June 3
In partnership with hindrances
“Thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field” (Job 5:23).
“Neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us” (Num. 14:9).
The very things that are obstacles—stumbling-blocks in the way, may, when the chastening of God has had its way, be taken as helps instead of hindrances. We may take our very impediments into partnership in the work of our sanctification. Praise be to His Name!
—I. Lilias Trotter.
When God is going to do something wonderful, He begins with a difficulty. If it is going to be something very wonderful, He begins with an impossibility.
—Charles Inwood.
A difficulty should always be interpreted as an invitation. If the Church be healthy a great task will always be an allurement. For difficulties are only rightly interpreted when they are regarded as promises. Every difficulty contains prospective wealth. Break it open, and the wealth is yours! We appropriate the strength of the enemy we vanquish. Overcome a difficulty, and its power henceforth enlists on our side. . . . Let us, therefore, look at difficulties as promises in the guise of tasks. They are treasure-houses presenting the appearance of bristling efforts. Break them open, I say, and the treasure is yours. To dare is to win!
—J. H. Jowett.