Time to Seek the Lord by Wallace W. Gibson

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jan 27, 1916

Time to Seek the Lord

By Wallace W. Gibson

WALLACE W. GIBSON

THERE is a feeling of uneasiness and dread stealing over the people as they contemplate the terrible scenes of war, social unrest, and elemental disturbances which now exist. We are living in momentous times. In Europe war is rampant. Those nations which are not already in the battle are perilously near it. All the resources of statesmanship and diplomacy of those nations are required so to keep neutral. Cities and villages, once the homes of a happy, contented, and industrious people, are now desolate, smoking ruins, and the fathers, mothers, and children are homeless wanderers on the face of the earth. In other parts of the world there are revolutions and agitations which seem about to make the whole earth a seething caldron of destruction.

Never in any age in modern times has there been such intense feeling between capital and labor. The prophecy of the fifth chapter of James seems to be fulfilling before our very eyes. The idle rich are taking their pleasure, while the idle poor, ground and pinched by poverty and want, are getting desperate. It seems as if the maelstrom of industrial revolution was about to burst upon our civilization.

During the last few years there have been terrible storms, earthquakes, tidal waves, floods, tornadoes and hailstorms in increasing number. Prophecies are unfolding before our eyes. Many people admit there never was their like in historic times. These are not idle fancies, but facts. These events call to mind the text of scripture in Luke 21:26: “Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.”

A careful survey of conditions on this earth can only bring to our minds with greater force the impending judgments of God. We are living in the time when the Spirit of God is being withdrawn from the earth. Yet terrible as are the times, they are but the forerunner of worse events.

When we, as Seventh-day Adventists, see all these things, we should awake to the fact that the end is at hand, and we, as a body, have not received the latter rain. Let me quote from “Early Writings,” pages 85 and 86: “The commencement of the time of trouble . . . does not refer to the time when the plagues shall begin to be poured out, but to a short period just before they are poured out, while Christ is in the sanctuary. At that time, while the work of salvation is closing, trouble will be coming on the earth, and the nations will be angry, yet held in check so as not to prevent the work of the third angel. At that time the ‘latter rain,’ or refreshing from the presence of the Lord, will come, to give power to the loud voice of the third angel, and prepare the saints to stand in the period when the seven last plagues shall be poured out.”

We are in the time of the latter rain. God has told us to ask for the Holy Spirit at this time, so the work can be finished. Evidence accumulates that now is the time God’s people need the Spirit. Sister White writes on page 71 of “Early Writings:” “I saw that none could share the ‘refreshing’ unless they obtain the victory over every besetment, over pride, selfishness, love of the world, and over every wrong word and action.”

There can none of us afford to become so calloused and indifferent as to allow our part in the work of God to be forfeited by default. It is a momentous time. Souls are saved or lost on the decision. O let us humble ourselves before God and repent, pleading with him for power. ‘Blow ye the trumpet in Zion [God’s church], and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand.’ Joel 2:1. Let all the church arouse, shake off the sleepy, drowsy feeling, proclaim our message to the world in a commanding manner, and place before a dying people the last call of God’s mercy. While we have yet time, let us follow the injunction of the prophet: ‘Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is withheld from the house of your God. Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord your God, and cry unto the Lord.’ Joel 1:13, 14.

Let us examine ourselves and repent of our sins and plead with God for an abundance of the Spirit. Then God’s work in the earth will be cut short, and soon we shall see him face to face and be like him. May God help us to follow in the footsteps of our blessed Master.

Taunton, Mass.