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"That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth (though it
be tried with fire), might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of
Jesus Christ" (1 Pet. 1:7).
Joy therefore may accrue from the most joyless of circumstances. We look beyond the
present and immediate experience to see what its outworking will be. And if temptation
or trial produces patience then we may rejoice in hope of the glory of God. It is good to
cultivate an eye for this joy, or it may remain hidden and unseen in many a dark
circumstance.
"Unspeakable Joy"
Zacharias was smitten with dumbness because of his unbelief. Christ was as a lamb
dumb before his shearers. Yet again, some are rendered dumb through very excess of joy.
The nearer any experience is the heart of things the less inclined are we to discuss it or
talk about it. There is peace that passeth understanding, and there is a joy that is
unspeakable:
"Whom having not seen, ye love; in Whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye
rejoice unspeakable and full of glory" (1 Pet. 1:8).
There is a close connection between the invisible, "Ye see Him not", and the
unspeakable in this verse. At times we are tempted to endorse the desire expressed in the
children's hymn where it says:
"I wish that His hand had been placed on my head,
That His arms had been thrown around me;
And that I might have seen His kind look when He said,
`Let the little ones come unto Me' ".
Yet the Saviour Himself pronounces a blessing upon those who believed although
they had been seen Him:
"Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou has seen Me, thou has believed: blessed are they
who believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed" (John 20:29).
And the Apostle wrote to the Corinthians:
"Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after
the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more" (2 Cor. 5:16).
CHARLES H. WELCH