Affliction (III)
The Sigh and the Scepter
God is present in the sigh of affliction, turning the rod of grief into a governing scepter that keeps the heart from breaking.
My heart heaved, and there came forth, O God! By that I knew that you were in the grief, to guide and govern it for my relief, making a scepter of the rod. If you had not taken your part, the unruly sigh would surely have broken my heart.1
Breath, Accounts, and the Gale of Bliss
God, who gave life by breathing into the psalmist, knows the budget of breath, and every sigh is either a cost or a wind that speeds him toward heavenly bliss.
But since your breath gave me both life and shape, you know my accounts; and when so much breath is spent on a sigh, what's left then?2 Or if some years slip away with it, the sigh is then just a gale to bring me sooner to my bliss.
Christ's Grief in His Members
Christ, whose earthly life was grief, continues to grieve in his members, so to lament a single cross is to praise him poorly while he dies daily in the church.
Your life on earth was grief, and you are still true to it, making it a point of honor now to grieve in me and to suffer harm in your members. Those who lament one cross—you who die daily—praise you only to your loss.✦3
Read the original English
MY heart did heave, and there came forth, O God! By that I knew that thou wast in the grief, To guide and govern it to my relief, Making a scepter of the rod: Hadst thou not had thy part, Sure the unruly sigh had broke my heart.
But since thy breath gave me both life and shape, Thou knowst my tallies; and when there's assign'd So much breath to a sigh, what's then behinde? Or if some yeares with it escape, The sigh then onely is A gale to bring me sooner to my blisse.
Thy life on earth was grief, and thou art still Constant unto it, making it to be A point of honour, now to grieve in me, And in thy members suffer ill. They who lament one crosse, Thou dying daily, praise thee to thy losse.
Scripture echoes
- ↩1Cor.15.31 — I face death every day—I swear it, brothers, by the boasting I have in you in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Notes
- 1 ↩"Making a scepter of the rod" keeps Herbert's image: the rod of affliction is turned into a scepter of rule—God's presence makes the pain an instrument of governance rather than bare punishment.
- 2 ↩Herbert's 'tallies' are reckoning sticks—an account of allotted life-breath. Rendered as 'accounts' for contemporary clarity.
- 3 ↩'praise thee to thy losse' means their praise falls short and does Christ a disservice: mourning only one cross, while He dies daily, understates His suffering.
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