Timmy Brister offers a quote from the pen of John Newton that speaks heavy hope to believers suffering loss and experiencing pain. The above photo pictures my brother and I walking down Lakeshore Road five days after Hurricane Katrina. May God, our mighty fortress, continue to remind us of Christ our supreme treasure and flood us with his sustaining grace.
“Is He not rich enough to give us something better than ever He will take away? Is not the light of his countenance better than life and all its most valued enjoyments? Is not this our time of trial; and are we not traveling towards a land of light? . . . one [drop] of the river of pleasure at God’s right hand will make us forget our sorrows for ever; or the remembrance, if any, will only serve to heighten our joys. Further, what life did He lead whom we call our Master and our Lord? Was not He a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief? Has He marked out one way to heaven with his painful footsteps, and shall we expect, or even wish, to walk in another? With such considerations as these, we should endeavour to arm our minds, and pray to the Lord to fix a sense of them in our hearts, and to renew it from time to time; that when changes are either feared or felt, we may not be like the people of the world, who have no hope, no refuge, no throne of grace, but may be enabled to glorify our God in the fire, and give proof that his grace is sufficient for us in every state.â€
– John Newton, to Daniel West (January 25, 1766)
