June 9, 1885

Cheerful Obedience Required

EGW

Abraham was an old man when he received the startling command from God to offer up his son Isaac for a burnt-offering. Abraham was considered an old man even in his generation. The ardor of his youth had faded away. It was no longer easy for him to endure hardships and brave dangers. In the vigor of youth, man may breast the storm with a proud consciousness of strength, and rise above discouragements that, later in life, when his steps are faltering toward the grave, would cause his heart to fail. But God, in his providence, reserved his last, most trying test for Abraham, until the burden of years was heavy upon him, and he longed for rest from anxiety and toil. The Lord spoke unto him, saying, “Take now thy son, thine only son, Isaac, whom thou lovest, and offer him for a burnt-offering.” The heart of the old man stood still with horror. The loss of such a son by disease would have been most heart-rending to the fond father, and would have bowed his whitened head with sorrow; but he is commanded to shed the precious blood of that son with his own hand. It seemed to him a fearful impossibility. Yet God had spoken, and his word must be obeyed.RH June 9, 1885, par. 1

Abraham was stricken in years, but this did not excuse him from his duty. He grasped the staff of faith, and in dumb agony, took his child by the hand, and went out to obey the word of God. The grand old patriarch was human; his passions and attachments were like ours; he loved this boy, who was the solace of his old age, and unto whom the promise of the Lord had been given. But Abraham did not stop to question how God's promises could be fulfilled if Isaac was slain, he did not stay to reason with his aching heart; but he carried out the divine command to the very letter, till, just as the knife was about to be plunged into the quivering flesh of his child, the word came, “It is enough; now I know that thou fearest God, seeing that thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me.”RH June 9, 1885, par. 2

This great act of faith is recorded on the pages of sacred history as an illustrious example to the end of time. Abraham did not plead that his old age should excuse him from obeying God. He did not say, “My hairs are gray, the vigor of my manhood is gone; who will comfort my waning life when Isaac is no more? How can an aged father spill the blood of an only son?” No, God had spoken, and man must obey without questioning or murmuring or fainting by the way.RH June 9, 1885, par. 3

We need the faith of Abraham in our churches today, to lighten the darkness that gathers round them, shutting out the sweet sunlight of God's love and dwarfing spiritual growth. Age will never excuse us from obeying God. Our faith should be prolific of good works; for faith without works is dead. Every duty performed, every sacrifice made in the name of Jesus, brings an exceeding great reward. In the very act of duty, God speaks and gives his blessing. But he requires of us an entire surrender of the faculties. The mind and heart, the whole being, must be given to him, or we fall short of becoming true Christians.RH June 9, 1885, par. 4

God has withheld nothing from man that can secure to him eternal riches. He has clothed the earth with beauty and furnished it for his use and comfort during his temporal life. He has given his Son to die for the redemption of a world that had fallen through sin and folly. Such matchless love, such infinite sacrifice, claims our strictest obedience, our holiest love, our unbounded faith; yet all these virtues, exercised to their fullest extent, can never be commensurate with the great sacrifice that has been offered for us.RH June 9, 1885, par. 5

God requires prompt and unquestioning obedience of his law. But men are asleep or paralyzed by the deceptions of Satan, who suggests excuses and subterfuges, and conquers their scruples, saying, as he said to Eve in the garden, “Ye shall not surely die.” Disobedience not only hardens the heart and conscience of the guilty one, but it tends to corrupt the faith of others. That which looked very wrong to them at first gradually loses this appearance by being constantly before them, till finally they question whether it is really sin, and unconsciously fall into the same error.RH June 9, 1885, par. 6

We should not look in the face of duty and delay meeting its demands. Such delay gives time for doubts, unbelief creeps in, the judgment is perverted, the understanding darkened. At length the reproofs of God's Spirit do not reach the heart of the deluded person, who has become so blinded as to think that they cannot possibly be intended for him or apply to his case.RH June 9, 1885, par. 7

The precious time of probation is passing, and few realize that it is given them for the purpose of preparing for eternity. The golden hours are squandered in worldly pursuits, in pleasure, in absolute sin. God's law is slighted and forgotten; yet every statute is none the less binding; every transgression will bring its punishment. Love of gain leads to desecration of the Sabbath; yet the claims of that holy day are not abrogated or lessened. God's command is clear on this point; he has peremptorily forbidden us to labor upon the seventh day. He has set it apart as a day sanctified to himself.RH June 9, 1885, par. 8

Many are the hindrances that lie in the path of those who would walk in obedience to the commandments of God. There are strong and subtle influences that bind them to the ways of the world; but the power of the Lord can break these chains. He will remove every obstacle from before the feet of his faithful ones, or give them strength and courage to conquer every difficulty, if they earnestly beseech his help. All hindrances will vanish before an earnest desire and persistent effort to do the will of God at any cost to self, even if life itself is sacrificed. Light from Heaven will illuminate the darkness of those who in trial and perplexity go forward, looking unto Jesus as the author and finisher of their faith.RH June 9, 1885, par. 9

