FAINT NOT, NOR FALTER by M. Wood

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 26, 1879

FAINT NOT, NOR FALTER.

By M. Wood

“There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God and eschewed evil.”

From this language of Scripture we are led to the conclusion that Job was a loyal subject of the most high God, walking blameless before the Lord, keeping all his commandments, and believing in the second advent of the blessed Redeemer. God blessed this ancient worthy in a most wonderful manner. His worldly possessions were immense. In short, this man was the greatest of all the men of the East. He was more eminent than any other person in that region in wisdom, wealth and piety,—all within was holy, all without was righteous; and his whole life was employed in abstaining from evil, and in seeking God; yet this saint was not exempt from the vicissitudes of life, nor from the power of Satan. Says Job, “Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.”

Satan, while going to and fro in the earth, beheld Job walking before God with integrity and uprightness of heart, and basking in the smiles of the Almighty, and he cast his revengeful eye upon this man of God, and sought to destroy him. Satan reasoned very much as men reason to-day relative to God’s people: “Put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.” Let poverty and affliction come upon him, and he will prove a traitor to his Master. We know how well Job stood the test, and how the Lord turned his captivity when he prayed for his friends, and gave Job twice as much as he had before.

But how will it be with us; will our lives be such as to put to shame the enemies of the cross of Christ, and prove them false prophets? or shall we succumb to the temptations and trials which we encounter by the way, and yield the ground so nobly gained? God forbid that we should falter now. No man has ever attained to the full stature of manhood who has not been ground as it were to powder, by the deprivations, hardships, and trials which he has encountered in life. This is a world where men are fitted for a higher sphere. They are not made by velvet fingers, but molded by iron hands.

“Oh for a faith that will not shrink, Though pressed by many a foe; That will not tremble on the brink Of poverty or woe.”

M. WOOD.