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The Arrow of Death, June 14
O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would
consider their latter end!
Deuteronomy 32:29
.
The Lord “doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.”
Lamentations 3:33
. “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord
pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth
that we are dust.”
Psalm 103:13, 14
. He knows our heart, for He reads
every secret of the soul.... He knows the end from the beginning. Many
will be laid away to sleep before the fiery ordeal of the time of trouble
shall come upon our world....
If Jesus, the world’s Redeemer, prayed, “O my Father, if it be possi-
ble, let this cup pass from me,” and added, “nevertheless not as I will,
but as thou wilt” (
Matthew 26:39
), how very appropriate it is for finite
mortals to make the same surrender to the wisdom and will of God.
We have but a brief lifetime here, and we know not how soon the
arrow of death may strike our hearts. We know not how soon we may
be called to give up the world and all its interests. Eternity stretches
before us. The curtain is about to be lifted. But a few short years, and
for everyone now numbered with the living the mandate will go forth:
“He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: ... and he that is righteous,
let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.”
Revelation 22:11
.
Are we prepared? Have we become acquainted with God, the Gov-
ernor of heaven, the Lawgiver, and with Jesus Christ whom He sent into
the world as His representative? When our lifework is ended, shall we
be able to say, as did Christ our example:
“I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do.... I have manifested thy name”?
John 17:4-6
.
The angels of God are seeking to attract us from ourselves and from
earthly things. Let them not labor in vain.
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