Grace for the Crisis by W. A. S.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Mar 3, 1904

Grace for the Crisis

By W. A. S.

THERE is comfort in the assurance that the emergency that comes upon us so unexpectedly does not take the Lord by surprise; and he has special grace for every crisis.

Paul was brought into a place where not one of his companions stood with him, and all forsook him. But that One who had promised grace sufficient for every trial did not forget the aged soldier of the cross. “Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me,” wrote Paul, “and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear; and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.”

Looking ahead at difficulties and trials, the heart might be overwhelmed at the prospect; but when the experiences have come, and the billows of trial have broken, wave on wave, lo, as the tried one looks back after it is over, he

sees that grace sufficient came with each emergency. “My grace is sufficient for thee,” is the message to every child of grace.

It is true that there is a special time of trouble before all of us who shall live until the Lord comes. Many are sometimes inclined to look forward with anxious apprehension to the times before us. There is consolation and strength and present peace in the knowledge that grace comes with the trial. “Things present, nor things to come,” can never separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Moody gave a wise answer to one who asked, “Have you the faith to be a martyr?” “No,” he replied; “but when it will glorify the Lord for me to suffer martyrdom, he will give me a martyr’s faith.”

A missionary in China was awaiting execution during the Boxer uprising, along with her husband and little one and others. She left a message for her friends, which I quote as showing how truly the Lord verified his promise of strength for the crisis. She wrote in her last letter to her home friends:—

I am preparing for the end very quietly and calmly. The Lord is wonderfully near, and he will not fail me. I was very restless and excited while there seemed a chance of life, but God has taken away that feeling, and now I just pray for grace to meet the terrible end bravely. The pain will soon be over; and O, the sweetness of the welcome above! My little baby will go with me. . . . I do not regret coming to China, but I am sorry I have done so little. My married life, two precious years, have been so very full of happiness. We will die together, my dear husband and I.

So to the naturally timid and the frail, to hearts that cling to the quiet of home and shrink from the conflict and the tumult, there comes the grace that strengthens. It is all of grace, and not of human endurance. The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong. There is strength that comes in the crisis that enables one to act a part not at all possible to the individual unaided. Many a soul will know by experience the meaning of this word written to the dear ones at home by one of our missionary sisters just after sending the cable message bearing news of her husband’s death:—

I sent a prayer with the message that the Lord would strengthen you as he has me. I have gone through more than I ever thought possible. O that you, too, will be able to bear it!

Yes, there is grace to enable every child of faith to endure. “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee.” Isa. 43:2. Let the knowledge of perilous times before us lead to making sure work in keeping truth in the heart and sins forgiven in the present, but let no anxious fear of “things to come” darken the present experience in the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. He who was strengthened by an angel in the hour of his trial, when the endurance of the flesh was at its utmost limit, has pledged that his grace shall be sufficient for us. It comes with the emergency to the child of grace.

W. A. S.