Result of Disregarding Light
The sickness that has visited many families in-----need not have
been, if they had followed the light God has given them. Like ancient
Israel, they have disregarded the light and could see no more necessity
of restricting their appetite than did ancient Israel. The children of
Israel would have flesh meats, and said, as many now say, We shall die
without meat. God gave rebellious Israel flesh, but His curse was with
it. Thousands of them died while the meat they desired was between
their teeth. We have the example of ancient Israel, and the warning
for us not to do as they did.... How can we pass on so indifferently,
choosing our own course, following the sight of our own eyes, and
departing farther and farther from God, as did the Hebrews? God
cannot do great things for His people because of their hardness of
heart and sinful unbelief.
God is no respecter of persons, but in every generation they that
fear the Lord and work righteousness are accepted of Him, while those
who are murmuring, unbelieving, and rebellious will not have His
favor nor the blessings promised to those who love the truth and walk
in it. Those who have the light and do not follow it, but disregard the
requirements of God, will find that their blessings will be changed
into curses and their mercies into judgments. God would have us
learn humility and obedience as we read the history of ancient Israel,
who were His chosen and peculiar people, but who brought their own
destruction by following their own ways.—
Testimonies for the Church
3:171, 172
(1872).
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