24 Historical Sketches of the Foreign Missions of the Seventh-day Adventists
promises, and he helps me. I have felt sometimes that I should fall in
death while speaking, and perhaps this is the way I shall go. However
this may be, I want to die at my post. I am not going to talk doubt and
unbelief; neither will I dwell upon my infirmities. I will talk of Jesus
and his power to save. It is “not by might, nor by power, but by my
Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.”
Oh that I could impress upon all the importance of exercising faith
moment by moment, and hour by hour! We are to live the life of faith;
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for “without faith it is impossible to please God.” Our spiritual strength
depends upon our faith, When I know this, how can I keep silent upon
this subject? The world’s Redeemer says, “According to your faith be
it unto you.” When you settle down in gloom and despondency, you
sin against God; because it shows that you have not faith in Jesus. It
shows to those around you that you do not take God at his word. When
he has done so much to evince his love for you, how great this sin must
appear in his sight! “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him
up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?”
We do not know what faith really is until we try to exercise it. We
all need more of that firm, persevering faith that Jacob manifested
while wrestling with the angel on that eventful night. Few realize how
severely his faith was tested at that time. He had separated himself
from all earthly friends, that he might be alone with God. All who
made life dear to him were exposed to danger and death. The bitterest
drop in his cup of anguish was the thought that his own sin had brought
this great peril upon his wives and children, who were innocent of
the sin of which he was guilty. He had decided to spend the night
in humiliation and prayer. God could soften the heart of his brother.
God was his only refuge and strength. In a desolate place, infested by
robbers and murderers, he bowed in deep distress upon the earth. His
soul was rent with anguish, and with earnest cries mingled with tears
he made his prayer before God. A strong hand is suddenly laid upon
his shoulder. He immediately grapples his assailant, for he feels that
this attack is a design upon his life; that he is in the hands of a robber
or murderer.
The contest is severe; neither utters a word; but Jacob puts forth
all his strength, and does not relax his efforts for a moment. Thus the
struggle continues, until nearly the break of day, when the stranger
places his finger upon Jacob’s thigh and he is crippled instantly. The