God's Leading in Suffering

Happy Sabbath everyone!

In my devotional reading this morning I ran across something that I had not heard before. Well, I have always heard the first part of this quote, but never heard the rest of it. It kind of changes one's perspective, when you know how the full thought goes.

I was reading about the imprisonment and death of John the Baptist in the book "The Desire of Ages". I am in chapter 22, the very last page--which in my book is page 225. This is what Mrs. White says--

"God never leads His children otherwise than they would choose to be led, if they could see the end from the beginning, and discern the glory of the purpose which they are fulfilling as co-workers with Him. Not Enoch, who was translated to heaven, not Elijah, who ascended in a chariot of fire, was greater or more honored than John the Baptist, who perished alone in the dungeon. 'Unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake.' Phil. 1:29. And of all the gifts that Heaven can bestow upon men, fellowship with Christ in His sufferings is the most weighty trust and the highest honor."

WOW! When I started reading this, I immediately thought "Oh yes, I know this quote. It's one of my favorites....." But then I kept reading past the first sentence, and my mind was completely blown away by what this quote is REALLY saying. It is not saying that we will be led down easy roads. It is not even saying that whatever happens to us is going to be good for us. Honestly, was being killed GOOD for John the Baptist???? One could debate this! If sin was GOOD for us, well, we would not have needed a Savior to come and save us FROM sin, right? But what I pick up from this quote is that 1) God will led us, 2) if we knew what God knows, we would agree with His leading, 3) we will not be saved from all bad and terrible things--not on this sinful earth anyway, 4) even if we are chosen to suffer for Christ, we will not be forgotten but instead will have been given a great trust. Seems to me that it would definately be easier to be translated to heaven, or to be taken up in a chariot of fire, than to be left to perish in a dungeon. Is this multiple choice? Can we pick????

I think it all comes down to trust. Do we trust Jesus enough to go through whatever we may go through on this old earth, and still trust and love Him? Or are we what might be called "a fair-weather friend?" Jesus sticks with us through thick and thin--do we stick with Him through the same?

"Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him..." Job 13:15