A Wise Distribution of Means
The perplexing question of means has troubled many. Again and
again, by his deceitful, alluring projects, Satan has blocked the way
against advance. The church has not stood in dependence upon God,
but, yielding to the temptations of the enemy, has tried to carry out
plans that called for means far exceeding her revenue. Much money
has been invested in a few places. This has deprived missionary fields
of the help they should have received. In building up the work in their
part of the field, men have followed selfish plans and have drawn means
from the Lord’s treasury, forgetting that all the revenue is the Lord’s
and that other parts of His vineyard must be supplied. For reasons
that they will not be pleased to meet in the judgment, they closed their
eyes to the needs of their fellow workers. Thus destitute fields have
been left unworked. By rushing on to erect large buildings, without
counting the cost, without taking into consideration how much would
be needed to build the tower, men have brought debt, discouragement,
and confusion upon the cause. The way of progress in new fields has
been hedged up.
A kind of frenzy has taken hold of the minds of some, leading
them to do that which would absorb means without any prospect of
afterward producing means. Had this money been used in the way the
Lord signified it should be, workers would have been raised up and
prepared to do the work that must be done before the coming of the
Lord. The misappropriation of means shows the need of the Lord’s
warning that His work must not be bound about by human projects,
that it must be done in a way that will strengthen His cause.
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By working on wrong plans, men have brought debts upon the
cause. Let not this be repeated. Let those at the head of the work move
cautiously, refusing to bury the cause of God in debt. Let no one move
recklessly, heedlessly, thinking, without knowing, that all will be well.
Undue excitement and interest in the work in one place contribute
nothing to the advancement of the work as a whole. When plans are
laid to erect a building in one place, give careful consideration to other
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