The Outlook
[
Testimonies for the Church 7:271, 272
(1902).]
The world is out of joint. As we look at the picture, the outlook
seems discouraging. But Christ greets with hopeful assurance the
very men and women who cause us discouragement. In them He sees
qualifications that will enable them to take a place in His vineyard.
If they will constantly be learners, through His providence He will
make them men and women fitted to do a work that is not beyond their
capabilities; through the impartation of the Holy Spirit, He will give
them power of utterance.
Many of the barren, unworked fields must be entered by beginners.
The brightness of the Saviour’s view of the world will inspire confi-
dence in many workers, who, if they begin in humility, and put their
hearts into the work, will be found to be the right men for the time and
place. Christ sees all the misery and despair of the world, the sight of
which would bow down some of our workers of large capabilities with
a weight of discouragement so great that they would not know how
even to begin the work of leading men and women to the first round
of the ladder. Their precise methods are of little value. They would
stand above the lower rounds of the ladder, saying, “Come up where
we are.” But the poor souls do not know where to put their feet.
Christ’s heart is cheered by the sight of those who are poor in
every sense of the term; cheered by His view of the ill-used ones
who are meek; cheered by the seemingly unsatisfied hungering after
righteousness, by the inability of many to begin. He welcomes, as
it were, the very condition of things that would discourage many
ministers. He corrects our erring piety, giving the burden of the work
[27]
for the poor and needy in the rough places of the earth, to men and
women who have hearts that can feel for the ignorant and for those
that are out of the way. The Lord teaches these workers how to meet
those whom He wishes them to help. They will be encouraged as
they see doors opening for them to enter places where they can do
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