Every association of life calls for the exercise of self-control, forbearance, and sympathy. We differ so widely in disposition, habits, education, that our ways of looking at things vary. We judge differently. Our understanding of truth, our ideas in regard to the conduct of life, are not in all respects the same. There are no two whose experience is alike in every particular. The trials of one are not the trials of another. The duties that one finds light are to another most difficult and perplexing.

So frail, so ignorant, so liable to misconception is human nature, that each should be careful in the estimate he places upon another. We little know the bearing of our acts upon the experience of others. What we do or say may seem to us of little moment, when, could our eyes be opened, we should see that upon it depended the most important results for good or for evil. 

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Dear Devoted Readers,

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Now the Saviour’s eye penetrates the future; He beholds the broader fields in which, after His death, the disciples are to be witnesses for Him. His prophetic glance takes in the experience of His servants through all the ages till He shall come the second time. He shows His followers the conflicts they must meet; He reveals the character and plan of the battle. He lays open before them the perils they must encounter, the self-denial that will be required. He desires them to count the cost, that they may not be taken unawares by the enemy. Their warfare is not to be waged against flesh and blood, but “against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:12, R. V. They are to contend with supernatural forces, but they are assured of supernatural help. All the intelligences of heaven are in this army. And more than angels are in the ranks. The Holy Spirit, the representative of the Captain of the Lord’s host, comes down to direct the battle. Our infirmities may be many, our sins and mistakes grievous; but the grace of God is for all who seek it with contrition. The power of Omnipotence is enlisted in behalf of those who trust in God.–The Desire of Ages, p. 352.

What we have in the destruction of such wicked societies as Sodom and Gomorrah, or the inhabitants of Canaan, is a type of what will eventually take place across the earth when Jesus returns to restore this planet and claim His kingdom. Psalm 46 offers us an important clue as to why God eventually wipes the slate clean:

Come, behold the works of the Lord,

Who has made desolations in the earth.

He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;

He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two;

He burns the chariot in the fire (Psalm 46:8, 9).

Why does God finally put a stop to it? To stop us. It is our wickedness, not His, that leads to this moment. We have marred His creation with our sin, to the point where our generation is capable of wiping out the entire planet in a matter of minutes–several times over. Wealthy nations send food aid to desperate people, but corrupt power brokers ensure that the resources never reach those who need them. We step over those who sleep on the sidewalk, or we cross the street to avoid them. We hide behind false identities on social media so that we can join the brutal feeding frenzies meant to humiliate and destroy someone for the slightest of social faux-pas. We feed on violence, entertaining ourselves with brutality, reassuring ourselves that we are different from the ancient Roman circuses, because it is all playacted on the silver screen.

A pandemic does not eradicate the promises of God. COVID-19 has not erased the assurance of God’s eternal Word. The coronavirus need not cause a crisis of confidence in God’s ability to solve our problems and provide for our needs. It can lead us to deeper faith, greater trust, and more secure confidence in God. Amid our greatest challenges, God’s promises are still there.

The very essence of the Christian life is trust. It is trusting God with our finances, our health, our time, and our very lives. It is faith that the living Christ who has provided us salvation through His grace and power through His Holy Spirit will fulfill His promise to supply our needs. It is trusting, even during a global pandemic that may touch our lives and the lives of those we love.

When we trust God in trying times, it gives God the opportunity to do for us “exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20). It opens the door of our hearts to receive His abundant blessings. Faith enables the riches of heaven to flow into our lives from His abundant storehouse of grace. God is still in control in every crisis. A terribly devastating pandemic does not wipe out His promises. Living lives of trust, we are secure in His love today, tomorrow, and forever. 

So many of us have failed to fully appreciate the treasure of free will. Like sleepy, fat dogs, we live by impulse, feeling, and momentary comfort. But while we sleep, the consequences multiply like ï¬?eas, and we pay a dear price in lost opportunities and wasted talents. I often ask people, “How is this working for you?” The answer almost never varies from “Terrible.” What we sow, we reap. As I see it, we pay sooner or later for our choices; we might as well pay up front by putting up with a little self-denial. “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts” (Hebrews 3:15). This could be translated as, “Don’t make your wills stubborn.” You’ve heard His voice. Don’t harden your heart; don’t make your will stubborn. Come to know Him. Give Him your will. Learn by doing. Enjoy the better life God has for you.

The ways of the omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent God are past finding out. He takes care of all His children in each of their different circumstances. I thank God for enhancing the other senses of the physically blind, making a way to help them function effectively and live productively. I feel blessed to be able to see, and I give thanks and praise to God.

As I do, however, I also think of how desperate it would be to have physical sight but be spiritually blind. To have spiritual sight is to be in Christ Jesus, the One who knew us from our mother’s womb. He is the One who guides and watches over us always. We lack nothing when we are in Christ because He makes us whole and supplies all our needs.

I am therefore encouraged today, knowing that I have spiritual eyesight because I am in Christ Jesus. He is the One who “gives sight to the blind, the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down, the Lord loves the righteous” (Psalm 146:8, NIV).

