p. 5 | Adversity by G. B. T.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 25, 1916

Adversity

By G. B. T.

THERE is no text used oftener to comfort those in affliction than Rom. 8:28: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” The text is true under all circumstances of life, yet it is easier to admonish others who are passing through the fire of affliction to receive it as a comforting promise than to take comfort from it ourselves when the biting winds of adversity are blowing, and we are groping in darkness, feeling that the foundation beneath our feet is slipping away.

But it is when the fondest hopes of life are being blasted, when every cherished plan is being thrown to the winds, that we need to believe in God. Adversity will come, but it is often used as a purifier. Wintry snows destroy vermin, so adversity may destroy certain forms of besetting sins. The chastening which seems so grievous now, may later bear the peaceable fruits of righteousness.

Think of Joseph. Surely he, riding under a hot sun as he was being taken to Egypt, must have concluded that every plan and high ambition he had formed was blighted. He was but a boy, unaccustomed to being away from home. How he must have wept as he sat on the camel, riding into slavery in a strange land.

But it is when adversity has dried up the fountains of comfort and hope, that the great springs of God’s salvation flow the fullest and freshest. It is said that the springs at the base of the Alpine mountains are fullest and freshest when the sun has dried and parched the surrounding country. The heat that burns the plains, melts the snow and mountain glaciers, and increases the volume of the streams.

So God turned the adversity of this slave boy into a wonderful blessing. In the midst of temptation and sin he remained true to God. The things that seemed to be against him, were for him. Joseph from the dungeon of adversity became the greatest man in Egypt. He became a statesman of note, greater in reality than the Pharaoh who sat on the throne.

Adversity, if endured, brings out the best there is in us. It sometimes develops heroes. The giant oak growing on the summit of some lonely, barren moor, apparently starved on the naked rocks, and beaten upon by the winds and tempests, takes deeper root than a tree in a protected location. It sends its roots down into every crack and crevice, and is thus enabled to stand the strain occasioned by the greatest tempest and the chilling blasts of winter.

In the stress of adverse battle, men have sometimes refused to yield. They have nailed the colors to the masthead, and defied the opposing enemy. So in life’s rugged battles, when the wind of adversity whistles about us, amid the thunder’s roar and the lightning’s glare, we are to develop faith, and, like David, encourage ourselves in the Lord. See 1 Sam. 30:6. Though weak, we must be strong. Though hungry, thirsty, and naked, and with no certain abiding place, we must still hope in God. Like those who were stoned, mocked, scourged, and imprisoned, who wandered in sheepskins and goatskins, tempted, destitute, afflicted, and tormented, we must cling by faith to the arm of Jehovah. We can be assured that though the road may be rough, it cannot be long. Though some den or cave of earth be our shelter, we know that for those who trust in God there is a home untarnished by sin, which the storm-tossed pilgrim will soon enter.

G. B. T.