THE GOLDEN KEY (Pastor Tom Henry) ~ 5/13/25

“Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” (Jeremiah 33:3)

Some of the most learned works in our libraries smell of the midnight oil, as it were. Wonderful treasures mined with intense labor needed to be put into writing before rest could be taken. Likewise, the most spiritual and comforting writings and sayings of man often have about them the aroma of damp prison. Many instances might be cited, but John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress will suffice for a hundred. This precious text, though moldy from the damp prison where Jeremiah lay, nevertheless has a brightness and a beauty about it that cheers and encourages the heart. These delights we might never have known if the word had not first come to cheer the heart of the prisoner of the Lord, who was shut up in the court of the prison house.

This Word of the Lord came to His prophet as a command. We are not merely counseled and recommended to call upon Him Who is our very present help in trouble, but commanded to do so. This is tremendous graciousness on God’s part. If a hospital were built for the needy, offering free care to the sick and suffering who would come and ask for it, no order would be necessary demanding that these folks apply. When charities are set up to feed and clothe the poor no thought is given to passing a law compelling them to come. It is considered enough to offer it without issuing a mandate that men must accept the help.

God’s people have always, when in the worst conditions, found out the best in their God. He is good at all times, but He seems to be at His best when they are at their worst. When the Landgrave of Hesse, who was locked up for his attachment to the principles of the Reformation, was asked how he was able to bear his long imprisonment so well, replied, “The divine consolations of martyrs were with me.” Doubtless God reserves consolation deeper and stronger than any other for those who endure exceedingly great suffering for His Name.

The Scottish preacher, Samuel Rutherford, had a saying, that when he was cast into the cellar of affliction, he remembered that the Great King keeps His best wine there. He found that even in affliction the joy of the Lord was his strength.

Charles Spurgeon said, “They who dive in the sea of affliction bring up rare pearls.” He found, along with many other “companions in affliction” that it was so. David wrote, “The LORD will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: thou will make all his bed in his sickness.” (Psalm 41:3)

“Many are the affliction of the righteous.” (Psalm 34:19) It is our prayer that you who are prisoners of it may have the joyous promise of our text spoken inwardly to your soul; that you who are pressed down because of present heaviness of spirit may hear the Lord softly whisper in your heart, “Call unto me,…and I will show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.”