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The Crucible of Trouble, November 11
Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time
of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.
Jeremiah 30:7
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The path to freedom from sin is through crucifixion of self, and conflict
with the powers of darkness. Let none be discouraged in view of the
severe trials to be met in the time of Jacob’s trouble, which is yet before
them. They are to work earnestly, anxiously, not for that time, but for
today. What we want is to have a knowledge of the truth as it is in Christ
now, and a personal experience now. In these precious closing hours of
probation, we have a deep and living experience to gain. We shall thus
form characters that will ensure our deliverance in the time of trouble.
The time of trouble is the crucible that is to bring out Christlike
characters. It is designed to lead the people of God to renounce Satan
and his temptations. The last conflict will reveal Satan to them in his
true character, that of a cruel tyrant, and it will do for them what nothing
else could do, uproot him entirely from their affections. For to love and
cherish sin, is to love and cherish its author, that deadly foe of Christ.
When they excuse sin and cling to perversity of character, they give Satan
a place in their affections, and pay him homage.
All heaven is interested in man and desires his salvation. This is the
great aim in all God’s dealings with individuals.... It is a matter of the
greatest wonder to the heavenly host that so few care to be freed from the
bondage of evil influences, so few are willing to exercise all their powers
in harmony with Christ in the great work of their deliverance. If men
could have unveiled before them the workings of the great deceiver to keep
them in the gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity, how earnest would
they be to renounce the works of darkness, how guarded lest they yield
to temptation, how careful to see and remove every defect which mars
the image of God in them; how they would press to the side of Jesus, and
what earnest supplications would ascend to heaven for a calmer, closer,
happier, walk with God.
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