The
Testing of Character
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By Mrs. E. G. White
Saul made an appearance of great conscientiousness and
devotion, as he stood before the army of Israel, offering up a sacrifice to
God. He represented himself before the people as one who was
unwilling to engage in battle with the Philistines, without seeking the help of
Heaven, but his heart was filled with distrust, and his apparent piety was, in
reality, only unbelief and disobedience. He had been directed by the prophet of
God that when he was brought into just such circumstances of trial he should
wait until seven days had expired, and that at the termination of the days
appointed, Samuel would come unto him, and offer the sacrifice, and tell him
what he should do to honor God and save Israel, but Saul had failed to bear the
test that God had permitted to come upon him, and he resolved to offer the
sacrifice himself, and wait no longer for the priest ordained of God to perform
the sacred service. The king beheld the Philistines arrayed for battle. He saw
his own soldiers filled with alarm, and his ranks thinning with frequent
desertions, and, instead of trusting in the word of God, and waiting patiently
for his salvation, he became faithless and discouraged. In the hope of again
rallying his scattered troops, he was willing to violate the direction of God,
and offer an offering before the Lord, that he might have the approval of the
people, and gather them to his side to war against the enemy.
The prophet had declared that the Lord would reveal what
course the king should pursue when the seven days were ended; but he did not
wait for the arrival of the man of God, but took the matter into his own hands.
If he had but waited in faith and patience and rested in the promise of God,
what lessons of trust might have come down to inspire us as the result of his
life and experience! What a help he might have been to Israel, if he had but
stood the test in that hour of trial! He might have revealed the work of the
Spirit of God in his heart. Through him might have been manifested the power
and willingness of Jehovah to bless his waiting people. If he had fulfilled the
conditions upon which the help was promised, the Lord would have wrought a
marvelous deliverance for Israel, with the few who were loyal to the king. But
the religious service, performed in unbelief and in direct opposition to the
commandment of God, only served to weaken his hands, and to place him beyond
the help that God was so willing to grant him.
There are many who are pursuing this very course today.
They refuse to believe and obey the commandment of the Lord, and yet they
persevere in offering up to God their formal services of religion; but there is
no response from the Spirit of God to such a service. There is no inward work
upon the heart, no reformation in the life, no transformation in the character.
Outward ordinances must not be considered of value, unless they are in
accordance with the expressed will of God. The Lord cannot manifest his power
to deliver, no matter how zealous men may be in their observance of religious
ceremonies, if they persist in willful disobedience to his commandments.
Those who are placed in positions of trust,
will be subjected to different tests, that their loyalty and trustworthiness
may be proved by their course of action. The test may be a simple one, but it
will be sufficient to decide whether or not the man's spirit is under the
control of the Spirit of God. It will be made manifest whether or not he will
choose to carry out his own will and his own ideas, or the will of God as the
supreme guide of his actions. All our actions are weighed. Their moral worth is
estimated. It is known whether or not we are loyal to God, whether or not we
are leading those connected with us to love and fear God, or through the
natural defects of our characters, unaided by the grace of God, we are leading
those who look to us for an example into crooked paths, away from the fear of
God, away from the counsel he gives through his appointed servants. If we are
indifferent to the instruction given through the agencies of God, our hearts
will become hardened, the light ordained for our correction will appear as
darkness, and we will become agents in leading others into unbelief and
rebellion.
Adam was tested in a very simple matter, but his failure
to endure the test opened the flood-gates of woe upon our world, and with every disobedience to God are involved consequences of
fearful import and disaster. The action of the king before Israel lessened the
significance of the sacrificial service, and robbed the priesthood of its
sacredness before their eyes. If the king could, with unconsecrated hands,
perform this holy rite, why could not the people do the same? If he thought
best to perform this service, it must be the right thing to do, and they felt
perfectly safe in following the example of one so exalted as the king. Those
who occupy positions of honor and responsibility,
should be exceedingly careful to walk circumspectly and humbly before the Lord,
that they may not become stumbling-blocks to those who are influenced by their
life and example.
