View source for THE BEFRIENDED ORPHANS

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<p>&quot;Remember&nbsp;<em>the  words of the Lord Jesus</em>, how He said,&quot;<br><br>
  <em>&quot;I  will not leave you comfortless — I will come to you.&quot;</em>&nbsp;—  John 14:18<br><br>
  Does the Christian's path lie all the way  through&nbsp;<em>Beulah</em><em>&nbsp;</em>land?  No, he is forewarned it is to be one of &quot;much tribulation.&quot; He has  his&nbsp;<em>Marahs —</em><em>&nbsp;</em>as  well as his&nbsp;<em>Elims</em>;  his valleys of&nbsp;<em>Baca —</em><em>&nbsp;</em>as  well as his grapes of&nbsp;<em>Eshcol</em>.  Often is he left un-befriended to bear the brunt of the storm — his&nbsp;<em>gourds</em><em>&nbsp;</em>fading when most needed — his sun going down while  it is yet day — his happy home and happy heart darkened in a moment with  sorrows, with which a stranger (with which often a&nbsp;<em>brother</em>) cannot understand.<br><br>
  But there is&nbsp;<em>One</em>&nbsp;Brother  &quot;born for adversity&quot; who&nbsp;<em>can</em><em>&nbsp;</em>understand. How often has that voice broken with  its silvery accents, the muffled stillness of the sick-chamber! &quot;I will  not leave you comfortless — the&nbsp;<em>world</em><em>&nbsp;</em>may,&nbsp;<em>friends</em><em>&nbsp;</em>may, the desolations of<em> bereavement</em><em>&nbsp;</em>and death may — but&nbsp;<em>I</em><em>&nbsp;</em>will not! You will be alone — yet&nbsp;<em>not</em>&nbsp;alone,  for I your Saviour and your God will be with you!&quot;<br><br>
  Jesus seems to have an especial love and affection for  His orphaned and comfortless people. A father loves his&nbsp;<em>sick  and sorrowing</em>&nbsp;child most; of all his household, this sick one  occupies most of his thoughts. Christ seems to  delight to lavish His deepest sympathy on &quot;him that has no helper.&quot;  It is in the hour of sorrow, His people have found Him most precious; it is in  &quot;the wilderness&quot; that He speaks most &quot;comfortable unto  them.&quot; He gives them &quot;their vineyards from thence&quot; — in the  places they least expected, wells of heavenly consolation break forth at their  feet. As Jonathan of old, when faint  and weary, had his strength revived by the honey he found dropping in the  tangled thicket — so the faint and woe-worn children of God find &quot;honey in  the forest&quot; — everlasting consolation dropping from the tree of life, in  the midst of the thorniest thickets of affliction!<br><br>
  Comfortless ones — be comforted! Jesus often makes you&nbsp;<em>portion  less</em>&nbsp;here in this world — to drive you to Himself, the<em> everlasting portion.</em>&nbsp;He often dries every rill and fountain of earthly  bliss — that He may lead you to say, &quot;All my springs are in You!&quot;  &quot;He seems intent,&quot; says one who could speak from experience, &quot;to  fill up every&nbsp;<em>gap</em><em>&nbsp;</em>which  love has been forced to make; one of His errands from Heaven was to bind up the  broken-hearted.&quot; How beautifully in one amazing verse does He conjoin the&nbsp;<em>depth</em><em>&nbsp;</em>and tenderness of His comfort — with the&nbsp;<em>certainty</em><em>&nbsp;</em>of it, &quot;As one whom his mother comforts — so  will I comfort you, and you SHALL be comforted!&quot;<br><br>
  Ah, how many would not have their  wilderness-state altered, with all its trials, and gloom, and sorrow — just so  that they might enjoy the unutterable sympathy and love of this Comforter of  the comfortless, one ray of whose approving smile can dispel the deepest  earthly gloom! As the clustering constellations shine with the most intense lustre  in the midnight sky — so these &quot;words of Jesus&quot;  come out like ministering angels in the&nbsp;<em>deep  dark night of earthly sorrow</em>.  We may see no beauty in them when the world is sunny and bright; but He has  laid them up in store for us — for the dark and cloudy day. &quot;These things  have I told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of  them.&quot;</p>

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