Psalms 129:1-2. Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say: many a time have they afflicted me from my youth: yet they have not prevailed against me.
The trials of some of God’s people begin very early. When first we put on the armor of God, the adversary is usually very bitter against us. Some of our old friends and acquaintances cannot bear to see the change in us, and they bitterly oppose us, so that God’s children may have to say, "From our youth they have afflicted us." But you must not think that the beginning of sorrows will be the end of them. Oh, no! "Many a time have they afflicted me." God’s children are often called to pass under the rod, and the rod is frequently held in the hands of the children of men. Your Saviour carried the cross, and he expects you to carry it, too. He does not tell you to take it up now and then, but to take it up always, and to follow him with a constant will, cheerfully bearing it for his dear name’s sake. "Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth: yet"-Is not that sweetly put?-"yet they have not prevailed against me." You recollect how Joseph’s brothers envied him, and at last sold him into Egypt; yet from the dungeon he rose to the throne, and he could say. "Yet they have not prevailed against me." If thou art of the seed royal, one of the chosen people of God, they shall not prevail against thee. Even proud Haman, with all his plotting, was not able to overcome poor Mordecai; and the Lord thy God will preserve thee from the fury of all thy adversaries, and bring good to thee out of all the evil they try to do unto thee.
Psalms 129:1-2. Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say: many a time have they afflicted me from my youth: yet they have not prevailed against me.
The trials of some of God’s people begin very early. When first we put on the armor of God, the adversary is usually very bitter against us. Some of our old friends and acquaintances cannot bear to see the change in us, and they bitterly oppose us, so that God’s children may have to say, "From our youth they have afflicted us." But you must not think that the beginning of sorrows will be the end of them. Oh, no! "Many a time have they afflicted me." God’s children are often called to pass under the rod, and the rod is frequently held in the hands of the children of men. Your Saviour carried the cross, and he expects you to carry it, too. He does not tell you to take it up now and then, but to take it up always, and to follow him with a constant will, cheerfully bearing it for his dear name’s sake. "Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth: yet"-Is not that sweetly put?-"yet they have not prevailed against me." You recollect how Joseph’s brothers envied him, and at last sold him into Egypt; yet from the dungeon he rose to the throne, and he could say. "Yet they have not prevailed against me." If thou art of the seed royal, one of the chosen people of God, they shall not prevail against thee. Even proud Haman, with all his plotting, was not able to overcome poor Mordecai; and the Lord thy God will preserve thee from the fury of all thy adversaries, and bring good to thee out of all the evil they try to do unto thee.