Hardened and Benumbed Sensibilities

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Feb 4, 1915

Hardened and Benumbed Sensibilities

THE apostle Paul admonishes the believers to exhort one another daily, “lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” The apostle recognized the danger of associating with evil. Only as the consciences of the believers should be kept sensitive by the constant inflow of the Holy Spirit would they be saved from becoming inured to sin, and thus alienated from God. This is the danger of the church today, even more greatly than in the days of the apostle Paul. Sin exists in myriad forms. We are confronted by its advances in every phase of our experience. We must be careful that its subtle influence does not steal in upon us unawares, and unconsciously effect a lessening of our spiritual sensibilities and a dampening of our spiritual ardor.

We are confronted with the same danger with respect to the signs of the coming of the Lord, and the terrible conditions which exist in the world at the present time. Twenty-five years ago we were stirred by the then meager signs that showed the coming of the Lord to be near; but now the signs have become so abundant that they appear to us as commonplace happenings, and many times we fail to associate them with the fulfillment of the prophetic word.

There is danger that our sensibilities will become benumbed with the catastrophes which are taking place around us. A few years ago we were startled and horrified by some of the great disasters which took place on land and sea. The earthquake of Messina, St. Pierre, San Francisco, and Valparaiso set the whole world aquiver. The Johnstown flood, the Galveston tidal wave, and the sinking of the “Titanic” appealed with pathos to every heart. But disasters are becoming so multiplied that they affect us but slightly. We stand practically unmoved by the earthquake in Italy, which has sent down to untimely graves forty thousand men and women and children, and by other horrors of frequent occurrence.

Perhaps the terrible scenes connected with the great world war which has been waged for the last few months have had a strong tendency to produce this hardening of the sensibilities. We need to steel our hearts against this benumbing influence. Heaven is today speaking through these disasters to the nations of men. By earthquake, by devastating fire, by tidal waves, by the horrors of war, the human family is being admonished of the necessity of seeking the only sure refuge from the coming storm. Through them we may hear God’s voice speaking to us, bidding us flee to him as the only haven of rest and security.