October 7

Finally, brothers, rejoice! Aim for perfect harmony, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you. — 2 Cor 13:11 BSB

To fare well, spiritually speaking, is to possess everything that God has for our happiness. All of God's people will eventually fare well. They are complete in Christ—nothing can touch their eternal security, for they are complete in Him, “without spot, or blemish, or any such thing.” From this perspective, they will ultimately and eternally fare well.

However, when we look at it from the standpoint of experience, we often find that the times when God's people think they are faring ill may be the very times they are actually faring well; and other times, when they believe they are faring well, they may be faring ill. For example, when their souls are weighed down with trouble, it often seems to them that they are faring ill. God's hand appears to be against them—He has hidden His face; they feel no access to the throne of grace; they lack the sweet assurances from the Lord that He is guiding them, and that all will end well. They think this is truly faring ill, and yet, perhaps, they are never faring better than during these seasons of trouble, sorrow, and affliction.

These very circumstances are what wean them from the world. If their hearts and affections were chasing after idols, these trials pull them back. If they were digging out broken cisterns, affliction shatters them. If they were setting up and bowing down to idols in their hearts, these troubles destroy those idols, leaving them with no refuge but the Lord God of hosts.

If you look back, you’ll see that your greatest sweetness often sprang from your greatest bitterness, and the greatest blessings flowed from your greatest miseries. What you once thought were your greatest sorrows—those were the times when the brightest light broke through the darkest gloom, and the Lord made Himself most precious when you were at your lowest, without human help, wisdom, or strength.

So, when a child of God thinks he is faring very ill, burdened with sorrows, temptations, and afflictions, he may actually be faring better than ever. The darkest clouds will eventually break, the most baffling enigmas will be unraveled by the Holy Spirit, and the darkest providences will be cleared up. Then we will see that God was in them all, leading and guiding us “by the right way, that we may go to a city of habitation” (Psalm 107:7).