Work and Wait by M. Wood

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Jun 17, 1875

Work and Wait.

By M. Wood

"In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand; for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good." Eccl. 11 : 6.

We stretch forth our hands before we actually sow the seed. We want more faith in God and his promises. We want to work more and doubt less. God's hand is not shortened. And if we will but sow the seed, leaving it in the hand of God, in his own appointed time he will crown our labor with success. Paul planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. It is a great fault in many of us that we expect others to be convinced and brought to a knowledge of the truth all at once. We should consider how difficult it is for such a blind, proud creature as a man is to see the truth, and acknowledge himself a sin-polluted creature before God. And we should also consider by what slow degrees we arrive at the truth ourselves.

Dear friends, there is not a discouraging feature connected with the third angel's message, but everything to encourage us to circulate our books, periodical and tracts, with a cautious yet liberal hand, praying that God's blessing may attend our humble efforts to forward the work of God and lead soul's to Christ. Sow thy seed, and wait in patience until the rain drops on it from Heaven. The more arduous our labor the greater the glory. And the glory will be ours if we endure unto the end.

This is a work in which every one of us is permitted to do something. None so poor, none so weak, none so insignificant, but a place is assigned him in the T. and M. Society. May we be rooted and grounded in love, established and built up in Christ, and thus enabled to hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end. M. WOOD