EGW Notes - Lesson 11
Sabbath Afternoon, September 3
Christ presented to men that which was entirely contrary to the
representations of the enemy in regard to the character of God, and
sought to impress upon men the love of the Father, who “so loved the
world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in
Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16. He urged upon
men the necessity of prayer, repentance, confession, and the abandonment
of sin. He taught them honesty, forbearance, mercy, and compassion,
enjoining upon them to love not only those who loved them, but those
who hated them and treated them despitefully. In all this He was revealing
to them the character of the Father, who is long-suffering, merciful, and
gracious, slow to anger, and full of goodness and
truth.—Counsels to Parents, Teachers,
and Students, pp. 29, 30.
The lives of His people are to reveal love, meekness, long-suffering.
Long-suffering bears something, yea, many things, without seeking to be
avenged by word or act.
“Long-suffering” is patience with offence; long endurance. If you are
long-suffering, you will not impart to others your supposed knowledge of
your brother’s mistakes and errors. You will seek to help and save him,
because he has been purchased with the blood of Christ. “Tell him his fault
between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy
brother.” “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual
restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou
also be tempted.” To be long-suffering is not to be gloomy and sad, sour
and hardhearted; it is to be exactly the
opposite.—My Life Today, p. 52.
I saw that those who profess the truth should hold the standard high,
and induce others to come up to it. I saw that some would have to walk
the straight path alone. Their companions and children will not walk the
self-denying pathway with them. Patience and forbearance should ever
characterize the lives of those lone pilgrims, following the example of
their blessed Master. They will have many trials to endure, but they have a
hope that makes the soul strong, that bears them up above the trials of
earth, that elevates them above scorn, derision and reproach. Those who
possess a hope like this should never indulge a harsh, unkind spirit. This
will only injure their own souls, and drive their friends farther from the
truth. Treat them tenderly. Give them no occasion to reproach the cause of
Christ; but never yield the truth to please any one. Be decided, be fixed, be
established, be not of a doubtful
mind.—Spiritual Gifts, vol. 2, p. 266.
Sunday, September 4
The God of Patience
We may walk in the enjoyment of the truth. It need not be to us a yoke
of bondage, but a consolation, a message to us of glad tidings of great joy,
animating our hearts and causing us to make melody in our hearts unto
God. Through patience and comfort of the Scriptures we have hope. The
Christian hope is not gloomy, comfortless. Oh, no, no. It does not shut us
up in a prison of doubts and fears. The truth makes free those who love
and are sanctified through it. They walk in the glorious liberty of the sons
of God.
We who claim to believe the truth should reveal its fruits in our words
and character. We are to be far advanced in a knowledge of Jesus Christ, in
the reception of His love for God and for our neighbor, in order to have
the sunlight of heaven shining in our daily life. Truth must reach down to
the deepest recesses of the soul, and cleanse away everything unlike the
spirit of Christ, and the vacuum be supplied by the attributes of His
character who was pure and holy and undefiled, that all the springs of the
heart may be as flowers, fragrant with perfume, a sweet-smelling savor, a
savor of life unto life.—Our High Calling, p. 33.
When we are encompassed with doubt, perplexed by circumstances, or
afflicted by poverty or distress, Satan seeks to shake our confidence in
Jehovah. It is then that he arrays before us our mistakes and tempts us to
distrust God, to question His love. He hopes to discourage the soul and
break our hold on God.
. . . But God understands, and He still pities and loves. He reads the
motives and the purposes of the heart. To wait patiently, to trust when
everything looks dark, is the lesson that the leaders in God’s work need to
learn. Heaven will not fail them in their day of adversity. Nothing is
apparently more helpless, yet really more invincible, than the soul that
feels its nothingness and relies wholly on
God.—Prophets and Kings, pp. 174, 175.
The lessons that God sends will always, if well learned, bring help in
due time. Put your trust in God. Pray much, and believe. Trusting, hoping,
believing, holding fast the hand of Infinite Power, you will be more than
conquerors.
True workers walk and work by faith. Sometimes they grow weary
with watching the slow advance of the work when the battle wages strong
between the powers of good and evil. But if they refuse to fail or be
discouraged they will see the clouds breaking away and the promise of
deliverance fulfilling. Through the mist with which Satan has surrounded
them, they will see the shining of the bright beams of the Sun of
Righteousness.
Work in faith, and leave results with God. Pray in faith, and the
mystery of His providence will bring its answer. At times it may seem that
you cannot succeed. But work and believe, putting into your efforts faith,
hope, and courage. After doing what you can, wait for the Lord, declaring
His faithfulness, and He will bring His word to pass. Wait, not in fretful
anxiety, but in undaunted faith and unshaken
trust.—Testimonies for the Church, vol. 7, p. 245.
