The Father’s school of tribulations is very distasteful to the natural heart, but the same love that has secured eternal blessings for us must also carry on a work within us. This work is carried on in the school of tribulations to enable us, during our journey through this wilderness, to realize these blessings and to put away everything that would hinder our enjoyment of them. Many might be inclined to think that peace with God regarding the past, unchanging divine favor as to the present, and a secure hope for the future are surely enough. The Father, in His unsearchable wisdom, grace, and love, has something else for you—not up there, but down here in the wilderness. It is beautiful to rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, but to rejoice in tribulations is a very different thing. The Israelites sang a lofty song of praise to Jehovah when He led them through the Red Sea, but scarcely had the last note of that song died away when they came to Marah, and then they murmured.

What about us, His heavenly people? Have we, when coming to “Marah,” murmured like Israel? It is a fine thing to rise above the pressure of circumstances in the power of faith. It is quite another thing to bend in patience under them and to learn Christian endurance, which can only be made our own in the Father’s school of tribulations. The flesh does not relish the crucible, and the tempter often whispers, “God is against you and is dealing with you as a Judge.” But the child of God can say, “My Father is for me, and for this very reason He has sent these trials. He is dealing with me as a Father, not as a Judge.” “My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; for whom the Lord loves He chastens” (Heb. 12:5–6).