In ancient times God spoke to men by the mouth of prophets and apostles. In these days he speaks to them by the testimonies of his Spirit. There was never a time when God more earnestly instructed his people concerning his will, and the course that he would have them pursue, than now. But will they profit by his teachings? will they receive his reproofs and heed the warnings? God will accept of no partial obedience; he will sanction no compromise with self.RH June 9, 1885, par. 10

Through Samuel, God commanded Saul to go and smite the Amalekites and utterly destroy all their possessions. But Saul only partially obeyed the command; he destroyed the inferior cattle, but reserved the best, and spared the wicked king. The next day he met the prophet Samuel, with flattering self-congratulations. Said he, “Blessed be thou of the Lord, I have performed the commandment of the Lord.” But the prophet immediately answered, “What meaneth then the bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?”RH June 9, 1885, par. 11

Saul was confused, and sought to shirk responsibility by answering, “They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God, and the rest we have utterly destroyed.” Samuel then reproved the king, reminding him of the explicit command of God directing him to destroy all things belonging to Amalek. He pointed out his transgressions, and declared that he had disobeyed the Lord. But Saul refused to acknowledge that he had done wrong; he again excused his sin by pleading that he had reserved the best cattle to sacrifice unto the Lord.RH June 9, 1885, par. 12

Samuel was grieved to the heart by the persistency with which the king refused to see his sin and confess it. He sorrowfully asked, “Has the Lord as great a delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath rejected thee from being king.”RH June 9, 1885, par. 13

God has given us his commandments, not only to be believed, but to be obeyed. The great Jehovah, when he had laid the foundations of the earth, and dressed the whole world in the garb of beauty, and filled it with things useful to man, when he had created all the wonders of the land and sea, instituted the Sabbath, and made it holy. God blessed and sanctified the seventh day, because he rested upon it from his wondrous work of creation. The Sabbath was made for man, and God would have him put by his labor on that day, as he himself rested after his six days’ work of creation.RH June 9, 1885, par. 14

Those who reverence the commandments of Jehovah, after light has been given them in reference to the fourth precept of the decalogue, will obey it without questioning the feasibility or convenience of such obedience. God made man in his own image, and then gave him an example of observing the seventh day, which he sanctified and made holy. He designed that upon that day man should worship him, and engage in no secular pursuits. No one who disregards the fourth commandment, after becoming enlightened concerning the claims of the Sabbath, can be held guiltless in the sight of God. The example of Adam and Eve in the garden should sufficiently warn us against any disobedience of the divine law.RH June 9, 1885, par. 15

The sin of our first parents in listening to the specious temptations of the enemy, brought guilt and sorrow upon the world, and led the Son of God to leave the royal courts of heaven and take a humble place on earth. He was subjected to insult, rejection, and crucifixion by the very ones he came to bless. What infinite expense attended that disobedience in the garden of Eden! The Majesty of heaven was sacrificed to save man from the penalty of crime.RH June 9, 1885, par. 16

God will not more lightly pass over any transgressions of his law now than in the day when he pronounced judgment against Adam. The Saviour of the world raises his voice in protest against those who regard the divine commandments with carelessness and indifference. Said he, “Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”RH June 9, 1885, par. 17

At the very beginning of the fourth precept, God has said, “Remember,” knowing that man, in the multitude of his cares and perplexities, would be tempted to excuse himself from meeting the full requirements of the law, or, in the press of worldly business, would forget its sacred importance. “Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work.” These words are very explicit; there can be no mistake. How dare any one venture to transgress a commandment so solemn and important? Has the Lord made an exception, by which some are absolved from the claims of the law he has given to the world? Are their transgression omitted from the book of record? Has he agreed to excuse their disobedience when the nations shall come before him for judgment?RH June 9, 1885, par. 18

Let none for a moment deceive themselves with the thought that their sin will not bring its merited punishment. Their transgressions will be visited with the rod, because they have had the light, yet have walked directly contrary to it. “He that knoweth his master's will, and doeth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes.”RH June 9, 1885, par. 19

God has given man six days in which to do his own work, and carry on the usual business of his life. But the Lord claims one which he has set apart and sanctified. He gives it to man as a day in which he may rest from labor, and devote himself to worship and the improvement of his spiritual condition. What a flagrant outrage it is for man to steal the one sanctified day of Jehovah, and appropriate it to his own selfish purposes!RH June 9, 1885, par. 20

It is the grossest presumption for mortal man to venture upon a compromise with the Almighty, in order to secure his own petty, temporal interests. It is as ruthless a violation of the law to occasionally use the Sabbath for secular business, as to entirely reject it; for it is making the Lord's commandments a matter of convenience. “I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God,” is thundered from Sinai! The Lord requires willing sacrifice. No partial obedience, no divided interest, is accepted by Him who declares that the iniquities of the fathers shall be visited upon the children to the third and fourth generation of them that hate him, and that he will show mercy unto thousands that love him and keep his commandments.RH June 9, 1885, par. 21