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God’s Eye is Upon His People Shall not, September 23
God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though
he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily.
Luke 18:7, 8
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In the time of trouble, if the people of God had unconfessed sins to
appear before them while tortured with fear and anguish, they would be
overwhelmed; despair would cut off their faith, and they could not have
confidence to plead with God for deliverance. But while they have a deep
sense of their unworthiness, they have no concealed wrongs to reveal. Their
sins have gone beforehand to judgment and have been blotted out, and they
cannot bring them to remembrance....
Those professed Christians who come up to that last fearful conflict
unprepared will, in their despair, confess their sins in words of burning
anguish, while the wicked exult over their distress....
Jacob’s history is also an assurance that God will not cast off those
who have been deceived and tempted and betrayed into sin, but who have
returned unto Him with true repentance. While Satan seeks to destroy this
class, God will send His angels to comfort and protect them in the time
of peril. The assaults of Satan are fierce and determined, his delusions
are terrible; but the Lord’s eye is upon His people, and His ear listens to
their cries. Their affliction is great, the flames of the furnace seem about
to consume them; but the Refiner will bring them forth as gold tried in the
fire. God’s love for His children during the period of their severest trial
is as strong and tender as in the days of their sunniest prosperity; but it is
needful for them to be placed in the furnace of fire; their earthliness must
be consumed, that the image of Christ may be perfectly reflected.
The season of distress and anguish before us will require a faith that
can endure weariness, delay, and hunger—a faith that will not faint though
severely tried. The period of probation is granted to all to prepare for that
time.... All who will lay hold of God’s promises, as he [Jacob] did, and be
as earnest and persevering as he was, will succeed as he succeeded.
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