--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Anonymous collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 2 number: 12 published: 1899-10 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Anonymous, "Hope Thou in God," *Improvement Era* 2, no. 12 (October 1899): 922.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera212unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera212unse start_page: 922 end_page: 922 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1899-10) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera212unse publication_year: 1899 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1899, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Hope Thou in God HOPE THOU IN GOD. Our Heavenly Father has never promised to the best man or woman that their voyage of life shall be over smooth seas without a "capful" of head-winds. He so orders it that the precious things shall be costly things, and that the noblest life shall be one of conflicts, oppositions, trials, and often of severe discipline. Observe that there is a mighty difference between being dis- tressed and being discouraged. The king of Israel had good reason to be distressed; for a band of marauding Amalekites had attacked and burned down his town of Ziklag, and had carried off his wife Abigail as a captive. He goes right to God and asks what he shall do, and the prompt answer is to "pursue them." Whereupon he musters his gallant six hundred, pushes after the enemy and routs them, and recovers his wife and all his plundered goods. Disaster did not discourage him; it drove him to God. Such experiences in the Psalmist's life taught him to ring out the words of good cheer, "Why art thou cast down, my soul? hope thou in God! Trust in the Lord and be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thy heart."