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512
The Great Controversy 1888
they shall fail to realize the fulfillment of the Saviour’s promise, “I
will keep thee from the hour of temptation which shall come upon
all the world.” [
Revelation 3:10
.] If they could have the assurance of
pardon, they would not shrink from torture or death; but should they
prove unworthy, and lose their lives because of their own defects of
character, then God’s holy name would be reproached.
On every hand they hear the plottings of treason, and see the active
working of rebellion; and there is aroused within them an intense
desire, an earnest yearning of soul, that this great apostasy may be
terminated, and the wickedness of the wicked may come to an end.
But while they plead with God to stay the work of rebellion, it is
with a keen sense of self-reproach that they themselves have no more
power to resist and urge back the mighty tide of evil. They feel that
had they always employed all their ability in the service of Christ,
going forward from strength to strength, Satan’s forces would have
less power to prevail against them.
They afflict their souls before God, pointing to their past repen-
tance of their many sins, and pleading the Saviour’s promise, “Let
him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and
he shall make peace with me.” [
Isaiah 27:5
.] Their faith does not fail
because their prayers are not immediately answered. Though suffering
the keenest anxiety, terror, and distress, they do not cease their inter-
cessions. They lay hold of the strength of God as Jacob laid hold of
[620]
the Angel; and the language of their souls is, “I will not let thee go,
except thou bless me.”
Had not Jacob previously repented of his sin in obtaining the
birthright by fraud, God would not have heard his prayer and merci-
fully preserved his life. So, 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 deliv-
erance. 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.
Satan leads many to believe that God will overlook their unfaithful-
ness in the minor affairs of life; but the Lord shows in his dealings with
Jacob that he will in nowise sanction or tolerate evil. All who endeavor