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to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.”
All the money on earth cannot buy the blessing of God nor ensure you
a single victory.
Many would make any and every sacrifice but the very one they
should make, which is to yield themselves, to submit their wills to the
will of God. Said Christ to His disciples: “Except ye be converted,
and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of
heaven.” Here is a lesson in humility. We must all become humble as
little children in order to inherit the kingdom.
Our heavenly Father sees the hearts of men, and He knows their
characters better than they themselves know them. He sees that some
have susceptibilities and powers, which, directed in the right channel,
might be used to His glory to aid in the advancement of His work. He
puts these persons on trial and in His wise providence brings them into
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different positions and under a variety of circumstances, testing them
that they may reveal what is in their hearts and the weak points in their
characters which have been concealed from their own knowledge. He
gives them opportunities to correct these weaknesses, to polish off the
rough corners of their natures, and to fit themselves for His service,
that when He calls them to action they will be ready, and that angels
of heaven may unite their labor with human effort in the work that
must be done upon the earth. To men whom God designs shall fill
responsible positions, He in mercy reveals their hidden defects, that
they may look within and examine critically the complicated emotions
and exercises of their own hearts, and detect that which is wrong; thus
they may modify their dispositions and refine their manners. The Lord
in His providence brings men where He can test their moral powers
and reveal their motives of action, that they may improve what is right
in themselves and put away that which is wrong. God would have
His servants become acquainted with the moral machinery of their
own hearts. In order to bring this about, He often permits the fire of
affliction to assail them that they may become purified. “But who may
abide the day of His coming? and who shall stand when He appeareth?
for He is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap: and He shall sit as
a refiner and purifier of silver: and He shall purify the sons of Levi,
and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord
an offering in righteousness.”