“Then Job answered the Lord and said: ‘I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You.’” Job 42:1-2. This was Job’s trustworthy testimony at the conclusion of his great trials. This certainty produces a blessed rest and peace in all of life’s changing circumstances. This is the mighty God who has called us and elected us to be conformed to the image of His Son before the foundation of the world was laid. Rom. 8:29; Eph. 1:4. He is the One who says to us, “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” Isa. 41:10. “Can a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are continually before Me.” Isa. 49:15-16. God’s love for us surpasses everything that we can comprehend or understand. We are included in His great love and care to the last little detail. His eyes are always watching us, and we are not forgotten for one second. He will support us and powerfully help us, raising us up with His righteous right hand in every single temptation and difficulty so that we will not fall. If we do fall, we have hardened ourselves against His help that is offered in love. Therefore we do not need to be dismayed and fearful in life’s battles. On the contrary, we can go forth with great boldness in faith and confidence that He who has begun the good work in us will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. Phil. 1:6. Our walls of difficulties are always before Him! He is intimately acquainted with everything and has a living interest in helping us to overcome all things. God can do everything, and it is possible for Him to carry out each single thought! Paul lived in this full assurance of faith as well, and he says with great boldness, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Phil. 4:13. In 2 Corinthians 2:14 he says, “Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.” “For God has not given us a spirit of discouragement, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” 2 Tim. 1:7. Therefore we can lift our heads up high, and with boldness we can run in the race that is set before us. The wretched Christendom which we meet just about everywhere speaks of a sad state of affairs. They say they are God’s children, but year after year they testify that they are so wretched and cannot do anything, and that they have to sin daily (but this they can do!). They also need strength to sin, and they receive this strength from the devil. “If we are faithless, He remains faithful,” is a recurring refrain among such people. But if we remain unfaithful, we will also remain children of the devil, precisely because God is faithful and cannot break His own word. If they hear about love and righteousness in practical daily life, they immediately retort that He is their first love, and that He is their righteousness. However, what He is, is of no avail if we do not become like Him in doing the good. All this sighing in unbelief and misery in wretched Christendom is from Satan. God jealously desires the spirit which He let dwell in us; His entire longing is to gain access to our life so that we can be transformed into the image of Christ, from glory to glory. We need to live the gospel of faith and preach it powerfully for as long as it is called “Today.” God be praised, because He who can do everything will also give us everything that serves us unto life and godliness, so that we can live in victory and blessing in the midst of this evil and unbelieving world.Aksel J. Smith