O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end! Deut. 32:29.
The Lord “doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.” Lam. 3:33. “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.” Ps. 103:13, 14. He knows our heart, for He reads every secret of the soul. . . . He knows the end from the beginning. Many will be laid away to sleep before the fiery ordeal of the time of trouble shall come upon our world. . . .
If Jesus, the world’s Redeemer, prayed, “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me,” and added, “nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt” (Matt. 26:39), how very appropriate it is for finite mortals to make the same surrender to the wisdom and will of God.
We have but a brief lifetime here, and we know not how soon the arrow of death may strike our hearts. We know not how soon we may be called to give up the world and all its interests. Eternity stretches before us. The curtain is about to be lifted. But a few short years, and for everyone now numbered with the living the mandate will go forth: “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: . . . and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.” Rev. 22:11.
Are we prepared? Have we become acquainted with God, the Governor of heaven, the Lawgiver, and with Jesus Christ whom He sent into the world as His representative? When our lifework is ended, shall we be able to say, as did Christ our example:
“I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. . . . I have manifested thy name”? John 17:4-6.
The angels of God are seeking to attract us from ourselves and from earthly things. Let them not labor in vain.
From Devotional: Our Father Cares, pp. 75, 76.