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Hope Thou in God, July 27
Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me?
hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.
Psalm 42:5
.
Dear Husband: I received your telegram....
Satan will not sift the chaff, because he gains nothing in this. He sifts the
wheat. The devil will not try and tempt and persecute those whom he is sure of,
because [they are] living in known transgression of the law of God. Those who
have enlisted in the army of the Lord standing under the bloodstained banner of
Prince Emmanuel, Satan will seek to harass and destroy. Christians will meet and
have many and severe conflicts with the wily foe, who is merciless. He will bring
them into the most difficult places and then exult in their distress. But, thank God,
Jesus lives to make intercession for every one of us. Our safety is in committing
ourselves to God and resting by faith in His merits who has said, “I will never
leave thee, nor forsake thee” (
Hebrews 13:5
).
I rejoice that Jesus has a firm hold of us. Our grasp is feeble and easily broken,
but our safety depends upon the firm hold Jesus has upon us. I rejoice in Jesus
today. We have, my husband, walked for more than thirty years side by side in
the trials and conflicts of life amid temptations and the buffetings of Satan, his
arrows aimed at us to wound and destroy; but Jesus has been our defense. Satan
has been repulsed. The Spirit of the Lord has lifted up a standard for us against
the enemy. Our sun is westering, but it will not set in darkness. Jesus ever liveth
to make intercession for us. We will in the latter days of our pilgrimage repose in
God and wait upon Him. If we walk with God, our faith will grow brighter and
brighter unto the perfect day, and the reward of the faithful will be ours at last.
My spirit at times is triumphant in God. I see in prospect just before us the
eternal weight of glory. We have not earned it. Oh, no, Jesus earned it for us and
it is a free gift, not for any righteousness and goodness of our own. Let us, in the
few probationary hours left us, walk humbly with God and do the work He has
committed to our hands with fidelity.
I am glad you are in the grand old mountains [of Colorado]. I mean to be there
soon. To be thus brought near to God through His created works is refreshing and
inspiring.... While viewing the grand works of God’s creation, we may walk with
God. We may talk with Him. To have God as our companion, as our guest, will
be the most exalted honor that heaven can bestow upon us.
May the Lord bless you all is the prayer of your Ellen.—
Letter 42, July 27,
1878
, to James White, General Conference president.
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