Affliction
Trials will be met in this work; discouragements will press in upon the soul as teachers see that their labors are not always appreciated. Satan will exercise his power over them in temptations, in discouragements, in afflictions of bodily infirmities, hoping that he can cause them to murmur against God and close their understanding to His goodness, mercy, and love, and the exceeding weight of glory that is to be the reward of the overcomer. But God is leading these souls to more perfect confidence in their heavenly Father. His eye is upon them every moment; and if they lift their cry to Him in faith, if they will stay their souls upon Him in their perplexities, the Lord will bring them forth as gold purified. The Lord Jesus has said: “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” Hebrews 13:5. God may permit a train of circumstances to come that will lead them to flee to the Stronghold, by faith pressing to the throne of God amid thick clouds of darkness; for even here His presence is concealed. But He is ever ready to deliver all that trust in Him. Gained in such a way, the victory will be more complete, the triumph more sure; for the tried, sore-pressed, and afflicted one can say: “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.” Job 13:15. “Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.” Habakkuk 3:17, 18.
6T 156