The greatest trials that have come upon the church have
been brought about through the agency of those who were its professed friends,
and who had been placed in positions of trust and sacred responsibility. Our
most sanguine expectations have been frequently disappointed. We have followed
our best judgment in selecting men for places of trust, and they have failed
time and again, when the test was brought to bear on their characters. They
have exhibited weaknesses of which they gave no previous indication. They are
not what they appeared to be before they were placed in the position. How often
have we finite beings been led to repent that we
have used our influence toward promoting men who afterwards have given no
evidence of their devotion to God's word and work. We have often inquired, What has made this great change in these men? What was it that
led Saul to presume upon his exaltation to dishonor God by unbelief and
disobedience? It was self-sufficiency and an evil heart of unbelief. It was
when Saul was little in his own sight that God chose him to be ruler over
Israel, but when he lost his spirit of simplicity and humility, he was not the
man for the place, and his authority was taken from him. Those who turn from
their humility and begin to exalt self, are filled
with the most unaccountable infatuation and self-deception in regard to their
own qualifications. Like Saul, they begin to assume responsibilities that their
position in nowise warrants, and for which God has not
ordained them.
When circumstances are so shaped that character is tested
and developed, you should seek fervently for the help of God that you may be
delivered from evil. If you walk humbly before God, you will not follow your
own will, but will have a teachable spirit, and will submit to instruction and
correction. If you steadfastly adhere to the word of God and follow in his way,
you will not imperil others nor in the least degree seek to turn their minds
away from the warnings, reproofs, and instructions which God sends through his
servants; but if you fail to obey the word of God, even in the most perplexing
circumstances, you make it manifest that you cannot be trusted in times of
peril. Like Saul, you will follow your own judgment. You will not humble your
soul before God, and make supplication, and lead those connected with you to
look to God with all their hearts for the help he has promised to give in times
of need.
The Lord will work for those who put their trust in him.
Precious victories will be gained by the faithful. Precious lessons will be
learned. Precious experiences will be realized that will be of the greatest
advantage in times of trial and temptation. Those who will give all the glory
to God, not taking credit to themselves, will be trusted with more and more of
the blessing of God. The Lord will be magnified by those who honor him in the
midst of the people. The trial that has been borne with patience, the test that
has been met with faithfulness, will prove them worthy of responsibility, and
God will make them agents to carry out his will. They will be made stewards of
his grace, as honored servants of God.
The conflicts of earth, in the providence of God, furnish
the very training necessary to develop characters fit for the courts of Heaven.
We are to become members of the royal family, the sons of God, and "all
things work together for good to those who love God," and submit
themselves to his will. Our God is an ever-present help in every time of need.
He is perfectly acquainted with the most secret thoughts of our heart, with all
the intents and purposes of our souls. When we are in perplexity, even before
we open to him our distress, he is making arrangements for our deliverance. Our
sorrow is not unnoticed. He always knows much better than we do, just what is
necessary for the good of his children, and he leads us as we would choose to
be led if we could discern our own hearts and see our necessities and perils,
as God sees them. But finite beings seldom know themselves. They do not
understand their own weaknesses, and when reproof comes, and cautions are
given, when they are rebuked, or even advised, they think that they are
misjudged and unjustly treated. God knows them better than they know
themselves, and he understands how to lead them. But when he undertakes to
guide them in ways which seem mysterious to them, because of their blindness
and lack of faith, they rebel, and bring upon themselves unnecessary grief and
trouble. They have prayed to the Lord for light and guidance, and the Lord
answered them as he did Jacob, and, like Jacob, they do not discern that it is
the hand of the Lord leading them in a way contrary to their own choosing. If we will trust him, and
commit our ways to him, he will direct our steps in the very path that will
result in our obtaining the victory over every evil passion, and every trait of
character that is unlike the character of our divine Pattern.