Instructions of God to be Carefully Cherished

Christ Triumphant - A Devotional by E.G. White

Instructions of God to be Carefully Cherished

Today's Text: How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Beth-lehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons.  1 Samuel 16:1

The Message:      When God called David from his father's sheepfold to anoint him king of Israel, He saw in him one to whom He could impart His Spirit. David was susceptible to the influence of the Holy Spirit, and the Lord in His providence trained him for His service, preparing him to carry out His purposes....      How joyfully David triumphs in God and his relation to Him. "Who is a rock save our God? ... The Lord liveth; and blessed be my rock; and let the God of my salvation be exalted." He is my strength, my power. He is the source and foundation of all my blessings. He is to be as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. He is my strength, my support. He it is who keeps me safe. In Him will I trust....      After David had been made king of Israel, God did not compliment him on his exalted position or his dignity and the extent of his power, but instructed him in regard to the obligations resting on him. This instruction was to be carefully cherished as the Word of the Lord for all who should follow David as rulers of the people. They were to be often repeated as lessons of counsel to future generations....      The heavier the responsibilities that people bear, the more humble should they be and the more jealous of themselves, lest they withdraw their confidence from God and become haughty, overbearing, presumptuous, and self-exalted. This is the danger threatening those who have been especially favored by God. Unless they become wise in the wisdom of God, and strive constantly to reveal the attributes of God, they are in danger of thinking themselves sufficient for all things....      Those placed in positions of responsibility should be men and women who fear God, who realize that they are humans only, not God. They should be people who will rule under God and for Him. Will they give expression to the will of God for His people? Do they allow selfishness to tarnish word and action? Do they, after obtaining the confidence of the people as leaders of wisdom who fear God and keep His commandments, belittle the exalted position that the people of God should occupy in these days of peril? Will they through self-confidence become false guideposts, pointing the way to friendship with the world instead of the way to heaven?-Manuscript 163, 1902.

Commentary: My friend, as God saw within David one in which He could influence by His Spirit, so too does He desire to see within us one by which His Spirit can dwell.  David's heart was open to the promptings of the Spirit of God and as such God had chosen him to lead His people.  Today God is also looking throughout His people for those who will heed His instructions and to do His will. Jesus prayed to His Father saying "Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are." (John 17:11).  The work and desire of Jesus was that we may be one with the Father as He is.  This is the ultimate goal of the plan of salvation, that we may be one in Christ even as He is one with the Father. What a blessing it is that we may be called sons of God. God bless,

Video of the Week The Paradigm Shift - Part 1 - The Trinity Doctrine Exposed A powerful message from Nader Mansour on how the trinity doctrine became part of the Seventh-day Adventist church.