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Why God Permits Unsettling Experiences, June 5
All his life long, Moab has lain undisturbed like wine settled on its lees, not
emptied from vessel to vessel; he has not gone into exile. Therefore the taste
of him is unaltered, and the flavour stays unchanged.
Jeremiah 48:11
,
N.E.B.
Moab did not know anything of the process of unsettling, and the people made
but little moral and spiritual progress. “His taste remained in him, and his scent is
not changed” (
Jeremiah 48:11
).
A life of monotony is not the most conducive to spiritual growth. Some can
reach the highest standard of spirituality only through the breaking up of the
regular order of things....
God desires human beings to be more closely associated with Him. Therefore
He takes them away from their friends and acquaintances. When God was prepar-
ing Elijah for translation, He moved him from place to place, that he might leave
behind the methods and customs he had previously followed, that he might not
settle down on his lees, and thus fail of obtaining moral greatness and spiritual
soundness. It was God’s design that Elijah’s influence should be a power to help
many souls to a more perfect experience.
Let those who are not permitted to rest in quietude, who must be constantly on
the move, pitching their tent tonight in one place and tomorrow night in another
place, remember that the Lord is leading them, and that this is His way of helping
them to form perfect characters. In all the changes we are required to make,
God is to be recognized as our Companion, our Guide, our Stronghold, and our
Dependence. We are to ever be moving, advancing in knowledge, and thus it will
be [that] they follow on to know the Lord. The light of His leading He will prepare
as the morning.
The Lord has various ways of testing and proving His people. Again and again
He has brought about changes to see whether His human agents will keep His
commandments. When in His providence He sees that changes are essential for
character building, He breaks up the smooth current of the life. He orders that
changes shall be made, so that His worker shall not stagnate by following the
regular order.
We are living in a time which calls for decided, sanctified action. Everything
that can be done by the followers of Christ should be done, for the enemy will
work with all his power to deter souls from receiving the truth.... But nevertheless,
God’s work is to go forward. We are to sow beside all waters, even though we
know that many will seek to extinguish the light of truth.—
Letter 59, June 5, 1901
,
to A. G. Daniells.
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