p. 46 | Rest for the Weary by L. D. Santee

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 10, 1866

Rest for the Weary.

By L. D. Santee

How cheering to the toiling pilgrim, is the assurance that there is rest for the weary; that the time is soon coming when the wicked will cease from troubling and the weary ones enjoy a long and peaceful rest. How often when we are weary with our warfare against sin, or when the friends whom we loved have forsaken us, do we long for our eternal home. When we are reviled by our enemies, and we find the straight and narrow path a thorny one for our feet; when our burdens seem greater than we can bear, then we look forward by faith to Heaven and immortal glory, and are strengthened to exclaim, "Thy will, not mine, O God, be done;" and we are willing to count all things as loss for Christ.

If our cup be very bitter, let us remember that we are following in the path of our divine Master. He was a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. Isa. liii, 3. Do the thick clouds darken our pathway or the rude storms of adversity beat heavily against us? It is no evidence that we are forsaken of God. The furnace of affliction may be necessary to consume the dross. Perhaps like Jesus we are to become perfect through suffering.

Faithful then, oh, be but faithful, Kiss the chastening rod, Firm believing on the promise Of the eternal God.

Let us then endure joyfully the crosses that fall to our lot, believing that those light afflictions shall work out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. When we think of the glory shortly to be revealed when the Lord shall descend from heaven, how small and trifling our troubles appear, and how soon we shall forget all our trials and hardships, our weepings and our sufferings, when the redeemed of the Lord shall return and come with singing unto Zion with everlasting joy upon their heads. Isa. li, 11.

May the Lord help us to be living witnesses for the truth, and at the last day to make a part of that glorified company having robes of righteousness.

L. D. Santee. Gridley, McLean Co., Ill.