Rejoicing vs. Murmuring.
By T. M. Steward
WE regard people insane when they turn against their best friends. The spirit of murmuring and complaining is plainly condemned in the Bible. 1 Cor. 10:10. Enoch, in speaking of those who were to be destroyed at the coming of Christ to execute judgment, says they are murmurers and complainers! Then just before the coming of Christ this class will be developed. Jude 16. The children of Israel murmured because God wanted them to deny themselves that they might keep his commandments. They were not willing to be governed by the principles of that law. I think Satan had something to do with their murmuring. What stirred them up to murmur? God told his faithful servant Moses to reprove them. They did not like to be reproved, and accused Moses of trying to lord it over them. This was a terrible sin, for Moses was only telling them what God told him to, for their good. Shall we be instructed by the dealing of God with them? As I was reading in Testimony for the Church No. 20, page 44, I noticed this language: “If you had made God’s word your study, with a desire to reach the Bible standard and attain to Christian perfection, you would not have needed the testimonies.” Can this be possible? After God has “so loved the world as to give his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life,” and has kindly given us his precious word to be a lamp to our feet and a light unto our path, we have it for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works, what could we ask more? Yet when God had given his own dear Son to die for our sins, and then given us his precious word, to point out before us the path to eternal life, he saw that with all this we should come short in the Judgment and thus fail of life unless he could do something more for us. So he brings in another powerful agency to help the church on to perfection, Eph. 4:12, viz., “the gift of prophecy.” As we have neglected to study the Bible as we should, to see our faults and be reproved thereby, he brings this agency to bear upon us to see if it will not arouse us to see our danger before it is too late to escape. How condescending! how kind! what love! But why all this trouble and expense? That we (as unworthy as we are) may be saved to enjoy eternal life in his glorious kingdom, that we may be his sons and daughters. Can we meet the Judgment with any defects in our characters and be acquitted? No. How shall we get rid of them? By confessing and forsaking them we shall find mercy. How shall we know what they are? The Bible would inform us, but we have been so negligent in studying it that God proposes to point them out to us in vision through the gift of prophecy. I turn to the Testimonies to the Church, and to my astonishment, I find my faults pointed out that God’s word condemns, but I had entirely overlooked them before. But this testimony is for another, yet it meets my case in many respects. Shall I heed it? Perhaps if I continue to improve upon instruction given to others, I shall get along without receiving direct reproof, and my brethren will never know how much I failed of the Christian standard. But my selfish, proud heart must be tested to see if I am willing to be led by the Spirit of God. Now comes the testimony for me, pointing out my wrongs plainly and pointedly, and makes me out worse than I thought I was. (Of course it would, for if I had seen all my defects, what use of the testimony?) Now come in the murmuring and the complaining. Satan suggests that they are too hard on me. Can I stand it? Let me see. Whom shall I complain of? Bro. White? He has nothing to do in preparing these testimonies. He is out of reach. Shall I complain of sister White? But sister White don’t originate these testimonies. You see here is where jealousy is trying to creep in. But the testimony comes from Jesus, who furnished the subject matter for the testimony sent me? It was taken from the book that contains the daily life record of my character. Is it a faithful record? It must be. Then who furnished the subject matter for this testimony? The very one the testimony is for. For what purpose was it sent? That in this mirror we might see ourselves as we are, and thus wake up from self-righteous stupidity to seek God with all our heart and powers. And if we don’t like the record, as given us in the testimony, let us mend our life record by good deeds and righteous acts, by prayers and alms, and as sure as Heaven, our testimonies will improve just as our life record improves. But whom does Jesus rebuke? Hear him, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous, therefore, and repent” (reform). What then? Is this an evidence that he loves me? It certainly is. Jesus, the good shepherd, sees our danger, and while he points it out, with unerring certainty, accompanying the warning we hear his lovely voice in accents sweet and comforting, “Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” How can I murmur, when all Heaven is interested in my welfare? Shall I complain? Oh, no! Heaven forbid. I am ashamed of my past record; but by the grace of God, I will improve it in the future. Be this the rejoicing of my heart, that “Jesus loves me still,” and that I am still an object of his grace, mercy, love, and compassion. It would be a shame for us to murmur. We have every reason to rejoice. Let us rejoice in the God of our salvation.