\nI guarantee that not one of you reading this, even if you have the reputation of a Job, can honestly say, \u201cI have never been frustrated.\u201d And who, looking into the future, can say with certainty, \u201cFrustration is a thing of the past\u201d? In a careful perusal of the lives of saints, we soon conclude that they, too, were often and sometimes dreadfully frustrated\u2014frustrated by circumstances, by people, by themselves! And if God is in control of everything, why does He not do something about it? There we have it again\u2014the theme of \u201cGod and Suffering.\u201d And this book tells us how some of God\u2019s children dealt with frustration.<\/p>\n
Take John Wesley for example. On pages twenty to twenty-two, you can read the poem he penned after his disappointment over Grace Murray, the woman he loved yet never married. The circumstances behind this disappointment may be debated, but it remains a fact that he was planning to marry her and owing to the interference (some think timely, some cruel) of his brother and other well-meaning friends, he returned from a trip to find her married off to one of his outstanding preachers, John Bennet. Perhaps, to be honest, frustration by no means fully describes what John felt when he discovered that he had lost his beloved. Yet it is certainly true that he had been frustrated in his hopes and desires and so pens this poem. A few stanzas are quoted below:<\/p>\n
\u201cAmazed I cried, \u2018Surely for me
\nA help prepared of Heaven thou art!
\nThankful I take the gift from Thee
\nO Lord, and naught on earth shall part
\nThe souls that Thou has joined above
\nIn lasting bonds of sacred love.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cAbashed she spoke, \u2018O what is this?
\nFar above all my boldest hope!
\nCan God beyond my utmost wish,
\nThus lift His worthless handmaid up?
\nThis only could my soul desire!
\nThis only had I dared require!\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom that glad hour, with growing love
\nHeaven\u2019s latest, dearest, gift I view\u2019d;
\nWhile pleased each moment to improve,
\nWe urged our way with strength renewed,
\nOur one desire, our common aim,
\nT\u2019 extol our gracious Master\u2019s Name.<\/p>\n
\u201cSuch was the friend, than life more dear,
\nWhom in one luckless, baleful hour,
\n(Forever mentioned with a tear!)
\nThe tempters unresisted power
\n(O the unutterable smart!)
\nTore from my inly-bleeding heart!<\/p>\n
\u201cUnsearchable Thy judgments are,
\nO Lord! A bottomless abyss!
\nYet sure Thy love, Thy guardian care,
\nO\u2019er all Thy works extended is!
\nWhy didst Thou the blessing send?
\nOr why thus snatch away my friend?. . .<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat Thou hast done I know not now;
\nSuffice I shall hearafter know!
\nBeneath Thy chast\u2019ning hand I bow;
\nThat still I live to Thee I owe.
\nO teach thy deeply-humbled son,
\nFather, to say, \u2018Thy will be done!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/div><\/div>Continue reading...<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of the most popular books in the \u201cCall Back Series\u201d which is available in our Christian Book Store, is Frustration, the third in this series.\u00a0I have heard many a person exclaim, \u201cFrustration? That\u2019s me. I\u2019m frustrated!\u201d And perhaps they echo what many of us feel on a regular basis. We live in a fallen […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harveycp.vitelline.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/966"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harveycp.vitelline.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harveycp.vitelline.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harveycp.vitelline.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harveycp.vitelline.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=966"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/harveycp.vitelline.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/966\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2164,"href":"https:\/\/harveycp.vitelline.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/966\/revisions\/2164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harveycp.vitelline.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harveycp.vitelline.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harveycp.vitelline.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}