The consolation of Christians

Passage

The whole family of the servants of the supreme and true God has its consolation, which never disappoints, which does not depend on hope in shifting and transitory things; and those servants have no reason to regret even this life of time, for in it they are schooled for eternity. They enjoy their earthly blessings in the manner of pilgrims and they are not attached to them, while these earthly misfortunes serve for testing and correction. But there are those who jeer at their integrity. When any temporal disaster comes upon God's servants, such people ask, 'Where is your God now?' let those scoffers tell us where their gods are, when the same things happen to them. After all, it is to escape from such evils that they worship their gods - or maintain that they should be worshipped.

The Christian's answer is this:

My God is present everywhere, and wholly present everywhere. No limits confine Him. He can be present without showing Himself: He can depart without moving. When I am troubled with adversity, He is either testing my worth or punishing my faults. And He has an eternal reward in store for me in return for loyal endurance of temporal distress. But why should I deign to discuss your God with people like you? Still less should I speak with you about my God who 'is to be feared above all gods; since all the gods of the nations are demons; while the Lord made the heavens' (Psalms 96:4-5)