Conflict & Courage

He suffered no man to do them wrong: yea, he reproved kings for their sakes; saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm. Psalm 105:14, 15.  {CC 46.1}       It is by close, testing trials that God disciplines His servants. He sees that some have powers which may be used in the advancement of His work, and He puts these persons upon trial; in His providence He brings them into posit...

That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 1:7.  {CC 45.1}        Abraham continued to journey southward, and again his faith was tested. The heavens withheld their rain, the brooks ceased to flow in the valleys, and the grass withered on...

By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. Hebrews 11:8.  {CC 44.1}        Abraham had grown up in the midst of superstition and heathenism. Even his father's household, by whom the knowledge of God had been preserved, were yielding to the seductive influences surrounding them,...

So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Genesis 11:8.  {CC 43.1}        The dwellers on the plain of Shinar established their kingdom for self-exaltation, not for the glory of God. Had they succeeded, a mighty power would have borne sway, banishing righteousness and inaugurating a new religion. The world would have been dem...

Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth." Genesis 11:4, R.S.V.  {CC 42.1}        For a time the descendants of Noah continued to dwell among the mountains where the ark had rested. As their numbers increased, apostasy soon led to division. Those...

And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Luke 17:26, 27.  {CC 41.1}        God did not condemn the antediluvians for eating and drinking; He had given them the fruits of the earth in great abu...

And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth. Genesis 7:10.  {CC 40.1}        For seven days after Noah and his family entered the ark, there appeared no sign of the coming storm. During this period their faith was tested. It was a time of triumph to the world without. The apparent delay confirmed them in the belief that Noah's message was a delusion, and...

And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. Genesis 7:1.  {CC 39.1}        Noah had faithfully followed the instructions which he had received from God. The ark was finished in every part as the Lord had directed, and was stored with food for man and beast. And now the servant of God made his last solemn appeal...

And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make thee an ark. Genesis 6:13, 14.  {CC 38.1}        God gave Noah the exact dimensions of the ark and explicit directions in regard to its construction in every particular. Human wisdom could not have devised a structure of so great...

And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly. 2 Peter 2:5.  {CC 37.1}        God warned the inhabitants of the old world of what He purposed to do in cleansing the earth of its impurity. But they laughed to scorn what they regarded as a superstitious prediction.  {CC 37.2}        Many at first appea...

 In the days that were before the flood they were . . . marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark. Matthew 24:38.  {CC 36.1}        In Noah's day brute force was the prevailing influence in the world. By threatened punishment, men intimidated other men.  {CC 36.2}        Instead of doing justice to their neighbors, they carried out their own unlawful wishes. They...

In  the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking ...  and knew not until the flood came and took them all away. Matthew 24:38, 39. The  sin of the Noatic world was intemperance, and today the sin exhibited  by intemperance in eating and drinking is so marked that God will not  always tolerate it.... Man carries to excess that which is lawful, and  his whole being suffers the r...

And his brother's name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ. And Zillah, she also bare Tubal-cain, an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron. Genesis 4:21, 22.  {CC 34.1}        There perished in the Flood greater inventions of art and human skill than the world knows of today. The arts destroyed were more than the boasted arts of today. . . .  {CC 34.2}  ...

There were giants in the earth in those days. Genesis 6:4.  {CC 33.1}        The first people upon the earth received their instructions from that infinite God who created the world. Those who received their knowledge direct from infinite wisdom were not deficient in knowledge. . . .  {CC 33.2}        There are many inventions and improvements, and labor-saving machines now that the ancients did n...

Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. . . . They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them. Psalm 115:4-8.  {CC 32.1}       In the days of Noah a double curse was resting upon the earth in consequence of Adam's transgression and of the murder committed by Cain. Yet this had not greatly changed the face of nature. . . . The human race yet retained...

By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. Hebrews 11:5.  {CC 31.1}        When we learn to walk by faith and not by feeling, we shall have help from God just when we need it, and His peace will come into our hearts. It was this simple life of obedience and tru...

But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. 2 Corinthians 3:18.  {CC 30.1}        In the midst of a life of active labor, Enoch steadfastly maintained his communion with God. The greater and more pressing his labors, the more constant and earnest were his prayers. He continued to e...

Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him. Genesis 5:24.  {CC 29.1}        Enoch, we read, walked with God three hundred years. That was a long time to be in communion with Him. . . . He communed with God because it was agreeable to him, . . . and he loved the society of God.  {CC 29.2}        Enoch was a marked character. Many look upon his life as something above what the generalit...

Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah: and Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years. Genesis 5:21, 22.  {CC 28.1}        Of Enoch it is written that he lived sixty-five years, and begat a son. . . . During these earlier years Enoch had loved and feared God and had kept His commandments. . . . But after the birth of his first son, Enoch reached a higher e...

And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord. Genesis 4:16.  {CC 27.1}        God had given Cain an opportunity to confess his sin. . . . He knew the enormity of the deed he had done, and of the falsehood he had uttered to conceal it; but he was rebellious still, and sentence was no longer deferred. . . .  {CC 27.2}        Notwithstanding that Cain had by his crimes merited the sentence of deat...

And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. Genesis 4:6, 7.  {CC 26.1}       The Lord saw the wrath of Cain. He saw the falling of his countenance. Thus is revealed how closely the Lord marks every action, all the intents and purposes, yes, even the expression...

And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering: but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. Genesis 4:4, 5.  {CC 25.1}        Cain came before God with murmuring and infidelity in his heart in regard to the promised sacrifice and the necessity of the sacrificial offerings. His gift expressed no penitence for sin. He felt, as many...

By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh. Hebrews 11:4.  {CC 24.1}        Cain and Abel, the sons of Adam, differed widely in character. Abel had a spirit of loyalty to God; he saw justice and mercy in the Creator's dealings with the fallen race, and gra...

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. 1 Corinthians 15:22, 23.  {CC 23.1}        Amid the reeling of the earth, the flash of lightning, and the roar of thunder, the voice of the Son of God calls forth the sleeping saints. . . . The dead shall hear that voice, and the...

And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died. Genesis 5:5.  {CC 22.1}        Adam's life was one of sorrow, humility, and continual repentance. As he taught his children and grandchildren the fear of the Lord, he was often bitterly reproached for the sin which had resulted in so much misery to his posterity. When he left beautiful Eden, the thought that he must...