To anyone there may come the belief of loneliness or separation, or a feeling of being misunderstood or misjudged, or of having little in common mentally with those with whom one is associated either in business or socially, or of seeing friends and loved ones unfaithful or going far away, or of having to fight a hard battle for right, health, or supply. Then is the time to get away from self-pity and give deep thought to the successful overcoming by others of what appeared to be more formidable difficulties, and to consider how their victories were won, in order to apply to our own problems the right method of conquest.
The Bible gives many accounts of the individual's struggle against evils that might have overwhelmed and crushed him. For example, Jacob wrestled with error until, at the end of the strife, came the dawn of peace and a blessing. Joseph, sold by his brethren as a slave, led to a foreign land, there to encounter jealousy, enmity, and imprisonment,—alone, cut off from his loved ones, his home, his interests,—had to reject all the thoughts of evil. His triumph enabled him, later, to bring prosperity even to his own folk in time of need.
Again, the life of Moses is typical of the development of individuality rising largely above dependence on friends or on environment. He was an alien to the house of Pharaoh, occupying a high place from a worldly point of view, having all he desired or required, but in thought far apart from the Egyptians, inasmuch as his sympathies were with his own people, the Israelites. Having endeavored in a mistaken way to express his thought of right, he became homeless, a stranger in a strange land, alone, but afterwards a leader chosen of God to deliver his people, though still alone, in that his thoughts were higher than were those of his followers. He was often misunderstood, and had to struggle against rebellion, lack of faith, waywardness, and idolatry in others; yet his very grappling with and overcoming of the wrong enabled him to receive the Ten Commandments, which laid the foundation of right conduct from that time to the present.
