God allowed the crisis in Jacob’s life at Peniel to totally surround him until he ultimately came to the point of making an earnest and humble appeal to God Himself. That night, he wrestled with God and literally came to the place where he could take hold of Him as never before. And through his narrow brush with danger, Jacob’s faith and knowledge of God was expanded, and his power to live a new and victorious life was born.

The Lord had to force David, through the discipline of many long and painful years, to learn of the almighty power and faithfulness of his God. Through those difficult years, he also grew in his knowledge of faith and godliness, which were indispensable principles for his glorious career as the king of Israel.

Nothing but the most dangerous circumstances in which Paul was constantly placed could ever have taught him, and thus the church through him, the full meaning of the great promise of God he learned to claim: “My grace is sufficient for you” (2 Corinthians 12:9). And nothing but the great trials and dangers we have experienced would ever have led some of us to know Him as we do, to trust Him as we have, and to draw from Him the great measure of His grace so indispensable during our times of greatest need.

Difficulties and obstacles are God’s challenges to our faith. When we are confronted with hindrances that block our path of service, we are to recognize them as vessels for faith and then to fill them with the fullness and complete sufficiency of Jesus.

As we move forward in faith, simply and fully trusting Him, we may be tested. Sometimes we may have to wait and realize that “perseverance [must] finish its work” (James 1:4). But ultimately we will surely find “the stone rolled away” (Luke 24:2) and the Lord Himself waiting to bestow a double blessing on us for our time of testing. A. B. SIMPSON

This is a promise given to you for the difficult places in which you may find yourself—a promise of safety and life even in the midst of tremendous pressure. And it is a promise that adjusts itself to fit the times as they continue to grow more difficult, as we approach the end of this age and the tribulation period.

What does it mean when it says that you will “escape with your life”? It means your life will be snatched from the jaws of the Enemy, as David snatched the lamb from the lion. It does not mean you will be spared the heat of the battle and confrontation with your foes, but it means “a table before [you] in the presence of [your] enemies” (Psalm 23:5), a shelter from the storm, a fortress amid the foe, and a life preserved in the face of continual pressure. It means comfort and hope from God, such as Paul received when he and his friends “were under great pressure, far beyond [their] ability to endure, so that [they] despaired even of life” (2 Corinthians 1:8). And it means the Lord’s divine help, such as when Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” (2 Corinthians 12:7 KJV) remained, but the power of Christ came to rest upon him, and he learned that God’s “grace is sufficient” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

May the Lord “wherever you go . . . let you escape with your life” and help you today to be victorious in your difficulties.

We often pray to be delivered from afflictions, and even trust God that we will be. But we do not pray for Him to make us what we should be while in the midst of the afflictions. Nor do we pray that we would be able to live within them, for however long they may last, in the complete awareness that we are held and sheltered by the Lord and can therefore continue within them without suffering any harm.

The Savior endured an especially difficult test in the wilderness while in the presence of Satan for forty days and nights, His human nature weakened by the need for food and rest. The three Hebrew young men were kept for a time in the flames of “the furnace heated seven times hotter than usual” (Daniel 3:19). In spite of being forced to endure the tyrant’s last method of torture, they remained calm and composed as they waited for their time of deliverance to come. And after surviving an entire night sitting among the lions, “when Daniel was lifted from the den, no wound was found on him, because he had trusted in his God” (Daniel 6:23).

They were able to endure in the presence of their enemies because they dwelt in the presence of their God.

You smell delightfully fragrant,” said the Gravel Walk to the bed of Camomile flowers under the window.

“We have been trodden on,” replied the Camomiles.

“Does that cause it?” asked the Gravel Walk. “Treading on me produces no sweetness.”

“Our natures are different,” answered the Camomiles. “Gravel walks become only the harder by being trodden upon; but the effect on our own selves is that, if pressed and bruised when the dew is upon us, we give forth the sweet smell you now delight in.”

“Very delightful,” replied the Gravel Walk.

Trials come alike to the Christian and to the man of the world. The one grows bitter and hardened under the experience, while the other becomes mellow and Christlike. It is because their natures are different.

Oh, beautiful rose, please tell me, For I would like to know, Why I must crush your petals That sweet perfume may flow.

Oh, life that is clothed in beauty, Perhaps like that beautiful rose, You will need to be crushed by suffering Ere you give out your best; who knows?

A life that is crushed by sorrow Can feel for another’s grief, And send out that sweet perfume of love That will bring some heart relief.

Oh, do not repine at your testing, When called to pass under the rod, It is that life might the sweeter be, And comes from the Hand of God.

He knows how much we are needing, Of sorrow, or suffering, or test, And only gives to His children The things that He knoweth are best.

Then let us rejoice when He sendeth Some sorrow or hardship that tries, And be glad to be crushed as the rose leaf, That a sweeter perfume may arise.

FLORA L. OSGOOD

Pressed beyond measure; yes, pressed to great length; Pressed so intensely, beyond my own strength; Pressed in my body and pressed in my soul, Pressed in my mind till the dark surges roll.

Pressure from foes, and pressure from dear friends. Pressure on pressure, till life nearly ends.

Pressed into knowing no helper but God; Pressed into loving His staff and His rod.

Pressed into liberty where nothing clings; Pressed into faith for impossible things.

Pressed into living my life for the Lord, Pressed into living a Christ-life outpoured.

The pressure of difficult times makes us value life. Every time our life is spared and given back to us after a trial, it is like a new beginning. We better understand its value and thereby apply ourselves more effectively for God and for humankind. And the pressure we endure helps us to understand the trials of others, equipping us to help them and to sympathize with them.

Some people have a shallowness about them. With their superficial nature, they lightly take hold of a theory or a promise and then carelessly tell of their distrust of those who retreat from every trial. Yet a man or woman who has experienced great suffering will never do this. They are very tender and gentle, and understand what suffering really means. This is what Paul meant when he said, “Death is at work in us” (2 Corinthians 4:12).

Trials and difficult times are needed to press us forward. They work in the way the fire in the hold of a mighty steamship provides the energy that moves the pistons, turns the engine, and propels the great vessel across the sea, even when facing the wind and the waves. A. B. Simpson