​June 4

That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ — 1 Pet. 1:7.
 
It is your faith that is on trial now. In the calmer days when the sun of favor shone brightly upon you, you were quietly laying the foundation of a knowledge of the Truth, and rearing the superstructure of Christian character. Now you are in the furnace to be proved; summon therefore all your courage; fortify your patience; nerve yourself to endurance; hold fast to your hope; call to mind the promises, they are still yours; and "cast not away your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward." "In quietness and confidence shall be your strength." "Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him," and faith has gained her victory—Z '95, 135 (R 1822).
 
As the assayist in putting the gold ore into the fiery crucible seeks not its destruction, but its separation from the dross and its refining, so God gives us fiery experiences, not to destroy our faith, but to separate from it the dross of sin, error, selfishness and worldliness, and to make it in every way valuable, which will be manifested as worthy of praise, honor and glory at our Lord's revelation—during His Epiphany—P '36, 78.
 
Parallel passages: 1 Chron. 29:17; Psa. 26:2; 81:7; Matt. 13:19-22; 2 Thes. 1:3-5; Heb. 6:13, 18; Jas. 1:3, 12; Heb. 11:7, 17-19, 25, 29, 30, 32-39; Job 1; 2; Ezra 8:22; Matt. 8:23-27; 15:21-28; 9:28; 14:25-33.

Hymns: 197, 12, 57, 93, 110, 124, 137.
Poems of Dawn, 51: Right Was the Pathway.
Tower Reading: Z '12, 320 (R 5114).

Questions: What things did I experience this week in line with this text? How were they borne? What was helpful or hindersome amid them? What did they effect?

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RIGHT WAS THE PATHWAY

LIGHT after darkness,
Gain after loss,
Strength after suffering,
Crown after cross.
Sweet after bitter,
Song after sigh,
Home after wandering,
Praise after cry.

Sheaves after sowing,
Sun after rain,
Sight after mystery,
Peace after pain.
Joy after sorrow,
Calm after blast,
Rest after weariness,
Sweet rest at last.

Near after distant,
Gleam after gloom,
Love after loneliness,
Life after tomb.
After long agony
Rapture of bliss!
Right was the pathway
Leading to this!