By Brandon Smith
My great-grandmother recently passed away at the age of 93. She was a stalwart in our family—a steady, consistent matriarch for my entire life, up until that point. When she passed away, it felt like gravity was removed from our family. My grandmother, in particular, took it extremely hard, going through a period of darkness that one would expect from someone who has just lost her mother.
The funeral was held on Good Friday, not really by design but by beautiful happenstance. I told the preacher beforehand that there would be less than five Christians in the audience, so I wanted him to bring the gospel in full force. He said, “How could I not on today of all days?” His sermon was rich with hope and encouragement that death is not the end for those who believe in Christ, but rather the beginning of eternal and unmitigated joy.
Our hymn today is a wonderful reminder of this truth. “Only a few more trials, Only a few more tears!” it says. Though pain and suffering and temptation and death are knocking at our door, we are safe.
Safe in the arms of Jesus
Safe from corroding care
Safe from the world’s temptations
Sin cannot harm [us] there.
At the end of the Bible, in Revelation 21–22, we are told that there will be no more sin or pain or death when Jesus returns. Though we are surely safe and secure in His arms today, there will come a day when we will no longer need safety from these things, for sin will be no more, and all of its effects will be cast into the lake of fire (v.14).
This is a message of hope for us weary travelers. On the road Jesus has marked out for us, we take detours and side roads, wandering back and forth between lanes like exhausted coal miners on our way home from a day’s labor. But at the end of the road stands our Savior, there to take on every impurity and doubt and trial we carry on our backs. “Only a few more trials, only a few more tears” before He returns to make all things new. Praise God!
Written by Brandon D. Smith
Safe in the Arms of Jesus
Text: Fanny Crosby, 1868
Safe in the arms of Jesus,
safe on His gentle breast,
there by His love o’ershaded,
sweetly my soul shall rest.
Hark! ’tis the voice of angels
borne in a song to me.
Over the fields of glory,
over the jasper sea.
Refrain:
Safe in the arms of Jesus,
safe on His gentle breast,
there by His love o’ershaded,
sweetly my soul shall rest.
Safe in the arms of Jesus,
safe from corroding care,
safe from the world’s temptations,
sin cannot harm me there.
Free from the blight of sorrow,
free from my doubts and fears;
only a few more trials,
only a few more tears! Refrain
Jesus, my heart’s dear refuge,
Jesus has died for me;
firm on the Rock of Ages,
ever my trust shall be.
Here let me wait with patience,
wait till the night is o’er;
wait till I see the morning
break on the golden shore. Refrain
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