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Abraham's Faith Tested, March 5

I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing. Genesis 12:2. It was not a small trial to Abraham to be called to leave his home and acquaintances and go into a land that he knew not. When he came into that land, he found that the Canaanites were there, and he would have all their idolatry to meet. This was a severe trial to Abraham's faith. He could not see any possession that he could claim as his own. But in his perplexity the God of heaven condescended to preach the gospel to him and show him the possession that he should have for an eternal inheritance. Abraham moved from place to place, as it seemed advisable for him, in order to obtain a support for his family, and his family was not small. His trained servants numbered more than four hundred. At every place where he pitched his tent, close beside it he erected an altar; so he worshiped God in every place where he was called to be. In thus doing he was training his family to love and fear God.... All God's followers, wherever they shall go, should carry the true principles of their religion with them. If sin, forgetfulness of God, and idolatry exist in the places where they shall go, then is the time for them to show their true principles. When we set ourselves where all is convenience and ease, we do not feel so much the necessity of depending moment by moment upon God. God in His providence brings us into positions where we shall feel our necessity of His help and strength.... Now, the Lord has a controversy with His people, and He wants every one of us to come into obedience to His requirements. We are none of us, when duty is laid out before us, to question, “Is it convenient or will it please me to do this?” If God says it, it is enough. We are to take our Bibles; we are to study and see what the will of God is concerning us, and then to follow as Abraham did, in faith and confidence. Now, you see, the first test was a very close test for Abraham—to leave everything and go into a land of strangers.... There were adverse circumstances that followed Abraham for a time that brought him into positions of trial and where he was proved of God.... When the Lord opened before him the view of immortal life, of this earth purified, which was to be his home, he was satisfied.—Manuscript 19, 1886 (see also In Heavenly Places, 112; Manuscript Releases 10:120, 121).

Babel Builders Still Exist, March 4

The Lord bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: he maketh the devices of the people of none effect. The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations. Psalm 33:10, 11. The schemes of the Babel builders ended in shame and defeat. The monument to their pride became the memorial of their folly. Yet people today are continually pursuing the same course—depending upon self, and rejecting God's law. It is the principle that Satan tried to carry out in heaven; the same that governed Cain in presenting his offering. There are tower builders in our time. Infidels construct their theories from the supposed deductions of science and reject the revealed Word of God. They presume to pass sentence upon God's moral government; they despise His law and boast of the sufficiency of human reason. Then, “because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.” In the professedly Christian world many turn away from the plain teachings of the Bible and build up a creed from human speculations and pleasing fables, and they point to their tower as a way to climb up to heaven. People hang with admiration upon the lips of eloquence while it teaches that the transgressor shall not die, that salvation may be secured without obedience to the law of God. If the professed followers of Christ would accept God's standard, it would bring them into unity; but so long as human wisdom is exalted above His Holy Word, there will be divisions and dissension. The existing confusion of conflicting creeds and sects is fitly represented by the term “Babylon,” which prophecy applies to the world-loving churches of the last days. Many seek to make a heaven for themselves by obtaining riches and power. They “speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily,” trampling upon human rights and disregarding divine authority. The proud may be for a time in great power, and may see success in all that they undertake, but in the end they will find only disappointment and wretchedness. The time of God's investigation is at hand. The Most High will come down to see that which rebel humans have builded. His sovereign power will be revealed; the works of human pride will be laid low.... “The Lord bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: he maketh the devices of the people of none effect. The counsel of the Lord standeth forever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.”—Patriarchs and Prophets, 123, 124.

