Willing Obedience by Ellen G. White

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Feb 14, 1911

Willing Obedience

By Ellen G. White

By Mrs. E. G. White

GOD requires prompt and unquestioning obedience to His law. But men are asleep or paralyzed by the deceptions of Satan, who suggests excuses and subterfuges, and conquers their scruples, saying as he did to Eve in the garden, "Ye shall not surely die." Disobedience not only hardens the heart and conscience of the guilty one, but it tends to corrupt the faith of others. That which looked very wrong to them at first, gradually loses this appearance by being constantly before them, till finally they question whether it is really sin, and unconsciously fall into the same error.

We should not look in the face of duty and delay meeting its demands. Such delay gives time for doubts, unbelief creeps in, the judgment is perverted, the understanding darkened. At length the reproofs of God's Spirit do not reach the heart of the deluded person, who has become so blinded as to think that they can not possibly be intended for him or apply to his case.

The precious time of probation is passing, and few realize that it is given them for the purpose of preparing for eternity. The golden hours are squandered in worldly pursuits, in pleasure, in absolute sin. God's law is slighted and forgotten, yet every statute is none the less binding. Every transgression will bring its punishment. Worldly love of gain desecrates the Sabbath, yet the claims of that holy day are not abrogated or lessened. God's command is clear and unquestionable on this point; He has pre-emptorily forbidden us to labor on the seventh day. He has set it apart as a day sanctified to Himself.

Many Hindrances, Yet Victory

Many are the hindrances that lie in the path of those who would follow in obedience to the commandments of God. There are strong and subtle influences that bind them to the ways of the world; but the power of the Lord can break these chains. He will remove every obstacle from before the feet of His faithful ones, or give them strength and courage to conquer every difficulty, if they earnestly beseech His help. All hindrances will vanish before an earnest desire and persistent effort to do the will of God at any cost to self, even if life itself is sacrificed. Light from Heaven will illuminate the darkness of those who, in trial and perplexity, go forward, looking unto Jesus as the author and finisher of their faith.

In ancient times God spoke to men by the mouths of prophets and apostles. In these days He speaks to them by the testimonies of His Spirit. There was never a time when God more earnestly instructed His people concerning His will, and the course that He would have them pursue, than now. But will they profit by His teachings, will they receive His reproofs and heed the warnings? God will accept of no partial obedience, nor sanction any compromise with self.

Through Samuel, God commanded Saul to go and smite the Amalekites and utterly destroy all their possessions. But Saul only partially obeyed the command; he destroyed the inferior cattle, but reserved the best, and spared the wicked King. The next day, he met the prophet Samuel with flattering self-congratulations. Said he: "Blessed be thou of the Lord: I have performed the commandment of the Lord." But the

prophet immediately answered, “What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?”

Saul was confused, and sought to shirk responsibility by answering, “They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.” Samuel then reproved the King, reminding him of the explicit commands of God directing him to destroy all things belonging to Amalek. He pointed out his transgression, and declared that he had disobeyed the Lord. But Saul refused to acknowledge that he had done wrong; he again excused his sin by pleading that he had reserved the best cattle to sacrifice unto the Lord.

Obedience Better than Sacrifice

Samuel was grieved to the heart by the persistency with which the King refused to see his sin and confess it. He sorrowfully asked: “Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to harken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, He hath also rejected thee from being king.”

God has given us His commandments, not only to believe in, but to obey. The great Jehovah, when He had laid the foundations of the earth, and dressed the whole world in the garb of beauty, and filled it with things useful to man, when He had created all the wonders of the land and sea, instituted the Sabbath day and made it holy. God blessed and sanctified the seventh day, because He rested upon it from all His wondrous work of creation. The Sabbath was made for man; and God would have him put by his labor on that day, as He Himself rested after His six days’ work of creation.

God will not more lightly pass over any transgression of His law now than in the day when He pronounced judgment against Adam. The Saviour of the world raises His voice in protest against those who regard the divine commandments with carelessness and indifference. Said He, “Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”

Remember

At the very beginning of the fourth precept, God has said, “Remember,” knowing that man, in the multitude of his cares and perplexities, would be tempted to excuse himself from meeting the full requirements of the law; or, in the press of worldly business, forget its sacred importance. “Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work,” — meaning the usual business of life, for worldly profit or pleasure. These words are very explicit; there can be no mistake. How dare any one venture to transgress a commandment so solemn and important? Has the Lord made an exception, by which some are absolved from the law He has given to the world? Are their transgressions omitted from the book of record? Has He agreed to excuse their disobedience when the nations shall come before Him for judgment?

Let none for a moment deceive themselves with the thought that their sin will not bring its merited punishment. Their transgressions will be visited with the rod, because they have had the light, yet have walked directly contrary to it. He that knoweth his Master’s will, and doeth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes.

Meeting God’s Claims

God has given man six days in which to do his own work, and carry on the usual business of his life. But the Lord claims one which He has set apart and sanctified. He gives it to man as a day in which he may rest from labor, and devote himself to worship and the improvement of his spiritual condition. What a flagrant outrage it is for man to steal the one sanctified day of Jehovah, and appropriate it to his own selfish purposes!

It is the grossest presumption for mortal man to venture upon a compromise with the Almighty, in order to secure his own petty, temporal interests. It is as ruthless a violation of the law to use the Sabbath occasionally for secular business, as to reject it entirely; for it is making the Lord’s commandments a matter of convenience. “I the Lord thy God am a jealous God,” is thundered from Sinai! The Lord requires willing sacrifice. No partial obedience, no divided interest, is accepted by Him who declares that the iniquities of the fathers shall be visited upon the children to the third and fourth generation of them that hate Him, and that He will show mercy unto thousands that love Him and keep His commandments.