Teachers are to be laborers together with
God in promoting and carrying forward the work which Christ by
His own example has taught them to do. They are to be indeed
the light of the world, because they manifest those gracious
attributes revealed in the character and work of Christ, attributes
which will enrich and beautify their own lives as Christ's disciples.
What a solemn, sacred, important work is
the endeavor to represent Christ's character and His Spirit to
our world! This is the privilege of every principal and of every
teacher connected with him in the work of educating, training,
and disciplining the minds of youth. All need to be under the
inspiring, assuring conviction that they are indeed wearing the
yoke of Christ and carrying His burden.
Trials will be met in this work; discouragements
will press in upon the soul as teachers see that their labors
are not always appreciated. Satan will exercise his power over
them in temptations, in discouragements, in afflictions of bodily
infirmities, hoping that he can cause them to murmur against
God and close their understanding to His goodness, mercy, and
love, and the exceeding weight of glory
that is to be the reward of the overcomer. But God is leading
these souls to more perfect confidence in their heavenly Father.
His eye is upon them every moment; and if they lift their cry
to Him in faith, if they will stay their souls upon Him in their
perplexities, the Lord will bring them forth as gold purified.
The Lord Jesus has said: "I will never leave thee, nor forsake
thee." Hebrews 13:5. God may permit a train of circumstances
to come that will lead them to flee to the Stronghold, by faith
pressing to the throne of God amid thick clouds of darkness;
for even here His presence is concealed. But He is ever ready
to deliver all that trust in Him. Gained in such a way, the victory
will be more complete, the triumph more sure; for the tried,
sore-pressed, and afflicted one can say: "Though He slay
me, yet will I trust in Him." Job 13:15. "Although
the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the
vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall
yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and
there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet I will rejoice in the
Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation." Habakkuk 3:17,
18.
