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The Only Path of Safety, August 31
And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way,
walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the
left.
Isaiah 30:21
.
I know that human beings suffer much because they step out of the path
that God has chosen for them to follow. They walk in the sparks of the
fire they have kindled themselves, and the sure result is affliction, unrest,
and sorrow, which they might have avoided if they had submitted their will
to God and had permitted Him to control their ways. God sees that it is
necessary to oppose our will and our way, and bring our human will into
subjection.
Whatever path God chooses for us, whatever way He ordains for our
feet, that is the only path of safety. We are daily to cherish a spirit of
childlike submission, and pray that our eyes may be anointed with the
heavenly eyesalve in order that we may discern the indications of the
divine will, lest we become confused in our ideas, because our will seems
to be all-controlling. With the eye of faith, with childlike submission
as obedient children, we must look to God, to follow His guidance, and
difficulties will clear away. The promise is, “I will instruct thee and teach
thee ... : I will guide thee with mine eye” (
Psalm 32:8
)....
If we come to God in a humble and teachable spirit, not with our plans
all formed before we ask Him, and shaped according to our own will, but
in submission, in willingness to be taught, in faith, it is our privilege to
claim the promise every hour of the day. We may distrust ourselves, and
we need to guard against our own inclinations and strong tendencies lest
we shall follow our mind and plans and think it is the way of the Lord....
Our heavenly Father is our Ruler, and we must submit to His discipline.
We are members of His family. He has a right to our service, and if one of
the members of His family would persist in having his own way, persist in
doing just that which he pleased, that spirit would bring about a disordered
and perplexing state of things. We must not study to have our own way,
but God’s way and God’s will
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Letter 6, 1894
.
256