March 4, 1902

“The Right Standpoint” The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald 79, 9.

EJW

E. J. Waggoner

Present Truth.

How different things look to us after the bitter experience has passed! When Jacob heard that Simeon had been kept a captive in Egypt, he said, “Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away: all these things are against me.” But they were not against him; on the contrary, they were all working for him-working out a great deliverance, and a peaceful, happy old age. We can see it clearly enough; yet when our trials come, we complain, just as though ours were exceptions to the rule that “all things work together for good to them that love God.” If we were absolutely sure that good would result, we should bear the trial and the pain uncomplainingly; but in spite of all the assurances and all the examples of God’s word, we persist in looking at things as they seem now, instead of from the standpoint of eternity.ARSH March 4, 1902, page 134.1

Does anybody suppose that when we stand by the river of life in the paradise of God, we shall have any regrets or sorrow for what we have suffered here?-Of course not. We know that we shall not. Then what is the use of indulging in such regrets here? We know that if God be for us, nothing can be against us, and that all things work-are now working-together for good to them that love God. Moreover, it is our privilege and our duty to look at things from the eternal side, instead of from the temporal side; for God is our dwelling-place, and He inhabits eternity.ARSH March 4, 1902, page 134.2