When I was little, our family was always in church. Our minister loved preaching about the time of trouble. Know what? In time, his preaching became a time of trouble for me. I was scared witless. I didn’t want Jesus to come again. The thought scared me into the middle of next month.  
 
Well, as a body of believers, we do know (prophetically) quite a bit about the future and what’s coming down the pike. One of the better-known quotations from Ellen White says that usually trouble is worse in expectation than reality—but not this time. The trouble will be far worse than any of us can imagine. So, what do we do now: run for the hills?  
 
First, I want to encourage you to read the tail end of The Great Controversy: chapters 39 and 40. Daniel 12.1 tells us, “Jesus, who stands for God’s people, will stand up, and there will be a time of trouble worse than anything before, but at that time Your people will be delivered.” What a wonderful promise. Jesus will blot out the sins of the saints, so they are prepared. This, of course, is something that heaven would love to do for each one of us.  
 
God will step back and remove His restraints on Satan, who will proceed to bring about a terrible time of trouble. Those of us who persist in honoring all of God’s Law will be considered the cause of all the trouble (by people who hate and will persecute the saints). The term used is that we will be objects of “universal execration.” (Sounds bad, doesn’t it? Look it up.)  
 
Two forces will join to make it look like the saints are all at the point of destruction: Romanism in the old world and Apostate Protestantism in the new. They’ll combine to pass a universal decree that after a certain time, Sabbath keeping saints may all be put to death. The chapter says that for the saints, this is tantamount to the “time of Jacob’s trouble.” Jeremiah 30.7 says we will be saved out of it. (Another one of the “those” promises.) However, between now and then, we need to do everything we can to put ourselves in a proper light to our world to disarm prejudice and avert danger. Question: If trusting God is the only means of deliverance for us, are we working on developing that trust?  
 
Revelation 3.10 says, “I will keep you from the hour of temptation.” Temptation refers to the urge to walk away from God. Will you hang onto Him no matter what? Isaiah 27.5: “Take hold of my strength to make peace with me, and you will make peace with me.”  
 
Question: Why does God permit the saints to go through such a formidable time as awaits us? The final time of trouble consumes all the earthiness of the saints, so Jesus’ likeness is reproduced precisely in each of us. In sinners? Yes, in sinners.
 
Satan will impersonate the second coming of Jesus, and all the world will claim that the Savior has returned. The saints will recognize the falseness of what the enemy is doing. Rather than bowing the knee to him, we’ll become more than now, diligent students of Scripture and lovers of God’s truth.  
 
Last question: when it looks like God has forgotten us and we’re done for, Psalm 27.5 says the saints will hold their integrity in the face of death. Not only will our characters be transformed, but we will also come out of the time of trouble with a passionate hatred of sin and evil. It’s like when God took Israel out of Egypt; next, he had to take Egypt out of Israel, which was what the spring of Marah did for them. As the time nears, the bitter will do God’s work of grace for each of us, including you. Blessings!