I'm talking about a relative of yours.
Someone who has been a member of your own family,
of your own household. Oh, sure. I feel as though
I have met him. I've shaken his hand. I feel
as though we've wept together, we've rejoiced
together. Oh, I feel like I've known Job all
my life, and when I get home to glory, no one's
going to have to introduce me to Job. No angel
is going to have to bring Job to me and say,
Catherine, this is Job. I want you to meet him.
Instead, I'm going to say, well, bless you, if
it isn't my friend Job. We made it, didn't we?
Oh, sure, Job. Why do tears and sufferings and
darkness come to those who are friends of God?
that question is asked over and over again why
why did god allow this thing to happen to me
and bear in mind if you're his child covered
with the blood living in his perfect will pleasing
him fearing lest you grieve him nothing absolutely
nothing can come into your life or touch you
but what he allows and he permits and i believe
that with every atom of my being all things do
work together for good not for that one who's
living outside of the will of god not for that
one who's living contrary to god's will But if
literally you are seeking his face, if literally
you are living in the center of his will, covered
with the blood, and you know you're being obedient
to the word, obedient to him, nothing. can come
into your life but what he allows and he permits
and it's just like that but why do tears and
sufferings why does darkness come to those who
belong to him we can understand why trouble would
come to the man who is not god's friend and refuses
to be for as a man sows so shall he reap if he
sows to unbelief the reaping must be of a character
with the sowing we can understand why the godless
man the man who will not be god's friend at all
would come to the harvest of distress that we
can understand but i admit to you that sometimes
it is difficult to understand why God allows
certain things to come into the lives of certain
individuals. Why do sufferings, why do tears,
why do disappointments, why do troubles come
to those who love the Lord? Mm -hmm. That's a
question. And I want you to see something. I
want you to see something about this man, Job.
And I want you to see it for one reason. Sometimes
when a Christian is seen to be in darkness and
trouble and tears and heartbreak, the superficial
Pounces upon that one and sits on a little throne
of judgment and says, this trouble comes as a
result of some sin. You know, I think the cruelest
person in the world, and I mean that, the cruelest,
the meanest, person in the world will not be
the man who will snatch my purse, who will assassinate
my character, but the person who will point a
finger of judgment. at me when god allows and
permits certain things to happen in my life to
strengthen me to school me to educate me when
that person will point an accusing finger and
say ha ha she must have sinned ha ha god's just
sending his judgment upon her And there's many
an old sister with a long tongue and a treacherous
heart and a dirty mind who makes it her business
to go around judging everybody when sorrow, when
disaster, when death, when trouble comes. to
an individual or to a family and say, ha, ha,
I wonder what she's done. I wonder what he has
done. There must be sin there someplace. Mm -hmm.
You know them. I know them. Be careful that you
judge not. when it comes to God's dealings with
individuals. The Word of God is not that cruel.
The Word of God does not teach that doctrine.
That doctrine is as false as it is cruel, and
as cruel as it is false. And I mean that with
all my heart. Whom the Lord loveth, the Bible
says, he chasteneth. Yes, ma 'am. If ye be without
chastisement, then are ye bastards and not sons.
Furthermore, we've had fathers of our flesh which
corrected us. and we gave them reverence shall
we not much rather be in subjection unto the
father of spirits and live oh this very hour
i could worship at the feet of my mother my tears
Could bathe my mother's feet if she were living
today. Tears of gratitude for the time that she
disciplined me. I had a strict mother. Don't
let anybody tell you that Mrs. Jo Kuhlman didn't
discipline her children. Of course, at the time,
my feelings were hurt. My rear end hurt. Eyeballed.
I didn't scream. No, ma 'am. But when Mama took
me down the basement and took me across her knee,
now you can talk about switchesin', brushesin',
tattles of all kinds. i don't know where mamma
ever got all the strength that she had in just
one hand because she was a small woman i don't
think mamma ever weighed any more than a hundred
and seven pounds but all of her strength was
in her right hand i'll tell you that oh and now
sometimes i wonder if it really was that painful
or whether it was just because at the time I
felt I was being abused. No, I couldn't do what
other children did. When night came, Mama said
I was to sleep at home in my own bed. that's
the reason i had a home and a bed in my home
i think kids could sleep at the neighbor's house
or do just about as they pleased but when night
came i was home and that was the rule at our
house i felt abused When Mama said no, she meant
no. There was no arguing. Mama's word was law.
I was brought up in a very strict home. Today,
I thank my God for my early training. And there's
coming a day, beloved, when we stand in the presence
of our Heavenly Father and we'll thank Him for
the chastening. We'll thank Him for His fitness.
We'll thank Him for the deep waters. We'll thank
Him for those things that He permitted. And allowed
to come into our lives. He knows exactly what
he's doing in training us. Even now. I look back
through the years of my life. And I thank my
God for every tear. For those hard places. For
those days when I didn't know where my next meal
was coming from. For the days that I had nothing
to eat but just a five -cent roll. Those were
the things that made me strong. Sure, I was growing.
I was going through a time of schooling. And
he was the teacher. Whom the Lord loveth, he
chasteneth. Be careful when sorrows don't come.
Be careful when there's nothing to weep about.
Be careful when he lifts the rod. I believe the
most beautiful words. that Jesus ever spoke regarding
this very thing is when he says, As many as I
love, I rebuke and chase. I've seen many a dad
and many a mother who permit their children to
do anything they want to do their dick as the
death to get them out of the house in the morning.
They're tickled to death to just get a little
breakfast cereal in their stomachs and say, Now,
kids, get out. Get out. And they are sorry when
they see them come back in again. Yeah? I don't
want my Heavenly Father to feel that way about
me. I wonder if those parents really do love
me. their children. I wonder. I've wondered that
more than once. These parents who just permit
their children to do anything they want to do.
There's no discipline. Nothing. Nothing. They
do as they please. Our Heavenly Father isn't
like that. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.
And so, you see, a part of the program and plan
and experience of human life is chastisement,
is trial. In the world, Jesus said, ye shall
have tribulation. is one of the most expressive
words in the bible but he goes on to say be of
good cheer i have overcome the world god bless
you