Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Christ, our Companion in suffering

Eleven Mile Canyon

If we had to walk through the darkness alone we should know the very extremity of misery, but having a companion we have comfort; having such a companion, we have joy. It is all black about me, and the path is miry, and I sink in it and can find no standing; but I plunge onwards, desperately set on reaching my journey’s end. It frets me that I am alone, but I hear a voice; (I can see nothing) but I hear a voice which says, “Yea, though I pass through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil.” I cry out, “Who goes there?” and an answer comes back to me — “I, the faithful and true witness, the Alpha and the Omega, the sufferer who was despised and rejected of men, I lead the way;” and at once I feel that it is light about me, and there is a rock beneath my feet, for if Christ my Lord hath been here, then the way must be safe, and must conduct to the desired end. The very fact that he has suffered, then, consoles his people.

From a sermon entitled "A Tempted Savior - Our Best Succor," delivered January 4, 1863. Flickr photo by Jay Miller; some rights reserved.

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