Do not fancy
that that is a sad and doleful thought to begin the new year with.
God forbid! It would be doleful and sad indeed if any one of us, in
spite of all his right-doing, might be plunged into any hopeless
misery, through the fault of other people, over whom he has no
control. But thanks be to the Lord, it is not so. We are His
children, and He cares for each and every one of us separately. Each
and every one of us has to answer for himself alone, face to face
with his God, day by day; every man must bear his own burden; and to
every one of us who love God, all things will work together for good.
It is, and was, and always will be, as Abraham well knew, far from
God to punish the righteous with the wicked. The Judge of all the
earth will do right. None of us who repents and turns from the sins
he sees round him and in him; none of us who prays for the light and
guiding of God's Spirit; none of us who struggles day by day to keep
himself unspotted from this evil world, and live as God's son,
without scandal or ill-name in the midst of a sinful and perverse
generation; none of us who does that, but God's blessing will rest on
him. What ruins others will only teach and strengthen him; what
brings others to shame, will only bring him to honour, and make his
righteousness plain to be seen by all, that God may be glorified in
His people.
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