FOLLOW ME | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Mar 12, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 19.

FOLLOW ME.

How MUCH of comfort is expressed in those words of our Redeemer, "Follow me"! He does not ask us to go before him into untried paths, into unmet difficulties, into strange temptations; he does not ask us to turn aside from the oft rugged path into some untrod by-path. He only asks us to follow him in the path which he has trodden before us, into the difficulties which he has met, into the temptations which he has overcome. Here he will cheer us by his Spirit. The fragrance of his life hallows the whole path. Is the way steep and rugged? Jesus has been here before us. Do the briars and thorns wound and tear flesh and garment? Even so they did those of the Master. Do the clouds hang heavily, and does darkness shut us in? A deeper darkness than we may know enveloped

Jesus in this very path. Do we suffer weariness and pain? So did Jesus. Are we perplexed, tempted, tried? He was before we were. Do we meet scoffing and persecution? Jesus met more. His feet have taken every step of the journey which he calls upon us to take. In every trial, every difficulty, every temptation, every cruel assault, we can say with truth, Jesus was here. Jesus was here. And knowing this we can come with full confidence to One who can be "touched with the feeling of our infirmities," who is "a merciful and faithful High Priest," having been made "in all things" "like unto his brethren." To him we can come boldly and "obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." He will walk the path again with us by his Holy Spirit. He will make the roughest places smooth by his presence. The valley of weeping will become a wellspring of joy; the parched land, a fountain of life. And faith will not only say, "Jesus was here," but, "Jesus is here."