but now have I kept Thy word." Ps.
119:67.
11. What did Christ learn through suffering?
"Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He
suffered." Heb. 5:8.
12. In perfecting character, what must come to all?
"And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children,
My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art
rebuked of Him: for whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He
receiveth." Heb. 12:5,6.
13. Is this chastening a pleasant experience?
"Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous:
nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which
are exercised thereby." Verse 11.
14. What courage and strength, therefore, should come to us even in the hour of
affliction?
"Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees."
Verse 12. See also Job 4:3,4; Isa. 35:3.
15. What did Job say in the midst of his afflictions?
"Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him." Job 13:15.
16. What is God called in the Scriptures?
"The God of all comfort." 2 Cor. 1:3.
17. Whom does God comfort?
"God, that comforteth those that are cast down." 2 Cor. 7:6.
18. What promise is made to those that mourn?
"Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted." Matt. 5:4.
19. Why does God comfort us in tribulation?
"Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them
which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of
God." 2 Cor. 1:4.
NOTE.-One who has passed through trouble and affliction himself, and received comfort
from God, is better able to minister comfort to others.
20. How should we sympathize with others in their sorrows?
"Weep with them that weep." Rom. 12:15. "To him that is afflicted pity
should be showed from his friend." Job 6:14.
21. Does Jesus sympathize with us in our afflictions?
"For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our
infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are." Heb. 4:15.
22. How did He manifest His sympathy in the case of Mary and her friends weeping
over the death of Lazarus?
"When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with
her, He groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, and said, Where have ye laid him?
They said unto Him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept." John 11:33-35.
NOTE.-Not alone for Mary and her friends did Jesus weep. Looking down through the ages,
He saw the tears and the heartaches which death would bring to mankind in this
sin-stricken world. His heart was touched with human woe, and He wept with those that
wept.
23. Whatever may come, what blessed assurance has every one who loves God?
"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love
God." Rom. 8:28.
NOTE.-If one loves God, he may rest assured that out of every trial and affliction good
will come.
25. When our friends fall asleep in death, with what words are we told to comfort
one another?
"For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep
in Jesus will God bring with Him. . . . For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven
with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in
Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together
with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the
Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words." Verses 14-18.
26. What promise has God made to bereaved mothers?
"Thus saith the Lord; Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears:
for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord; and they shall come again from the land
of the enemy." Jer. 31:16.
27. What did Christ say would be the experience of His people in this world?
