p. 7 | He Will Not Forget by C. M. S.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Oct 15, 1914

He Will Not Forget

By C. M. S.

The child of God, in the midst of trials, may be tempted to think that God has forgotten him. It is a trick of the adversary always to throw a doubt into the Christian's mind when God has permitted a real, testing trial to come. He did it with Job, and God has given us a record of Job's experience to refute the claims of Satan and to encourage us in standing the test which he permits.

Many, when under trial, complain and even rebel. The remark is often made, “I don't see why God permits such trials to come upon me.” But the Scripture answers the question. God calls those whom he is testing his beloved. Note God's answer to such complaints and questionings in the following:—

“Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial among you, which cometh upon you to prove you, as though a strange thing happened unto you: but insomuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings, rejoice; that at the revelation of his glory also ye may rejoice with exceeding joy.” 1 Peter 4:12, 13.

Why does the trial come?—“To prove you.” It is not some strange thing that has just “happened.” God has a purpose in it; and in that trial we become “partakers of Christ's sufferings” that we may be also partakers in his rejoicings.

The prophet Daniel tells us that at “the time of the end” “many shall be purified, and made white, and tried;” but that the wicked will go on doing wickedly. Dan. 12:10. The testing and the trying prove the loyalty and the true worth of those who are finally counted among the jewels of the great King. There are two classes mentioned in Dan. 12:10, the purified and the wicked. The purified stand the test, the wicked do not. Should it not, then, be a cause of serious concern to us when we find ourselves complaining against the tests and trials that we are called upon to bear? He who complains and questions when trials come is in a most dangerous place. There are just two roads before him, one the right one and the other the wrong. His questionings lead to doubting, and his doubtings to disloyalty, and disloyalty finally separates him from God.

When one finds himself questioning and tempted to doubt God's leading when he is under trial, he should stop at once, lay the matter before God, and leave it there, trusting him to lead, and believing in his love and care. That is the right road; and if the tempted and tried soul will always take it when in trouble, he will keep always in the pathway of God's purpose and God's choosing.

The apostle James emphasizes this thought in these words:—

“Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.” James 1:12.

From this text we must draw the inference that the promise of the crown of life is to those only who endure temptation, who pass through trial and affliction, and are “tried.” It is necessary that God's jewels should be a tried and tested people if God is to guarantee that sin shall never enter his universe again. But that is what he does do when he declares that “affliction shall not rise up the second time.” Nahum 1:9. The hymn writer asks:—

“Must I be carried to the skies On flowery beds of ease, Whilst others fought to win the prize, And sailed through bloody seas?”

He intends by the question to show the folly of such a hope. The writer of the epistle to the Hebrews impresses the importance of steadfastness in this matter in these words:—

“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. . . . Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.” Heb. 12:1-4.

This shows plainly that there is a battle to be fought, a victory to be won. Our Saviour's direction to those who would be his is, “Strive to enter in.” The prophet of the Lord, in speaking of the promised Messiah, says: “Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation.” Isa. 28:16. God knew the character of that stone, and knew that he could depend upon it. That stone was Christ. We, who are “so to walk, even as he walked,” must also be tested and tried and proved, that we may be fit stones to go into a building with such a foundation.

But God does not forget his child in the furnace of affliction. He sits “as a refiner and purifier of silver.” The refiner must keep constant watch of the fire and of the metal which he is refining and purifying. So does the eye of God watch his own while the furnace of affliction tests and proves and refines them, fitting them for an honored place in his everlasting temple.

God, who remembered Noah afloat upon the flood that punished the ancient world and harrowed down mountains and filled seas and valleys with the débris; who remembered Lot in the midst of the overthrow of the cities of sin in the vale of Siddim; who remembered Daniel in the midst of the hungry lions; who remembered Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego in the seven-times heated furnace of a king whose anger was as hot as his furnace; who permitted the clouds of his displeasure with sin to settle down over his own Son dying upon the cross for us,—he it is to whom we look, and he it is who will remember—who has given his own word that he will remember—that remnant that is found faithfully keeping the commandments of God and having the faith of Jesus.

Let us strive so to live that God can number us among that last little remnant company, anchored by the great chain of his holy law to the very throne of God. There is no other safe anchorage for him who would abide the fury of the last days. There is no other Rock that will withstand the shock of the mighty waves of Satan's wrath. There is no other shelter that can hide us when the wrath of God is poured out upon the enemies of God's truth who have refused his seal and have accepted in their right hand or their foreheads the mark of allegiance to that power that has fought God since before creation began.

God has promised and has provided a hiding place under the shadow of his wing. Accept it, and accept no other. That makes one a partaker of Christ; but the partaker of Christ is the one who holds the beginning of his confidence steadfast unto the end. Heb. 3:14. He does not question, he will not doubt, he does not waver; but placing his feet firmly on the sure foundation, he stands fast, rooted and grounded. He knows,

and it is your privilege to know, that God has not forgotten and will not forget. The mother may possibly forget her nursing child, “yet will I not forget thee.” Isa. 49:15.

As we are nearing the close of the conflict, and the powers of darkness are strengthening themselves with all might and ingenuity, we may expect to see the powerful and deceptive workings of Satan as never before in the history of sin. We may expect trials, tests, temptations, burdens, and afflictions; but at the same time it is our privilege to know that we are in the hands of our loving Father, and that he does not for one moment forget his loving and trusting children. In that hope we may rest with confidence and assurance; and so resting and trusting, it will be our glad privilege to look up, in the day of his coming, and say: “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”

C. M. S.