Some Go to Great Lengths to Avoid God, March 3

Let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad. Genesis 11:4. Some of the descendants of Noah soon began to apostatize.... They journeyed a distance ... and selected a large plain wherein to dwell. There they built a city, and then conceived the idea of erecting a large tower to reach unto the clouds, that they might dwell together in the city and tower, and be no more scattered. They reasoned that they would secure themselves in case of another flood, for they would build their tower to a much greater height than the waters prevailed in the time of the Flood, and all the world would honor them.... Before the work of building was accomplished, people dwelt in the tower. Rooms gorgeously furnished and decorated were devoted to their idols....—The Signs of the Times, March 20, 1879. But among the people of Babel there were living some God-fearing persons who had been deceived by the pretensions of the ungodly and drawn into their schemes. These would not join this confederacy to thwart the purposes of God. They refused to be deceived by the wonderful representations and the grand outlook. For the sake of these faithful ones, the Lord delayed His judgments and gave the people time to reveal their true character.... This confederacy was born of rebellion against God. The dwellers on the plain of Shinar established their kingdom for self-exaltation, and not for the glory of God.... Determined individuals, inspired by the first great rebel, would have been urged on by him and would have permitted nothing to interfere with their plans or to stop them in their evil course. In the place of the divine precepts they would have substituted laws framed in accordance with the desires of their selfish hearts, in order that they might carry out their purposes. But God never leaves the world without witnesses for Him. Those who loved and feared Him at the time of the first great apostasy after the Flood humbled themselves and cried unto Him. “O God,” they pleaded, “interpose Thyself between Thy cause and the plans and methods of men.”“And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.” ... God bears long with the perversity of human beings, giving them ample opportunity for repentance, but He marks all their devices to resist the authority of His just and holy law. As an evidence of His displeasure over the building of this tower, He confounded the language of the builders, so that none could understand the words of fellow workers.—Manuscript 94, 1903 (Manuscript Releases 8:42, 43).

An Evil Character Leads to Apostasy, March 2

Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. Genesis 9:25. To repeople the desolate earth, which the Flood had so lately swept from its moral corruption, God had preserved but one family, the household of Noah, to whom He had declared, “Thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.” Yet in the three sons of Noah was speedily developed the same great distinction seen in the world before the Flood. In Shem, Ham, and Japheth, who were to be the founders of the human race, was foreshadowed the character of their posterity. Noah, speaking by divine inspiration, foretold the history of the three great races to spring from these fathers of the human race. Tracing the descendants of Ham, through the son rather than the father, he declared, “Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.” ... Evil characteristics were perpetuated in Canaan and his posterity, whose continued guilt called upon them the judgments of God.... Though the prophetic curse had doomed them to slavery, the doom was withheld for centuries. God bore with their impiety and corruption until they passed the limits of divine forbearance. Then they were dispossessed, and became bondmen to the descendants of Shem and Japheth.... 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 who desired to forget their Creator and to cast off the restraint of His law felt a constant annoyance from the teaching and example of their God-fearing associates, and after a time they decided to separate from the worshipers of God. Accordingly they journeyed to the plain of Shinar, on the banks of the river Euphrates. They were attracted by the beauty of the situation and the fertility of the soil, and upon this plain they determined to make their home. Here they decided to build a city, and in it a tower of such stupendous height as should render it the wonder of the world. These enterprises were designed to prevent the people from scattering abroad in colonies. God had directed men and women to disperse throughout the earth, to replenish and subdue it; but these Babel builders determined to keep their community united in one body, and to found a monarchy that should eventually embrace the whole earth.... The magnificent tower, reaching to the heavens, was intended to stand as a monument of the power and wisdom of its builders, perpetuating their fame to the latest generations.—Patriarchs and Prophets, 117-119.

Character Makes a Difference in Life, March 1

March—The Controversy After the Flood The Lord knoweth the days of the upright: and their inheritance shall be for ever.... For such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth; and they that be cursed of him shall be cut off. Psalm 37:18-22. The reverence manifested by Shem and Japheth for their father, and thus for the divine statutes, promised a brighter future for their descendants. Concerning these sons it was declared: “Blessed be Jehovah, God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.” The line of Shem was to be that of the chosen people, of God's covenant, of the promised Redeemer. Jehovah was the God of Shem. From him would descend Abraham, and the people of Israel, through whom Christ was to come. “Happy is that people, whose God is the Lord.” And Japheth “shall dwell in the tents of Shem.” In the blessings of the gospel the descendants of Japheth were especially to share.... The prophecy of Noah was no arbitrary denunciation of wrath or declaration of favor. It did not fix the character and destiny of his sons. But it showed what would be the result of the course of life they had severally chosen and the character they had developed. It was an expression of God's purpose toward them and their posterity in view of their own character and conduct. As a rule, children inherit the dispositions and tendencies of their parents, and imitate their example; so that the sins of the parents are practiced by the children from generation to generation. Thus the vileness and irreverence of Ham were reproduced in his posterity, bringing a curse upon them for many generations. “One sinner destroyeth much good.” On the other hand, how richly rewarded was Shem's respect for his father; and what an illustrious line of holy people appears in his posterity! “The Lord knoweth the days of the upright,” “and his seed is blessed.” “Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations.”—Patriarchs and Prophets, 117, 118.