Basic HTML Version
A Standard Against the Enemy, July 9
When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall
lift up a standard against him.
Isaiah 59:19
.
God desires every man to understand his duty and obey the call, working
in the way of the Lord, not after his own devising. God always rewards the
confidence of His people. The way to the throne of mercy is always open.
God sees the wants of His people as clearly in the darkness of midnight which
surrounds them as in the splendor of noonday. To look to God for help at all
times, this is our safety.
When God grants us His protection, and says of us, “Ye are labourers
together with me,” if you keep the way of the Lord you are safe in the midst
of the greatest dangers. When Satan seeks to deceive the child of faith and
trust, God lifts up a standard against the enemy in behalf of those who are
conscientiously working in harmony with Him. The standard which He uplifts
is His law. Those who work righteousness have an ever-present Friend to
help them. In every time of need and trouble and perplexity He is near them.
When they are tempted He presents Himself as their defense, saying, “I will
guide thee with Mine eye. I will deliver thee from perplexity, and be a covert
for thee against the strife of tongues.”
The Lord sees not as man sees. Those whom He loves and honors most
are often the objects of the scorn and derision of the enemy. He desires us to
learn the lesson that we shall not gain success in the work by following the
criterion of the world or the devising of human beings....
Hypocrisy and pretense can find no place with God. All that we put our
hands to is performed [as] in the sight of the heavenly intelligences. All the
thoughts of the mind, all the aspirations of the soul, are read by Him with
whom we have to do. The victories gained by the soul are not measured by
outside appearance or by the praise of men, but by goodness and mercy and
tender compassion and a firm adherence to God’s law....
God’s people are in danger, notwithstanding the great light that shines
upon their pathway, of following the customs of the world....
Let us be true to our colors. Let us raise the standard on which is inscribed,
“The commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.”—
Letter 99, July 9, 1900
,
to a physician in Australia.
[200]
204