Our sorrows do not spring out of the ground. In every affliction, God has a purpose for our good. Every blow that destroys an idol, every providence that weakens our hold upon the things of earth, and fixes our affections more firmly upon God, is a blessing. The pruning may be painful for a time, but afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruits of righteousness. We should receive with gratitude whatever will quicken the conscience, elevate the thoughts, and ennoble the life. There are branches that are cut off for the fire; let us thank God if we may, through painful pruning, retain a connection with the living Vine; for if we suffer with Christ, we shall also reign with him. {RH, September 11, 1883 par. 13}
"He will purify His workers from all selfishness, trimming down their superfluous plans, cutting off the branches that would run and entwine around this and that undesirable object, pruning the vine so that it will produce fruit."
MR14 p.33
But it's hard to admit that my own plans are "superfluous".
Our Saviour passed over the same ground on which Adam fell. He was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin. He never yielded to temptation; and yet, in withstanding the assaults of the enemy, he exercised no power that is not granted us. He might have come to this earth accompanied by a vast retinue of angels; but he came unattended, to dwell with the poor and the lowly. Throughout his life he was sorely tried. On every hand he was beset with temptation. He endured every affliction that we are called to endure. "In all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted." {RH, September 3, 1903 par. 8}
Said Jesus: "The Father Himself loveth you." If our faith is fixed upon God, through Christ, it will prove "as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; whither the Forerunner is for us entered." It is true that disappointments will come; tribulation we must expect; but we are to commit everything, great and small, to God. He does not become perplexed by the multiplicity of our grievances nor overpowered by the weight of our burdens. His watchcare extends to every household and encircles every individual; He is concerned in all our business and our sorrows. He marks every tear; He is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. All the afflictions and trials that befall us here are permitted, to work out His purposes of love toward us, "that we might be partakers of His holiness" and thus become participants in that fullness of joy which is found in His presence. {5T 742.2}
God brings His people near Him by close, testing trials, by showing them their own weakness and inability, and by teaching them to lean upon Him as their only help and safeguard. Then His object is accomplished. They are prepared to be used in every emergency, to fill important positions of trust, and to accomplish the grand purposes for which their powers were given them. God takes men upon trial; He proves them on the right hand and on the left, and thus they are educated, trained, disciplined. Jesus, our Redeemer, man's representative and head, endured this testing process. He suffered more than we can be called upon to suffer. He bore our infirmities and was in all points tempted as we are. He did not suffer thus on His own account, but because of our sins; and now, relying on the merits of our Overcomer, we may become victors in His name. {4T 86.1}
God's work of refining and purifying must go on until His servants are so humbled, so dead to self, that, when called into active service, their eye will be single to His glory. He will then accept their efforts; they will not move rashly, from impulse; they will not rush on and imperil the Lord's cause, being slaves to temptations and passions and followers of their own carnal minds set on fire by Satan. Oh, how fearfully is the cause of God marred by man's perverse will and unsubdued temper! How much suffering he brings upon himself by following his own headstrong passions! God brings men over the ground again and again, increasing the pressure until perfect humility and a transformation of character bring them into harmony with Christ and the spirit of heaven, and they are victors over themselves. {4T 86.2}
The apostle exhorts Christians, "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves." Compare your character with the mirror of God's word, see if that law condemns you. If so, wash your robe of character in the blood of the Lamb. Whether we do or do not try ourselves by God's law, we may be sure that he will try us. He will bring us through the furnace. Trials do not come upon us to inform God of what we are, for his eye reads the intents and purposes of the heart; but it is for our own enlightenment, that we may learn our own defects, and remedy them before it is too late. We cannot tell what we are, whether our graces are true or false, until brought to the test. {RH, December 6, 1881 par. 18}
Christ passed over the ground where Adam failed, and redeemed his disgraceful failure. He was made perfect through suffering, and is able to succor all who shall be tempted, and to make a way of escape, that they may be able to endure temptation. Though he was a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered. He knows how to sympathize with every human being; for he has identified his interest with the interests of those he came to save. What a wonderful high priest is Jesus! We may lay our very soul burden upon him. We may lay our hand of faith upon the promise of God, that he will pardon the guilty, and impute to us the purity of Christ. Through the faith that works by love the soul is purified, and the human agent can discern God; for he is a partaker of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. The one great need of the sinner is righteousness, and the word of God is called "the ministration of righteousness;" for it presents a sinless Saviour to the defiled soul, One who was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. The righteousness of Christ is a free gift; we can obtain it without money and without price. Christ himself has become the sin bearer. In his own person he answered all the claims of the law, and through the offering of himself, he made it possible for the human agent to keep the law of God, and to stand before God as innocent, accepted in the Beloved. {ST, October 3, 1895 par. 8}
Those who closely connect with God may not be prosperous in the things of this life; they may often be sorely tried and afflicted. Joseph was maligned and persecuted because he preserved his virtue and integrity. David, that chosen messenger of God, was hunted like a beast of prey by his wicked enemies. Daniel was cast into a den of lions because he was true and unyielding in his allegiance to God. Job was deprived of his worldly possessions and so afflicted in body that he was abhorred by his relatives and friends, yet he preserved his integrity and faithfulness to God. Jeremiah would speak the words which God had put into his mouth, and his plain testimony so enraged the king and princes that he was cast into a loathsome pit. Stephen was stoned because he would preach Christ and Him crucified. Paul was imprisoned, beaten with rods, stoned, and finally put to death because he was a faithful messenger to carry the gospel to the Gentiles. The beloved John was banished to the Isle of Patmos "for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ." {4T 525.1}
These examples of human steadfastness, in the might of divine power, are a witness to the world of the faithfulness of God's promises -- of His abiding presence and sustaining grace. As the world looks upon these humble men, it cannot discern their moral value with God. It is a work of faith to calmly repose in God in the darkest hour -- however severely tried and tempest-tossed, to feel that our Father is at the helm. The eye of faith alone can look beyond the things of time and sense to estimate the worth of eternal riches. {4T 525.2}
