"Wonder why the test
When we try to do our best."
They are not the only ones who can say,
"Trials dark on every hand
And we cannot understand,"
But they and all the redeemed, God's real children, can say,
"We will understand it better by and by."
Till then they can rest upon His word, 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 honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ,"—1 Peter 1:7; for "we know that all things work together for good to those that love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose."—Rom. 8:28.
"Thou art as much His care as if beside,
Nor man nor angel lived in Heaven or Earth."
FOR FURTHER STUDY:—Some readers may conclude, because trials come to the lives of the unredeemed as well as the redeemed, to those who are not God's children, as well as to those who are God's children, that, therefore, their characters are likewise developed by trials. Let such readers consider two facts:—
First, it is a creature of God being developed in one case; in the other, it is one who has been redeemed and adopted as a child of God (Gal. 4:4-7), and born of the Spirit (John 3:8), that is being developed.