“There is a brother who has had wave upon wave of affliction. Everything goes against him. He is an upright, honest, industrious merchant, yet no matter what he does, his resources waste away like snow before the sun. It appears that for every ship of his, the wind blows the wrong way, and where others win in a business venture, he loses everything. Sees every day new straits attend, And wonders where the scene will end.[4]
When I spoke of walking through the fire, he said, “Ah! That is what I have been doing. I have been walking through it these months. Only to God and my own soul alone is it known how hot the furnace is.” Brother, take this text home to your heart: When thou dost walk through the fire, thou shalt not be burned. When your troubles are all over, you will still be left standing, and what is more, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. When the winding-up time comes, you will not have lost. While you think you have lost much, you will find when you read Scripture that you only lost shadows. Your substance was always safe, being laid up in Christ’s keeping in heaven. You will see that these trials of yours were the best things that could have happened to you. The day will come when you will say with David, I will sing of mercy and judgment (Psalm 101:1), and Before I was humbled, I went into error, but now I keep thy spoken word (Psalm 119:67).”