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Driven Back

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 26, 1907

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 84, No. 39.

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Driven Back

By CHAS. G. BELLAH

CHAS. G. BELLAH
“Ye did run well; who did drive you back that ye should not obey the truth?” Gal. 5:7, margin.
Notice the expression in the text, “Who did drive you back?” not, Why did you go back? but, “Who did drive you back?” There is a vast difference between deliberately choosing to go back, and being driven back by some mighty, overpowering adversary. Fierce battles are implied by the phrase “driven back.”
Christ did not censure the dweller in the tombs, whose name was Legion, because he had been “driven of the devil into the wilderness,” but cast out the unclean spirit, and gave the poor man the victory. Neither does he condemn us when he finds us driven by Satan into the dismal wilderness of sin, but he stoops to where we are, and places beneath us those everlasting arms of love, and lifts us to where the sun is shining.
“Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?” asked Jesus of the woman who had been taken in adultery. “She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.”
Look at that stately ship as she moves over the quiet waters. How peacefully she glides along! But look! A storm is coming. As it breaks in fury upon the vessel, she is strained from stem to stem. All is excitement. Sails are furled, and the heavy anchor quickly dropped. As the strong steel fingers clutch the rocks below, the ship brings to with a mighty lurch. Now comes a furious struggle for ground. The storm rages. The cable strains, and the anchor digs deeper and yet deeper. Will she hold against the tempest, or will she be driven back? With terrific force the hurricane sweeps on. Still the anchor holds. Again with mighty, overpowering strength the storm hurls itself forward, as if to carry everything to destruction. Look! the anchor is coming home! She’s drifting! yes, slowly drifting! Closely she hugs the rocky ocean bed, strongly contesting every inch surrendered. But she is being driven back.
When a brother is defeated in battle with the enemy, and gets discouraged, let us consider him as having been driven back, not as wilfully going back, but as having been conquered after a fierce struggle. This will give us a more kind and considerate feeling toward him, a readiness to help instead of to condemn. We know not how many desperate battles he has fought before surrendering. When his soul is hanging in the balance, as it were, how wicked to give him a downward thrust! How Christlike to tenderly place our arms about him, and give assurance that there is One standing ready to help, who was never driven back in battle with the enemy.
Let us consider such a one as a defeated hero, and not as a cowardly renegade and turncoat. Let us call to mind how it was with us when we were driven back by the enemy. The Lord has told us through the spirit of prophecy that “we are to guard our brother’s character as carefully as our own.”
In these last days it is Satan’s studied purpose not only to drive back men and women in the final race for the kingdom, but to have human agents ready to keep them back by undue censure and severe criticism.
May God help us to have the heart of sympathy for another’s woe, the mantle of charity for another’s failings, and that close relation with our Saviour that will enable us to lift the fallen and encourage the downhearted.
Poplar Bluff, Mo.