DON'T BE DISCOURAGED by Our Young Folks

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Oct 1, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 47.

DON'T BE DISCOURAGED.

By Our Young Folks

DON'T conclude that the devil is having his way without opposition because nobody seems to be growing in grace very fast in your church, for it is generally the case that when things look as though God had no friends in sight there is something the matter with us. The Lord can always be depended on to put the real salt of the earth in the right place without our help. When we can't see anything that suits us in anybody, from the preacher to the man who dusts the seats, it is a pretty good sign that we need a revival in our own hearts, and the sooner we go to praying and believing for it the better it will be for the church. When the devil can persuade a man that he is about the only out-and-out righteous man in his part of the country, he is no doubt very well satisfied with his day's work.

Going around and proclaiming, with a long face and solemn voice, "I am very jealous for the Lord of hosts," is a poor thing to do to promote a revival. When God wants the census of his people taken, he will not employ a human instrument. The prophet Elijah thought he stood alone in the midst of a great multitude, and if it were possible for him to be mistaken, surely there is no call for any of us to go about in the community undertaking to number the Lord's own, and concluding that we have all the religion worth speaking of in the town.