Letting All Go For Jesus' Sake

Charles Spurgeon wrote:

The LORD gave. Job 1:21

The trial of our faith usually comes in the form of affliction. Our jealous Lover uses tests to see if He has our heart. 

You say, "Lord Jesus, I love you. You are my best Beloved." 

"Well," says the heavenly Lover, "if it is so, then your precious child will become sick and die. What will you say then?" If you are truthful in what you have said concerning your supreme love for Jesus, you will give up your darling at His call and say, "The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away, blessed be the name of the LORD." 

The more He loves you, the more He will test you. Sometimes He says, "Good woman, I shall take away your husband, on whom you lean, that you may lean the more on Me." I remember Samuel Rutherford, writing to a lady who had lost five children and her husband said, "Oh, how Christ must love you! He would take every bit of your heart to Himself. He would not permit you to reserve any of your soul for any earthly thing." Can we stand that test? Can we let all go for His sake?

My Lord sometimes comes to me in this fashion. He says, “I have made you to trust me these many years. I have supplied the needs of your works by liberal friends. But I am about to remove a generous helper.” When I go to the grave of this friend, the suggestion dogs me, “Who is to provide for the orphanage and the college after other dear friends are buried? Can you trust God then?” Blessed be the name of the Lord, this fiery trial has never even left the smell of smoke on me.

If every earthly prop were knocked away, could you stand by the lone power of your foundation? God may not send you this trial, but He will send you a sufficient amount of trials to let you see if your faith is truth or talk.

May it be so oh Father, for Jesus' sake! 

Charles Spurgeon, Beside Still Waters: Words Of Comfort For The Soul, ed. Roy Clarke (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1999), 45.