"Because The LORD Loved You!"

The master-key which fits the locks!
(Susannah Spurgeon, "Words of Cheer and Comfort 
for Sick and Sorrowful Souls!" 1898)

"The LORD did not set HIS love on you 
nor choose you because you were more 
in number than any other people, for you 
were the least of all peoples; but because 
the LORD loved you!" Deuteronomy 7:7-8 

My gracious GOD, there is a honeycomb 
of delight and sweetness in these words! 

Will YOU put the rod of faith into my hand, 
this morning, and enable me to dip the end 
thereof into this rich provision, that my soul 
may eat and be satisfied, and that the eyes 
of my understanding may be enlightened?

"Because the LORD loved you!" 

This is HIS great "reason" for 
all of GOD'S dealings with HIS 
redeemed people. It is a full and 
convincing answer to all the doubts 
and questionings with which satan 
can perplex and distress the LORD'S 
timid ones. The enemy of souls 
has, alas! a powerful confederate 
in the wicked unbelief which lurks 
within us; but they will both be 
vanquished when we have 
learned to use this weapon 
of war against them.

Come, my heart, try its blessed 
force and quality at this moment! 

The foe says, "Why does GOD 
send you affliction, and sorrow, 
and suffering--
when those who do not 
fear HIS Name have continual 
quietness and abounding prosperity?"

If you can boldly answer, 
"It is because the LORD loves me!" 
then you will have given him 
such a sword-thrust as will 
free you, for a time, at least, 
from his cunning devices 
and fierce onslaughts.

Or, look at the text as a shaft 
of sunlight, piercing through 
a chink in the shuttered window 
of some dark experience. 

Bring your fears and forebodings 
out of their dusky corners, and 
place them within the radiance 
of this light of love--
you will be amazed to see them 
transformed into confident trusts--
your doubts will vanish as if they 
had never been, and the evil 
and bitter things of life will 
all  be transformed into 
blessings in a moment. 

"Because the Lord loved you!" 

is the master-key which fits 
the locks of the hardest question, 
and opens the mysteries of 
the deepest problem! 

It is a charm of wondrous efficacy, 
and every believer in the LORD 
JESUS CHRIST may not only 
rejoice in its possession--
but use it constantly to obtain all 
the desire of his heart in spiritual things.

What ails you, poor soul? 
Is it loss of health, or friends, 
or means? Has GOD taken 
from you some dearly-loved one, 
and left you alone on this sad earth? 

Is HE trying and proving you, by 
many and varied tests and troubles, 
"to know what was in your heart"? 

Whatever may be your immediate 
and peculiar sorrow, if you have 
grace and faith enough to say, 

"This is because the LORD loves me!"--

then I dare to promise you that all 
the bitterness of the affliction 
will melt away--
and the peace of GOD will fill 
you with a sweet contentment 
which surpasses understanding. 

No distress can withstand such 
Divine solace, no anguish can 
refuse the relief of this balm of Gilead. 

If all that happens to you can 
be traced directly or indirectly 
to the hand of your loving LORD--
then how gladly should you bear 
life's burdens, and how perfect 
should be the rest in which 
heart and mind should dwell!

O gracious MASTER, looking back 
over the years that are gone--
the interminglings of grief and 
gladness, pass before my eyes 
as the clouds sail by on an April day. 

And though the memories of great 
affliction and sore bereavement cast 
deep shadows across the scene, 
and seem for a time to blot out 
all the brightness--
yet, above and beyond 
those changeful skies--
the sun has never ceased 
shining, and darkness as well as 
day has proclaimed the immutability 
of YOUR love. 

When the ears of my soul are attuned 
to catch the soft whisper of YOUR 
voice, I hear YOU saying: 

"All this, MY child, was because 
I loved you! Left to yourself; you 
would have destroyed yourself; 
but in ME was your help found. 

All the tribulations you have 
endured, were but MY servants 
to whom I entrusted the necessary 
discipline of your earthly life. Do not 
forget those words of MINE:

"As many as I love--
I rebuke and chasten!"
(Revelation 3:19)

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GraceGems has published Timothy Shay Arthur's superb 5 page article on the Providence of God,
 "The Merchant's Son".