MercyDrops
Newsletter January 2001
Therefore
we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are
being renewed day by day .... So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on
what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:16,18
Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471), an Augustine monk
best known for his treatise The Imitation of Christ, wrote, "Many
love Jesus as long as no hardship touches them.... Those who love Jesus for his
own sake, and not for the sake of their own comfort, bless him in every trial
and anguish of heart, no less than (they bless Him) in their greatest joys. And
were he never willing to bestow comfort on them, they would still always praise
him and give him thanks."
Martha Snell Nicholson never knew Thomas à Kempis, but she lived forth the
message of his words. She knew what it meant to suffer. She also knew what it
meant to praise God in the midst of suffering. Mrs. Nicholson suffered intensely
from not one, not two, but four incurable diseases! After she'd been an
invalid for many years, her loving and caring husband on whom she greatly
depended died suddenly. In spite of her pain and suffering (now both physical
and emotional), Martha did not give in to self-pity. She chose not to focus on
her suffering but rather on her Savior. Her spirit was so transcendently
triumphant through those many weary years that she wrote some of the finest
Christian poetry, which has ever been written. She refused to let pain rule her
and wrote of the hope she had in the midst of her pain:
There is no permanent calamity
For any child of God;
Way stations all, at which we briefly stop
Upon our homeward road.
Our
pain and grief are only travel stains
Which shall be wiped away,
Within the blessed warmth and light of home,
By God's own hand some day.
Continued suffering resulted in seven volumes of Martha
Nicholson’s Christian poems. On the Sunday before her death, Martha Snell
Nicholson declared, "Next Sunday I shall be attending church services in
heaven." Martha knew that she was a sinner. She was not saved through
suffering or in works of righteous living, but solely by God’s grace. The
following is my favorite poem by Martha Snell Nicholson:
My Advocate
I sinned. And straightway, post-haste, Satan
flew
Before the presence of the most high God,
And made a railing accusation there.
He said, "This soul, this thing of clay and sod,
Has sinned. 'Tis true that he has named Thy name,
But I demand his death, for Thou hast said,
'The soul that sinneth, it shall die.'
Shall not Thy sentence be fulfilled?
Is justice dead?
Send now this wretched sinner to his doom.
What other thing can righteous ruler do?"
And thus he did accuse me day and night,
And every word he spoke, O God, was true!
Then quickly One rose up from God's right hand,
Before Whose glory angels veiled their eyes.
He spoke, "Each jot and tittle of the law
Must be fulfilled; the guilty sinner dies!
But wait -- suppose his guilt were all transferred
To Me, and that I paid his penalty!
Behold My hands, My side, My feet! One day
I was made sin for him, and died that he
Might be presented, faultless, at Thy throne!"
And Satan flew away. Full well he knew
That he could not prevail against such love,
For every word my dear Lord spoke was true!
This poem has encouraged me through many times when I have failed and I have
sinned, and though I have repented continued to struggle with guilt. If you're
experiencing such a time, may this serve to remind you that Christ is your
advocate, interceding for you, forgiving you, and always loving you.
More poems by Martha Snell Nicholson