Just as we cannot live without sunshine, we cannot live without God’s Son. He was the One who called it into existence. The Son created the sun for the benefit of all His creatures. He lives in heaven but is a very present Friend through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. He said of Himself, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” ( John 8:12, KJV).

The Son can penetrate down to our very bones and marrow. Even the smallest, seemingly innocuous pebble in my heart He points out as sin. If left unchecked, it will grow, multiply, and before long, consume me.

The Son helps us to expunge these character traits through the illuminating power of the Holy Spirit. Through His power, we can become new creatures in Christ Jesus. Old things are passed away, and everything is become new (see 2 Corinthians 5:17).

As we bask in the warmth and light of the sun, may the Lord help us to appreciate and experience the transforming power of the Son. “So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free” ( John 8:36, NLT).

A teardrop on Earth summons the King of heaven, who takes note when hard times cause us to become full of tears. The times when you feel embarrassed or disappointed are turned into moments of tenderness with Him. He never forgets the crises in our lives where tears are shed. He understands, He feels, and He cries with us. What a comforting reality that is!

Jeremiah was so grieved that his people persisted in rebelling against God that “the weeping prophet” became his nickname. Even so, God selected Jeremiah to be His voice at the most critical time in Israel’s history. And God also can use you and your tears as His voice.

If you have tears today, remember two things: God keeps track of all your sorrows, and “weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning” (Psalm 30:5, NLT).

The central theme of the Bible, the theme about which every other in the whole book clusters, is the redemption plan, the restoration in the human soul of the image of God. From the first intimation of hope in the sentence pronounced in Eden, to that last glorious promise of the Revelation, “They shall see His face; and His name shall be in their foreheads,” the burden of every book and every passage of the Bible is the unfolding of this wondrous theme,–man’s uplifting, the power of God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Here we behold the Majesty of heaven, as He humbled Himself to become our Substitute and Surety, to cope single-handed with the powers of darkness, and to gain the victory in our behalf. A reverent contemplation of such themes as these can not fail to soften, purify, and ennoble the heart, and, at the same time, to inspire the mind with new strength and vigor.–“Our Great Treasure-House,” Signs of the Times, April 18, 1906, par. 1.

Psalm 15 asks the question, “Who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell on Your holy hill?” The answer? “He who walks uprightly, and works righteousness” (verses 1, 2). Let’s be honest: How much of what you did in the last week–the last 24 hours!–would be considered “righteous” by heaven’s standards? We may be applauded by other people, but would heaven applaud it? The standard for admission is high: no running down others with your tongue (verse 3), no harm to anybody else, 100 percent fidelity to the promises you have made (all of them, even if it hurts!), and utterly zero financial dishonesty–ever.

Psalm 24 lays out even more conditions: clean hands and a pure heart. It is easy to pretend to be pure at church, but in the quiet hours of the night, when it is just you and the prompting of the Holy Spirit, how much of your life could be considered pure? Not mostly good, but pure. There are none on God’s hill who have worshiped idols–and although we may not have statues of pagan deities we bow to, we certainly have many things we revere more than God in this world. Perhaps not with our lips, but certainly with our actions, our priorities, and our budgetary decisions.

Let’s be honest–Gandhi and Mother Theresa would fail the test. “There is none who does good,” the psalmist reminds us, “no, not one” (Psalm 14:3). “Nor shall evil dwell with You,” we are reminded in Psalm 5:4. 

Our Redeemer is also our Creator. He gives us eternal life by His death, and He gave us physical life by His creative power. That’s why the Bible tells us that the seventh- day Sabbath is a sign of His redeeming, sanctifying power in our lives (Ezekiel 20:12, 20).

God placed the seventh- day Sabbath in the very heart of His Ten- Commandment law and pointed to Creation as the reason for weekly rest and worship on His special day. The fourth commandment says: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. . . . For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it” (Exodus 20:8–11).

Could God be any clearer? He tells us here which day is His holy Sabbath– the seventh day of the week. He tells us how and why we are to keep it. We can search the Bible from cover to cover with-out finding any other day that God has asked us to keep holy. In fact, we can’t really keep a day holy that God has not made holy.

Some people seek to escape condemnation by being better, by keeping the law. But such individuals fail to understand that the law cannot save. It can point out our sin and tell us where we have gone wrong, but it was never given to be our savior.

And here is where the good news of judgment begins. The law points beyond our sin to Jesus and salvation through faith in His saving grace. It is because of Jesus that the judgment is good news. And that good news is based on the love of God.

Unlike modern judges, God is not neutral. He is actively on the side of those whom the devil is pointing an accusatory finger toward. One of the crucial facts of Scripture is that “God so loved the world [me] that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Or, as Paul put it, “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

That, my friend, is excellent news–the very best of good news. The wonder of wonders is that God is willing to credit Jesus’ life and death to my name in the judgment if I am willing to accept Him by faith. That is why Paul could write that even though “the wages of sin is death, . . . the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). And Jesus not only died for us, He is currently ministering for each of His followers as our “Advocate” in the heavenly sanctuary (1 John 2:1).

Because of Jesus, the judgment is always good news for those who follow Him. Or as the book of Daniel puts it, God’s final judgment is “in favor of the saints” (Daniel 7:22).