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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 7, 1911

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 88, No. 49.

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Editorial

By C. M. S.

The Attitude of Safety

THERE comes a time in the experience of every soul, and to some there come many such times, when he stands in the presence of some great temptation, or, mayhap, some seemingly small temptation that has great consequences. That is the time of all times when every resource of strength and wisdom should be drawn on to its full capacity. Christ passed through such an experience, and, by his course in that experience, taught us the secret of triumph when such temptations come to us. He used the shield of faith, the arsenal of God’s Word, and the power of prayer for his complete defense in that hour of supreme trial. Failure in that time meant to him just what failure in our ultimate trial will mean to us, and to us his failure would have meant what it would have meant to him. The plan for the salvation of man was on test. It stood the test because he stood the test; and because he stood the test, we may stand the test that shall come to us to try us.
In the hour of his supreme test there is no doubt that he did what he instructs us to do. After the assurance that the Lord will hear when he is called upon, Inspiration says, through the psalmist: “Stand in awe, and sin not.” Ps. 4:4. That is the attitude of safety, the only safe attitude under the assaults of the enemy. Consider the terrible results to you in yielding to the temptation placed before you. Set your foot, draw back, look upon it in all its fearful results, “stand in awe” of it, and then do as Christ did,—flee from it straight into the arms that are strong enough to shield you. Seek the strength that will enable you to rise a step higher, instead of stumbling and falling over the rock placed in your way. The temptation may seem unimportant, the yielding to it a trivial matter; but every yielding is the placing of a decayed timber in the span of your character; and when the final test is made, the whole bridge will go down into the raging torrent below. So let us heed the counsel of Inspiration to “stand in awe, and sin not.”
C. M. S.