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Help Is Promised, January 15
Is not my word like as a fire? saith the Lord; and like a hammer that
breaketh the rock in pieces?
Jeremiah 23:29
.
The Lord desires His children to act well their part, and be at peace one
with another through Christ, the peace-giver. When Christ abides in the
heart, the powers of the whole being work in unity and harmony. The whole
individual person’s reason, and the affections, knowing how to act their parts,
labor together unitedly. Like a king upon his throne, reason rules the working
machinery.
It may be that much work needs to be done in your character building,
that you are a rough stone which must be squared and polished before it is
fit to fill a place in God’s temple. You need not be surprised if with hammer
and chisel God cuts away your defects of character, until you are prepared
to fill the place He has ready for you. No human being can accomplish this
work. Only by God can it be done. And be assured that He will not strike
one useless blow. His every blow is struck in love, for your eternal good and
happiness. He knows your infirmities, and works to restore, not to destroy.
Why do we turn from divine wisdom to human wisdom? God sees the
dishonor we do Him. He knows that in humanity we shall find no solace for
our woe, and He pities us because we are so needy, yet so unwilling to make
Him our confidant, our burden-bearer. He sees human beings slighting the
love and mercy provided for them, and He says sadly, “Ye will not come to
me, that ye might have life” (
John 5:40
).
Our distrust is an insult to the One who has done so much for us. He will
never neglect those who come to Him. Of the poor, fainting soul, tired of
looking to humanity only to be betrayed and forgotten, Christ says, “Let him
take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make
peace with me” (
Isaiah 27:5
).
Christ desires to say of His people as He said of Israel of old, “And
thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect
through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God”
(
Ezekiel 16:14
).—
Manuscript 5, January 15, 1901
, “A Very Present Help.”
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