To the converted man, "Old things are passed away; behold all things are become new; And all things are of God." (2 Corinthians 5:17-18)
The man of faith is able to see God in all things; for God is in all things, and faith does not teach men fables, but simply enables them to see and know the truth.
And what a source of strength and comfort is this ability which faith gives! All nature then has a voice which testifies of the power of the life of God: and this power is given unto us.
The life of God develops in the planted seed, and the shoot, though tender, finds its way through clod and rocky barrier to the light. The sap flows through the trunk of the tree, and it swells and expands with a force which cannot be stayed.
The moisture rises from the earth, the clouds form, the rain descends, vegetation grows, the cloud turns water into snow and ice, the sun ripens the fruit and the grain, and in a hundred ways we see nature all around us carrying on her work with a power which no man can check.
Having once learned some of nature's laws, we know that whatever they demand, must be. There is no power that can prevent it. And why? Simply because there is no power that can prevent the Lord from doing His work.
Seen with the eye of faith, all this is encouragement for us; for God, if we but let Him, works in us, and with the same irresistible power. His life is in the growing plant, and His life is also in us; and just as it worked to force the tender sprout through the hard clod up to the surface and the light, so it works in our hearts to do that which it is sent forth to do. And that it will do it is as certain as any law of nature; for the laws of nature are but the laws of God.
When we receive God's word, "not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God...which effectually works [in us]," (1 Thessalonians 2:13) and will overcome every obstacle to the accomplishment of its purpose. That is the way God's word works, and in nature we find visible demonstration of the fact. And thus nature speaks to us with a voice of cheer and courage when our ears are but tuned to catch the harmony of God's law.
God's word is Spirit and life. "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." (John 6:63)
It is life to the plant, for by it the plant was created and caused to bud and bring forth fruit and seed "after its kind." (Genesis 1:11)
And it is life in us, shaping us irresistibly toward the far higher destiny for which we were created.
We should never become discouraged. Let the word into your heart by receiving it in faith, and it will work and will surely accomplish its purpose. It will surely cleanse you and create you new in Christ. The Lord has spoken it. "For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and returns not thither, but waters the earth, and makes it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater; So shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth; it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." (Isaiah 55:10-11) "The man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, ... [and whose] delight is in the law of the Lord; ... shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he does shall prosper." (Psalm 1:1-3)
Whether in the visible things of nature or in the human heart, the word of God will work through every obstacle. The life will be manifested and the righteousness cannot fail.--Present Truth, January 24, 1895.