The Great Controversy The Great Controversy | Page 621

are not immediately answered. Though suffering the keenest anxiety,
terror, and distress, they do not cease their intercessions. They lay hold
of the strength of God as Jacob laid hold of the Angel; and the language
of their souls is: “I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me.”
Had not Jacob previously repented of his sin in obtaining the
birthright by fraud, God would not have heard his prayer and mercifully
preserved his life. So, in the time of trouble, if the people of God had
unconfessed sins to appear before them while tortured with fear and
anguish, they would be overwhelmed; despair would cut off their faith,
and they could not have confidence to plead with God for deliverance.
But while they have a deep sense of their unworthiness, they have
no concealed wrongs to reveal. Their sins have gone beforehand to
judgment and have been blotted out, and they cannot bring them to
remembrance.
Satan leads many to believe that God will overlook their
unfaithfulness in the minor affairs of life; but the Lord shows in His
dealings with Jacob that He will in no wise sanction or tolerate evil.
All who endeavor to excuse or conceal their sins, and permit them to
remain upon the books of heaven, unconfessed and unforgiven, will be
overcome by Satan. The more exalted their profession and the more
honorable the position which they hold, the more grievous is their course
in the sight of God and the more sure the triumph of their great adversary.
Those who delay a preparation for the day of God cannot obtain it in
the time of trouble or at any subsequent time. The case of all such is
hopeless.
Those professed Christians who come up to that last fearful conflict
unprepared will, in their despair, confess their sins in words of burning
anguish, while the wicked exult over their distress. These confessions
are of the same character as was that of Esau or of Judas. Those who
make the m, lament the result of transgression, but not its guilt. They
feel

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