Heaven’s Honor Roll, September 21
Heaven’s Honor Roll, September 21
But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. Job 23:10.
The Christian who loves his heavenly Father may not discern by outward providences or visible signs any heavenly favor above that given those with little or no consecration. Often he is sorely afflicted, distressed, perplexed, and hedged in on every side. Appearances seem to be against him....
Joseph was virtuous and his character was marked for true goodness and strength of purpose, yet he was maligned, persecuted, and dealt with as a criminal; but God had signal victories for Joseph, even as he appeared to suffer because of his rightdoing.
Daniel was cast into the lion’s den because of his firm adherence to principle and his loyalty to God, but he triumphed in the end, and God was glorified through His servant whom He permitted to be humbled. Job was stripped of his earthly treasures, bereaved of his children, and made a spectacle of loathing to his friends, but in God’s time He showed He had not forsaken His servant....
A true and faithful Stephen was stoned to death by the enemies of Christ. Surely it did not appear that God was strengthening His cause in the earth by thus permitting wicked men to triumph, but from this very circumstance Paul was converted to the faith, and through his word thousands were brought to the light of the gospel.
A precious, affectionate John was an exile on the lonely Isle of Patmos, but here Jesus met with him and revealed to him events ... stretching over the ages to the coming of Christ, and making known the counsel of the Lord for future ages.... He was permitted to look upon the throne of God and to behold the white-robed redeemed ones who had come out of great tribulation and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
If you are called to go through the fiery furnace for His sake, Jesus will be by your side even as He was with the faithful three in Babylon. Those who love their Redeemer will rejoice at every opportunity of sharing with Him humiliation and reproach. The love they bear their Lord makes suffering for His sake sweet. [272]