Basic HTML Version
The Uses of Adversity, September 2
To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for
ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of
heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of
the Lord, that he might be glorified.
Isaiah 61:3
.
Affliction and adversity may cause much inconvenience and may bring great
depression, but it is prosperity that is dangerous to spiritual life. Unless the human
subject is in constant submission to the will of God, unless he is sanctified by the
truth and has the faith that works by love and purifies the soul, prosperity will
surely arouse the natural inclination to presumption....
In the valley of humiliation, where men depend on God to teach them and to
guide their every step, there is comparative safety. But let everyone who has a
living connection with God pray for ... those who are standing on a lofty pinnacle
and who, because of their exalted position, are supposed to have much wisdom.
Unless such men feel their need of an Arm stronger than the arm of flesh to lean
upon, unless they make God their dependence, their view of things will become
distorted and they will fall.
The Lord has instructed me to urge everyone to realize that man is human.
The church of Christ is in need of close communion with the Lord Jesus. Those
who feel most their dependence upon God are usually those who have the least
amount of earthly treasure on which to depend.
Of all the trees, the Scotch fir tree is one of the best from which Christians
may draw inspiring lessons. The Scotch fir requires less soil for its roots than any
other tree. In a dry soil and amidst barren rocks it finds sufficient nourishment to
keep it as green in the winter as in the summer. With the least amount of earth
about its roots, it towers above all the other trees of the wood, reaching the highest
toward heaven....
The church members who are standing in their lot and place are trees of
righteousness, the planting of the Lord. Although their surrounding circumstances
may be adverse, yet, like the fir tree with little soil about its roots, they constantly
reach heavenward, drawing nourishment from above. Like the fragrant boughs
of the fir tree, they impart grace for grace received. The hidden nourishment
that comes from God is returned to Him in purest service.... God calls for every
man’s best energies. No man can find in any human being the strength that will
enable him to serve God with all his powers. He must be a partaker of the divine
nature.—
Manuscript 145, September 2, 1902
, “Diary.”
[260]
263