An Ever-Abiding Companion by George Washington Amadon

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Feb 26, 1914

An Ever-Abiding Companion

By George Washington Amadon

It is a blessed thing for one to feel that he is not alone. To know that there is some one who will walk by his side, who will give him counsel in times of perplexity, who will comfort his heart in sorrow, who will sustain him in his weakness, who will walk with him in the darkness as well as in the light, and who will never forsake him when the load is hard to carry and when the road is rough and uneven,—the consciousness of such companionship gives assurance to all the life. This companionship is denied us as far as our association with our fellows is concerned. There is no earthly friend, however true, who can quite meet all these requirements, for at best we are oftentimes separated from our earthly friends.

Particularly is this true of those who go forth to labor for the Master. In every age men and women have forsaken home and loved ones; associations which had become a part of their very lives have been sacrificed, and they have gone forth to labor for the Master, largely deprived of human friendship and sympathy. Gospel workers are doing this today. The ministers, the Bible workers, the canvassers, connected with this movement are going through this very experience. How many devoted brethren and sisters have left wives or husbands, parents or children, fathers or mothers,

brothers or sisters, and have forsaken the comforts of home and association with friends, and are out in the great world endeavoring to win strangers for Christ.

But if human companionship is largely denied these workers, they may carry with them every day the assurance of divine companionship. He who gave them the gospel to carry to the world has promised: “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” In this blessed companionship we may walk day by day. In this communion we may joy and rejoice continually. We have in Christ a friend that sticketh closer than a brother, one who comes nearer to us than any kith or kin, one who can enter more fully into our hearts than the dearest earthly friend we have ever known.

This blessed companionship we need to cultivate, and we shall find this heavenly Friend more responsive to our effort than we can imagine. He desires to unite his life with ours, to live with us, to abide with us in every experience and on every occasion. In him, dear lonely worker, is your comfort. He marks your labors from day to day. He takes account of your trials. He notes your burden of heart, your anxiety, your hours of loneliness, your moments of depression. His blessed presence can fill the void left by earthly associations from which you have parted. “Acquaint now thyself with him.”

F. M. W.