Facing Difficulties

Because that young baby lived, curiosities of nature that had long been a mystery to mankind would no longer be a mystery. That baby, Isaac Newton, lived and his work explained the paths of comets, the fall of objects toward the earth, the rise and fall of tides, the orbit of the earth and planets around the sun, and the reason for the colors of the rainbow. Newton showed that mysteries could be cleared up when the light of God’s truth was shed upon the darkness of ignorance and superstition.

What are some ways that widows and widowers can redeem the time as singles again, rather than spending the remaining years of life longing for death and reunion with a lost loved one? The Bible reveals many practical ways that widows can be useful to the Lord and to the people of God.

At the Battle of Ramillies in 1706, which was part of the War of Spanish Succession, nineteen-year-old James Gardiner was serving in Belgium under the command of the Duke of Marlborough. Young Officer Gardiner was assigned to the forlorn hope (a unit who were given desperately hopeless assignments). He was immediately given charge of an almost impossible assault. He planted the colors of the regiment in advance of his men, and called upon them to follow him into the very earthworks of the enemy.

William Billings married a lady named Lucy, and the Lord blessed the couple with six living children over the course of their marriage. Throughout these years of writing, composing, publishing, and leading singing schools, Billings supported his family as a tanner. In those days, it was very difficult for a musician to support himself solely by his creative compositions.

The mother lovingly stroked the blond hair of her son. Slowly and carefully, she spoke to her son in a serious tone, “You must learn to be strong. From now on you are no longer my child—you are a man.” With this solemn parting, Ruth Weichert pulled her son, Henryk, to her heart. A quiver ran through her as she embraced her ten-year-old boy for what she knew might be the last time.

As the massacre intensified, the youthful king of France thought of one man whom he must and could save—his private doctor, a good and faithful man. This skilled French physician was a committed Huguenot and a pious, humble Christian. Charles IX, young but of frail health, loved his doctor and could not bear the thought of his doctor being murdered simply because he was a Huguenot! Not wanting his dear physician to share Admiral de Coligny’s fate, Charles IX hurried to where his physician slept and ushered him into his own royal bedchamber for safekeeping.

There was a day when Abraham laid his wife Sarah in the grave. In the touching account of Abraham’s purchase of a burial plot, he “came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her” (Genesis 23:2). No matter how expected the death, how long the life, or how bright the hope of the resurrection, it remains a sad, sorrowful blow to the heart of a man or a woman when the closest bond on earth is severed by our last enemy.

William Tyndale was an outcast, a fugitive and stranger from his native land; he was truly a man without a country. He could not return to England on pain of death. For many years now, he had wandered in foreign lands. Germany and the Low Countries (the Dutch Netherlands) had proved a haven for him, and he quickly had learned the foreign languages. In fact, Tyndale possessed a gift for learning languages. He could speak more than seven tongues fluently!

Of course, it is easy to rest in His goodness when Jesus is giving us exactly what we want! When the deaf man was made to hear and the dumb was made to speak, it was easy to proclaim with amazement that Jesus did all things well. But when Fanny Crosby was blinded as a very young child due to an improper application of a mustard poultice to her eyes, how much more difficult it must have been for her to write “Jesus doeth all things well”! Yet, seeing by faith beyond her circumstances, she was able to proclaim the truth of God’s goodness in doing all things well.

Upon seeing Dr. Palmer, Commodore Matthew Maury, a decorated naval commander, remarked to the man sitting in the audience beside him, “He is the ugliest man I ever saw.” Ten minutes into the sermon, the commodore leaned over again and said, “He is getting better looking.”

Several days went by. Thomas had prayed, committing his case to God, so he faithfully continued with his duty. Then, suddenly and unexpectedly, Thomas received a very rare cablegram. He knew that sending a message across the ocean by cable was very expensive, as a customer was required to pay by each character in the post. Quickly he scanned the cablegram. The message from his father was brief, but it flooded his heart with joy and relief: “Disregard my letter; was misinformed.”

Have you ever considered the full impact of these words—“The LORD your God which goeth before you”? This statement asserts that you cannot go anywhere that God Himself has not already been! He fills the earth with His glorious presence, and although a pathway through a wilderness may be unknown to us, it is not unknown to God.

As a young boy, Isaac Watts also had a striking ability to speak in rhyme, even when those talking to him were using ordinary speech. The story is often told how one evening, while his father was leading in family Bible reading and prayer, a mouse climbed up a rope along the fireplace. The boy held his peace until the prayer was ended, then he burst out in merriment, saying, “A mouse, for want of better stairs, ran up a rope to say his prayers.”

One of the more surprising places to see the omnipotence of God is when it is displayed in the lives of His children. In and of ourselves, we are weak and helpless. But it is precisely when we recognize this inherent weakness of our own that we can experience the omnipotent power of God mightily displayed in our lives.

When news came in 1866 that the Korean government had killed 8,000 Catholic converts, Thomas resolved to go to Korea and give the pure Gospel to the people there. Despite the dangers, he boldly sailed to the Korean peninsula to shine the Light of the World into a kingdom of darkness.

In 1655, Stephen Charnock took a bold step into the public sphere. He went to Ireland with Henry Cromwell, son of Oliver Cromwell, who was recently appointed Governor of Ireland, and became the court chaplain.

It was thought by all who knew the Ryle family that young John would follow his father into banking, and maybe even serve in Parliament someday. But during a severe sickness, he thought much of God, eternity, sin, and salvation.

In the summer of 1901, an American army officer was waging a most unusual war in the city of Havana. Some thought the colonel was crazy. Others believed him to be a genius.

A rescue ship drifted slowly toward the rocky coastline. This particular area was known to be at “the end of the earth.” Long feared by sailors for its violent storms, hidden rocks, and savage natives, this desolate region of rocky islands is known as Tierra de Fuego. It is located off the coast of Patagonia, the southernmost tip of the mainland of South America. The mission of the rescue ship was a desperate one: to locate and assist seven missionaries who had come to bring the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ to these desolate islands.

Colonel Jim Irwin became the eighth man to walk on the moon’s surface. The mission successfully explored the Hadley Rille area and collected valuable rock samples, including the famous “Genesis Rock.” The deployment of the Rover was a grand success, and famous video footage was taken of the wild ride Astronauts Irwin and Scott took in the vehicle as they bounded over rocks and craters. After one particularly harrowing bump when the Rover almost flipped over in the slight gravity of the moon, Commander Scott broke the tension by saying, “Somebody forgot to put up the ‘Dip’ sign back there.” Colonel Irwin responded by adding, “. . . we’d be sitting here a long time waiting for a wrecker.”