The present economic situation has greatly intensified the test of faith and loyalty of those who are holding lucrative positions, but who, through this message, have been brought face to face with the Sabbath question. As workers, we are now confronted with such questions as these:
"How can I keep the Sabbath and hold my position when thousands are waiting in line for it, and are willing to work the allotted time?"
"What will become of my family if I lose my work?"
"How will my friends and neighbors regard me if I give up my position, which is the means of supporting my family and keeping them from going hungry?"
"Does the religion of Jesus demand such a sacrifice?"
These and similar questions we are called upon to meet and answer today. During the period of my own experience in the work, my faith in the promises of God has never been put to the test so intensely as it is today in answering these questions. It requires a real exercise of faith on my part to urge these people to cast their all upon God and accept the consequences.
I was recently in the home of a family where the results of this present stringency were quite evident. The husband, the only one with a dependable income from his employment, felt keenly his responsibility to his family and to his God. One evening, while I was studying with them, he began taking one difficulty after another that confronted him, and that apparently stood in the way of his embracing the Sabbath truth, and placed them before me, as it were, one upon the other. By the time he finished enumerating them, I can assure you it was quite a mound. Viewing it from the human standpoint, it was insurmountable. As I scanned the simple belongings in that humble home, saw that picture painted before me, and visualized the conditions as they are in the business world at the present time, it was really heart-rending.
Yet another picture appeared to my vision. The crisis had come in that man's life. It was the parting of the ways; his soul hung in the balance, and his decision might depend upon my answer to those questions. What should my answer be? Of course you may say there was only one answer to be given, and that would be to obey God. Before answering this man, however, I had to answer some questions in my own heart. Did I actually believe that God would do the seemingly impossible for this man, and that that mound of difficulties would be surmounted by the fulfilling of the promises of God, as is recorded in Matthew 6:25-34?
It is a law of nature that one cannot give what one does not possess. Peter said, "Such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk." "And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up." Likewise this man had to be lifted up by the cords of faith where he could walk. Thank God, as I read to him Psalms 114:3-8, living faith, united with the promises of God, took possession of him, and he made his decision on the side of Christ. The mountains of difficulty truly skipped like rams and the hills of trouble like lambs, and Jordan was driven back before the onward march of faith.
Hartford, Conn.
