p. 175 | Begin With God

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 31, 1865

"Begin With God."

"TAKE thy first meal with God; He is thy heavenly food; Feed with and on him. He with thee Will feast in brotherhood."

With how many of us, Christian brethren, on rising refreshed from our night's slumber, is the spiritual craving after heavenly nutriment so great that we seek it as a first necessity?

Do we spring up from our beds in the solemn dusk of the morning, while yet the bustle of the world is afar off, that we may hold undisturbed communion with Him who is our true life? Do we bend in earnest devotion over the Book of books, and feel ourselves strengthened and prepared for another day's combat with the world, the flesh, and the Devil? Do we look from our window upon the wondrous works of God's creation, and feast upon his goodness and mercy, as displayed in these, toward us?

Or do we open our eyes to the glorious dawn, with our thoughts full of the perishable objects of time; with our minds set upon the business of this mortal life? Do we hasten to our well-spread board, and satisfy our physical hunger, and wholly overlook the rich spiritual feast that is ever ready for our participation.

Do our Bibles lie useless in the dust, while newspapers and ledgers have an eager attention? and do we rush to the transactions of the busy day with no first act of consecration to Him without whom the day would not have been begun by us at all?

Let this title of Bonar's beautiful hymn be the principle of our soul. Let us strive by God's grace, not only to begin, but to continue and end, with Him who is our only joy and hope, both in this world and the world to come.