When We Are Distressed
We learn by painful experience the truth of our Lord’s warning: “we must pass through many tribulations to enter God’s kingdom” (Acts 14:22). This is not a justifying passage, for our Lord alone plunged into the gulf of hell to obtain our righteousness. For all his children, enduring tribulation with patience and joy is a purifying passage that conforms us to Christ and ripens us for heaven. All the saints have passed through many troubles on their way there. Returning home in obedience to the Lord’s command, Jacob was distressed over his pending reunion with Esau.