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Chapter 39—Deceitfulness of Riches
Dear Sister M,
When the Lord showed me your case, I was pointed back many
years in the past, when you became a believer in the near coming of
Christ. You looked for, and loved, His appearing.
Your husband was naturally an affectionate, noble-minded man;
but he relied upon his own strength, which was weakness. He did
not feel the need of making God his strength. Intoxicating drink
benumbed his brain and finally paralyzed the higher powers of his
mind. His godlike manhood was sacrificed to gratify his thirst for
strong drink.
You suffered opposition and abuse, yet God was your source
of strength. While you trusted in Him, He sustained you. In all
your trials you were not permitted to be overwhelmed. How often
have the heavenly angels strengthened you when desponding, by
presenting vividly to your mind passages of Scripture expressing
the never-failing love of God, and giving evidence that His loving-
kindness changeth not! Your soul trusted in God. It was your meat
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and drink to do the will of your heavenly Father. At times you had a
firm trust in the promises of God, and then, again, your faith would
be tried to the utmost. God’s dealings seemed mysterious, yet most
of the time you had the evidence that He looked upon your affliction
and would not cause your burdens to be greater than you could bear.
The Master saw that you needed a fitness for His heavenly king-
dom. He did not leave you in the furnace for the fire of affliction to
consume. As a refiner and purifier of silver, He kept His eye upon
you, watching the process of purification until He should discern
His image reflected in you. Although you have often felt affliction’s
flame kindling upon you, and at times have thought it would con-
sume you, yet the loving-kindness of God has been just as great
toward you at these times as when you were free in spirit and tri-
umphing in Him. The furnace was to purify and refine, but not to
consume and destroy.
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