Early Writings
by Ellen G. White
Church Difficulties 1
Dear brethren and sisters: As error is fast
progressing, we should seek to be awake in the cause of God, and realize the
time in which we live. Darkness is to cover the earth, and gross darkness the
people. And as nearly all around us are being enveloped in the thick darkness
of error and delusion, it becomes us to shake off stupidity and live near to
God, where we can draw divine rays of light and glory from the countenance of
Jesus. As darkness thickens and error increases, we should obtain a more
thorough knowledge [105] of the truth and be prepared to
maintain our position from the Scriptures. {EW 104.2}
We must be sanctified through the truth, be wholly
consecrated to God, and so live out our holy profession that the Lord can shed
increasing light upon us, and that we may see light in His light, and be
strengthened with His strength. Every moment that we are not on our watch we
are liable to be beset by the enemy and are in great danger of being overcome
by the powers of darkness. Satan commissions his angels to be vigilant and
overthrow all they can; to find out the waywardness and besetting sins of those
who profess the truth, and throw darkness around them, that they may cease to
be watchful, take a course that will dishonor the cause they profess to love,
and bring sorrow upon the church. The souls of these misguided, unwatchful ones
grow darker, and the light of heaven fades from them. They cannot discover
their besetting sins, and Satan weaves his net about them, and they are taken
in his snare. {EW 105.1}
God is our strength. We must look to Him for wisdom and
guidance, and keeping in view His glory, the good of the church, and the
salvation of our own souls, we must overcome our besetting sins. We should
individually seek to obtain new victory every day. We must learn to stand alone
and depend wholly upon God. The sooner we learn this the better. Let each one
find out where he fails, and then faithfully watch that his sins do not overcome
him, but that he gets the victory over them. Then can we have confidence toward
God, and great trouble will be saved the church. {EW 105.2}
The messengers of God, as they leave their homes to labor
for the salvation of souls, spend much of their time in laboring for those who
have been in the truth for years, but who are still weak, because they
needlessly let loose the reins, cease watching over themselves, [106]
and, I sometimes think, tempt the enemy to tempt them. They get into some petty
difficulty and trial, and the time of the servants of the Lord is spent to
visit them. They are held hours and even days, and their souls are grieved and
wounded by hearing little difficulties and trials talked over, each magnifying
his own grievances to make them look as serious as possible, for fear the
servants of God will think them too small to be noticed. Instead of depending
on the Lord's servants to help them out of these trials, they should break down
before God and fast and pray until the trials are removed. {EW 105.3}
Some seem to think that all that God has called messengers
into the field for, is to go at their bidding and to carry them in their arms;
and that the most important part of their work is to settle the petty trials
and difficulties which they have brought upon themselves by injudicious moves,
and by giving way to the enemy, and indulging an unyielding, faultfinding
spirit toward those around them. But where are the hungry sheep at this time?
Starving for the bread of life. Those who know the truth and have been
established in it, but obey it not—if they did, they would be saved
many of these trials—are holding the messengers, and the very object
for which God has called them into the field is not accomplished. The servants
of God are grieved and their courage taken away by such things in the church,
when all should strive not to add a feather's weight to their burden, but by
cheering words and the prayer of faith, should help them. How much more free
would they be if all who profess the truth would look about them and try to
help others, instead of claiming so much help themselves. As it is, when the
servants of God enter dark places, where the truth has not yet been proclaimed,
they carry a wounded spirit caused by the needless trials of their brethren. [107]
In addition to all this, they have to meet the unbelief and prejudice of
opposers and be trampled upon by some. {EW 106.1}
How much easier it would be to affect the heart and how much
more would God be glorified if His servants were free from discouragement and
trial, that they might with a free spirit present the truth in its beauty.
Those who have been guilty of requiring so much labor of God's servants and
burdening them with trials which belong to themselves to settle, will have to
give account to God for all the time and means that have been spent to gratify
themselves, thereby satisfying the enemy. They should be in a situation to help
their brethren. They should never defer their trials and difficulties to burden
a whole meeting, or wait until some of the messengers come to settle them; but
they should get right before God themselves, have their trials all out of the
way, and be prepared when laborers come to hold up their hands instead of
weakening them. {EW 107.1}
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