Monday, September 5
In God’s Time
I cannot read the purpose of God in my affliction, but He knows what
is best, and I will commit my soul, body, and spirit to Him as unto my
faithful Creator. “For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded
that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that
day” (2 Timothy 1:12). If we educated and trained our souls to have more
faith, more love, greater patience, and a more perfect trust in our heavenly
Father, I know we would have more peace and happiness day by day as we
pass through the conflicts of this life.
The Lord is not pleased to have us fret and worry ourselves out of the
arms of Jesus. More is needed of the quiet waiting and watching
combined. We think unless we have feeling that we are not in the right
track, and we keep looking within for some sign befitting the occasion;
but the reckoning is not of feeling but of
faith.—Selected Messages, book 2, p. 242.
We need not expect all sunshine in this world. Clouds and storms will
cluster about us, and we must be prepared to keep our eyes directed where
we saw the light last. Its rays may be hidden but they still live, still shine
beyond the cloud. It is our work to wait, to watch, to pray, and to believe.
We shall prize the light of the sun more highly after the clouds disappear.
We shall see the salvation of God if we trust in God in the darkness as
well as in the light.
All trials, all afflictions, all peace, all safety, health, hope, life, and
success are in God’s hands, and He can control them all for the good of
His children. It is our privilege to be suppliants, to ask anything and
everything of God, submitting our request in submission to His wise
purposes and infinite
will.—Our High Calling, p. 318.
God designs that His people shall fix their eyes heavenward, looking
for the glorious appearing of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. While the
attention of worldlings is turned to various enterprises, ours should be to
the heavens; our faith should reach further and further into the glorious
mysteries of the heavenly treasure, drawing the precious, divine rays of
light from the heavenly sanctuary to shine in our hearts, as they shine
upon the face of Jesus. The scoffers mock the waiting, watching ones, and
inquire: “Where is the promise of His coming? . . .” The waiting ones look
upward and answer: “We are watching.” And by turning from earthly
pleasure and worldly fame, and from the deceitfulness of riches, they
show themselves to be in that position. By watching they become strong;
they overcome sloth and selfishness and love of ease. Affliction’s fire
kindles upon them, and the waiting time seems long. They sometimes
grieve, and faith falters; but they rally again, overcome their fears and
doubts, and while their eyes are directed heavenward, say to their
adversaries: “I am watching, I am waiting the return of my Lord. I will
glory in tribulation, in affliction, in
necessities.”—Testimonies for the Church, vol. 2, pp. 194, 195.
Tuesday, September 6
David: An Object Lesson in Waiting
Hidden by the deep shadows of the hills, David and his attendant
entered the encampment of the enemy. As they sought to ascertain the
exact number of their foes, they came upon Saul sleeping, his spear stuck
in the ground, and a cruse of water at his head. Beside him lay Abner, his
chief commander, and all around them were the soldiers, locked in
slumber. Abishai raised his spear, and said to David, “God hath delivered
thine enemy into thine hand this day: now therefore let me smite him, I
pray thee. . . .” He waited for the word of permission; but there fell upon
his ear the whispered words: “Destroy him not: for who can stretch forth
his hand against the Lord’s anointed, and be guiltless? . . . As the Lord
liveth, the Lord shall smite him; or his day shall come to die; or he shall
descend into battle, and perish. The Lord forbid that I should stretch forth
mine hand against the Lord’s anointed.” . . .
The second instance of David’s respect for his sovereign’s life made a
still deeper impression upon the mind of Saul and brought from him a
more humble acknowledgment of his fault. He was astonished and
subdued at the manifestation of such kindness. In parting from David, Saul
exclaimed, “Blessed be thou, my son David: thou shalt both do great
things, and also shalt still prevail.” But the son of Jesse had no hope that
the king would long continue in this frame of
mind.—Patriarchs and Prophets, pp. 668–672.
It is important to believe God’s word and act upon it promptly, while
His angels are waiting to work for us. Evil angels are ready to contest
every step of advance. And when God’s providence bids His children go
forward, when He is ready to do great things for them, Satan tempts them
to displease the Lord by hesitation and delay; he seeks to kindle a spirit of
strife or to arouse murmuring or unbelief, and thus deprive them of the
blessings that God desired to bestow. God’s servants should be
minutemen, ever ready to move as fast as His providence opens the way.
And delay on their part gives time for Satan to work to defeat
them.—Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 423.
The Lord does not always choose for His work men of the greatest
talents, but He selects those whom He can best use. Individuals who might
do good service for God, may for a time be left in obscurity, apparently
unnoticed and unemployed by their Master. But if they faithfully perform
the duties of their humble position, cherishing a willingness to labor and
to sacrifice for Him, He will in His own time entrust them with greater
responsibilities.
Before honor is humility. The Lord can use most effectually those who
are most sensible of their own unworthiness and inefficiency. He will
teach them to exercise the courage of faith. He will make them strong by
uniting their weakness to His might, wise by connecting their ignorance
with His wisdom.—Ellen G. White Comments, in
The SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 2, p. 1003.
