“THINE EARS SHALL HEAR A WORD”
WHEN in perplexity concerning a moral duty, the temptation often comes to be governed by impressions; but God has not designed that His intelligent followers shall thus be left in uncertainty. An “impression” may direct us in a wrong path; but God’s plan is that “thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.” Isa. 30: 21. Note carefully what the text says: “Thine ears shall hear”—not impressions, but—“a word.” God speaks to His children in definite words, and those words are in His inspired book. God is infinite in all His attributes; and He knew how, through the prophets of old, to inspire words that are just what we need to guide us definitely in all the perplexities that confront us in the complicated affairs of life. But if we are to be guided by words from God, we must go to His sacred book. All the words that He has placed in this world for the human family are in that volume. But the store is complete. There is nothing lacking. If we are to be guided by that Word, we must know it for ourselves. We cannot depend upon the teachings or the sayings of another human being. We must go to the fountainhead. We must know the Word. The reason why so many people are confused and do not know what to believe is because they are trusting to the imperfect teachings of men, and do not go to the great Book itself. God will instruct each individual that will follow His plan, and His plan is for us to study His book and know it personally for ourselves. And how marvelous it is that in this time He has multiplied copies of His book in all the languages of the world, so that every individual may have it with him continually and study it and know it for Himself! “Thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it.”