Just a little longer

For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer. --Isaiah 54

My mind goes back to a little boy on an operating table. His father leans over him, grasping his hand tightly, sweat beading on his forehead-- not because of the intense tropical heat but because of the agony of seeing his little boy suffer. “Son!” he says, “be strong! Just a little longer and you won’t feel the pain. It will be over soon!” The father begins to feel faint as the sutures, one-by-one, close the gash on his son’s head. He leans heavily against the table, refusing to let go of his child's hand. We offer a chair, and sinking gratefully into it, he buries his face in his free hand, still grasping his son’s hand tightly with the other.

At last it is over. Everyone breathes easier. The trembling child finds refuge in his parents’s arms, and peace settles into the room.

In that simple island father I saw one of the most precious pictures of our heavenly Father. His heart was so bound up with his little boy that every pang of pain that touched his son reflected keenly in his face. It was as if he felt the pain. But as much as it hurt him to see, he wouldn’t let go for anything. The more it hurt the tighter he grasped his son’s little hand.

I often wish for the nightmare of sin to be over, but as I quietly observed in that little clinic, it dawned on me just how much He must long for it to be over. Every pang of pain felt by one of His children on earth is felt just as keenly in His heart. He is touched by the feeling of our infirmities, and in all our afflictions He is afflicted. (Heb. 4:15, Isa. 63:9) That is so much pain it is impossible to fully comprehend.

But the operation did finally come to an end, and the relief we all felt when it was finished was a delightful little preview of the peace that will settle over the universe when sin is forever ended and we can take refuge in our Father’s arms.

“The great controversy is ended. Sin and sinners are no more. The entire universe is clean. One pulse of harmony and gladness beats through the vast creation. From Him who created all, flow life and light and gladness, throughout the realms of illimitable space. From the minutest atom to the greatest world, all things, animate and inanimate, in their unshadowed beauty and perfect joy, declare that God is love.” GC 678