Wednesday, September 7
Elijah: The Problem of Rushing
God met His tried servant with the inquiry, “What doest thou here,
Elijah?” I sent you to the brook Cherith and afterward to the widow of
Sarepta. I commissioned you to return to Israel and to stand before the
idolatrous priests on Carmel, and I girded you with strength to guide the
chariot of the king to the gate of Jezreel. But who sent you on this hasty
flight into the wilderness? What errand have you here? . . .
Much depends on the unceasing activity of those who are true and
loyal, and for this reason Satan puts forth every possible effort to thwart
the divine purpose to be wrought out through the obedient. He causes
some to lose sight of their high and holy mission, and to become satisfied
with the pleasures of this life. . . . Others he causes to flee in
discouragement from duty, because of opposition or persecution. . . . To
every child of God whose voice the enemy of souls has succeeded in
silencing, the question is addressed, “What doest thou here?” I
commissioned you to go into all the world and preach the gospel, to
prepare a people for the day of God. Why are you
here?—Conflict and Courage, p. 214.
Remember that prayer is the source of your strength. A worker cannot
gain success while he hurries through his prayers and rushes away to look
after something that he fears may be neglected or forgotten. He gives only
a few hurried thoughts to God; he does not take time to think, to pray, to
wait upon the Lord for a renewal of physical and spiritual strength. He
soon becomes weary. He does not feel the uplifting, inspiring influence of
God’s Spirit. He is not quickened by fresh life. His jaded frame and tired
brain are not soothed by personal contact with Christ.
. . . There are those who work all day and far into the night to do what
seems to them must be done. The Lord looks pityingly upon these weary,
heavy-laden burden bearers and says to them: “Come unto Me, . . . and I
will give you rest.” Matthew
11:28.—Testimonies for the Church, vol. 7, pp. 243, 244.
When men are as devoted as Elijah was and possess the faith that he
had, God will reveal Himself as He did then. When men plead with the
Lord as did Jacob, the results that were seen then will again be seen.
Power will come from God in answer to the prayer of faith.
Because the life of Jesus was a life of constant trust, sustained by
continual communion, His service for heaven was without failure or
faltering. . . . Christ knew that He must strengthen His humanity by
prayer. In order to be a blessing to men, He must commune with God,
from Him obtaining energy, perseverance,
steadfastness.—Gospel Workers, pp. 255, 256.
Thursday, September 8
Learning to Take Delight in the Lord
The psalmist says, “Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell
in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.” Psalm 37:3. “Trust in the Lord.”
Each day has its burdens, its cares and perplexities; and when we meet
how ready we are to talk of our difficulties and trials. So many borrowed
troubles intrude, so many fears are indulged, such a weight of anxiety is
expressed, that one might suppose we had no pitying, loving Saviour
ready to hear all our requests and to be to us a present help in every time
of need.
Some are always fearing, and borrowing trouble. Every day they are
surrounded with the tokens of God’s love; every day they are enjoying the
bounties of His providence; but they overlook these present blessings.
Their minds are continually dwelling upon something disagreeable which
they fear may come; or some difficulty may really exist which, though
small, blinds their eyes to the many things that demand
gratitude.—Steps to Christ, pp. 121, 122.
In every trial we have strong consolation. Is not our Saviour touched
with the feeling of our infirmities? Has He not been tempted in all points
like as we are? And has He not invited us to take every trial and
perplexity to Him? Then let us not make ourselves miserable over
tomorrow’s burdens. Bravely and cheerfully carry the burdens of today.
Today’s trust and faith we must have. But we are not asked to live more
than a day at a time. He who gives strength for today will give strength
for tomorrow. . . .
Nothing wounds the soul like the sharp darts of unbelief. When trial
comes, as it will, do not worry or complain. Silence in the soul makes
more distinct the voice of God. “Then are they glad because they be quiet”
(Psalm 107:30). Remember that underneath you are the everlasting arms.
“Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him” (Psalm 37:7). He is guiding
you into a harbor of gracious
experience.—In Heavenly Places, p. 269.
We need to appreciate more fully the meaning of the words: “I sat
down under His shadow with great delight.” Song of Solomon 2:3. These
words do not bring to our minds the picture of hasty transit, but of quiet
rest. . . .
Let us turn from the dusty, heated thoroughfares of life to rest in the
shadow of Christ’s love. Here we gain strength for conflict. Here we learn
how to lessen toil and worry, and how to speak and sing to the praise of
God. Let the weary and the heavy-laden learn from Christ the lesson of
quiet trust. They must sit under His shadow if they would be possessors of
His peace and rest.—Testimonies for the Church, vol. 7, pp. 69, 70.
Friday, September 9
For Further Reading
In Heavenly Places, “Graces to Cherish,” p. 244;
Testimonies for the Church, “Christian Forbearance,” vol. 5, pp. 331–336.
