15),
and He encourages us to rest in Him and not be afraid; and so we
abound in hope, through His power as we believe.
2. He reveals to us the eternal purpose of God in our trials and
difficulties. Listen to Paul: "All things work together for good
to them that love God." "We know _this_," says Paul (Romans
viii. 28). But how can this be? Ah! there is where faith must be
exercised. It is "in believing" that we "abound in hope through
the power of the Holy Ghost."
God's wisdom and ability to make all things work together for our
good are not to be measured by our understanding, but to be
firmly held by our faith. My child is in serious difficulty and
does not know how to help himself; but I say, "Leave it to me."
He may not understand how I am to help him, but he trusts me, and
rejoices in hope. We are God's dear children, and He knows how to
help us, and make all things work together for our good, if we
will only commit ourselves to Him in faith.
"Thou art as much His care as if beside
Nor man nor angel lived in Heaven or earth;
Thus sunbeams pour alike their glorious tide,
To light up worlds, or wake an insect's mirth."
Again, afflictions overtake us, and now the Holy Spirit
encourages our hope and makes it to abound by such promises as
these: "Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh
for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we
look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which
are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal, but the
things which are not seen are eternal" (2 Cor.
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