Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth. Isaiah 40:26.

Pantheistic ideas regarding God in nature are framed by Lucifer, the fallen angel. The strange part of the matter is that these ideas have been accepted by so many as beautiful truth. But that which they think is light will lead them into dense darkness. It is a distinguishing feature of the experience of Seventh-day Adventists to give glory to God. When we give glory to human agencies, when we have unlimited confidence in man, speaking of the excellence that we suppose him to possess, we worship we know not what. Let God be exalted. Let frail, erring human beings humble themselves before Him….

I have had much to say of the glory of God as seen in His created works, but never have I left the impression that our God Omnipotent, who ruleth in the heavens and fills all the heavens, is to be found in flower and leaf and tree. What I have said of God’s works in nature was meant to lead the mind from nature to nature’s God, to show that all the glory should be given to Him who ruleth in the heavens….

Men are to discharge their duty to God. They are to have reverence for and a knowledge of a personal God. They are to praise and glorify His name as the One who has placed many beautiful things in this sin-corrupted earth, that from the child to the man and woman of mature years, all may see that God loves His family here below. He so loves us that He gave us a tangible proof of His love by sending His only begotten Son to bear the sin of the world, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

God desires us to think of the height and depth and breadth of His measureless love, which is without a parallel, and to remember that we are His purchased possession. “Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s” (see 1 Corinthians 6:19, 20). We are to act as in the sight of the heavenly universe, conscientiously discharging our obligations to our Creator.

The world is to be taken captive by Satan’s deceiving representations. Where then is our security? How shall we guard against Satan’s bewitching artifices? By reading the Word of God with an intensity of desire to know Him in the light of revelation which He has left on record of Himself.—Letter 253a, November 18, 1903, to Dr. J. H. Kellogg, who was entertaining pantheistic concepts.

From The Upward Look – Page 336

Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. 1 Peter 5:6, 7.

Your mind may often be clouded because of pain. Then do not try to think, but just rest, and show that you have committed your soul to God as unto a faithful Creator. It is your privilege to show in your weakness and suffering that you do not doubt the love of God toward you, that you know that He is faithful who has promised, and that you trust soul and body in His hands, that He will keep that which is committed to His trust.

Let your mind dwell upon the goodness of God, upon the great love wherewith He has loved us, as evidenced in the work of redemption. If He did not love us, and consider us of value, then this great sacrifice would not have been made. He is beneficent in mercy and in grace. Let your heart and mind be at rest, like a tired child in the arms of its mother. His everlasting arms are beneath you. In all your afflictions Jesus is afflicted. What a privilege it is for you, now afflicted, to find a refuge in Jesus.

The gospel armor seems too weighty to be borne. Well, Jesus Christ is your armor. Hide in Him, and the wicked one will not harass or confuse your faith. Jesus has bequeathed His peace to you….

Praise the Lord that you have felt the cleansing efficacy of the Saviour’s blood. Upon your soul the Sun of Righteousness hath arisen with healing in His wings. How empty and unsatisfying is every earthly thing. But Jesus, the precious Saviour, is your spiritual sustenance. He has linked your life with His life. The word of His grace is manna to the believing soul. The precious promises of the Word are life, greatness, and peace.

Do not be troubled. Jesus loves you, and will care for you and bless you. The active, aggressive battle you can no more fight, but you can let Jesus fight it for you. He says to you, “Give your case entirely into My hands. Be still, and know that I am God.”

Dear Sister _____, we hope and pray that the Lord will give you help and strength under the severe taxation that is upon you. That God that saw Nathanael under the fig tree sees you and understands all your griefs and all your sorrows. The Lord Jesus will be your strength in this day of your affliction….

The Word is the living bread. Eat of it daily. It will be a sustaining power to do all that you must do. It will infuse immortal vigor into your soul, perfect your experience, and bring to you those joys which are real, and which abide forever.—Letter 16, November 17, 1896, to an aged sister.

From The Upward Look – Page 335

All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him. Luke 10:22.

No man can explain the mysteries of God. His glory is hidden from the world. Of what value are the surmisings and speculations of men concerning His personality…. Christ is the representative of the Father, “the express image of his person.”

Creation speaks to us of the skill and power of God. In His goodness God has placed on the earth beautiful flowers and trees, wonderfully adapted to the countries and the climate in which they grow. And, though sin has marred the form and beauty of the things of nature, though on them there may be seen traces of the work of the prince of the power of the air, yet they still speak of God, and still reveal some of the beauty of Eden.

In the heavens above, in the earth, in the broad waters of the ocean, we see the handiwork of God. All creation testifies of His power, His wisdom, His love. Yet not from the stars, or the ocean, or the cataract can we learn of the personality of God. This Christ came to reveal….

Christ came to reveal to a fallen race the love of God. He, the Light of the world, veiled the dazzling splendor of the brightness of His divinity, and came to live on this earth as a man among men, that they might, without being consumed, become acquainted with their Creator. No man has seen God at any time, except as He is revealed through Christ.

Because of frequent triumphs, Satan is becoming more bold and defiant in his rebellion against God. The rapid development of evil, the confusion among the laboring classes, reveal that men are rapidly taking sides. They are being bound up in bundles to be burned. The labor unions are quickly stirred to violence if their demands are not complied with. Plainer and plainer is it becoming that the inhabitants of the world are not in harmony with God.

No scientific theory can explain the steady march of evil workers under the generalship of Satan. In every mob wicked angels are at work, rousing men to commit deeds of violence…. The perversity and cruelty of men will reach such a height that God will reveal Himself in His majesty. Very soon the wickedness of the world will have reached its limit, and as in the days of Noah, God will pour out His judgments.

But even when wickedness is at its height, we may know that our Helper is close by our side.—Letter 250, November 16, 1903, to J. E. White, her son, who was working among the blacks of the Southern States.

From The Upward Look – Page 334

Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Hebrews 10:22.

We need an abiding, heartfelt dependence upon the Son of God for salvation and for all wisdom and spiritual influences. Unless there is much more love to God and to man, and a continual dependence upon the renewing, sanctifying grace of Christ to work a transformation of character by a divine change in the heart, which will be manifestly seen in word, spirit, and action, we shall fail in our work….

We need increased faith, far less confidence and assurance in what we can do, and far greater confidence in what the Lord is longing to do for us individually, if we will prepare the way for Him. We need, O so much more than we now have, the longing of soul for communion with God. We need to plead most earnestly with Him. If thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find Him, when thou shalt seek Him with all thy heart and with all thy soul….

A great desire after large blessings and deep fullness should be cherished. But these we shall never have while we feel so self-sufficient, while we have so tame a love for God and so little Christlike love for our brethren. When self is emptied from the heart, the vacuum will be supplied with the fullness of Christ. Let the soul be less engaged in business matters. Let it put far less trust in the wisdom that bears the marks of being more human than divine. The praise given by word or action to any human being is an offense to God. Yet God will praise every individual that keeps His commandments in truth and righteousness. It is very human to place confidence and trust in man, but not so readily do these same persons walk as seeing Him who is invisible….

God recognizes the wants of the soul. But our people, who have the great treasure of the Word of God opened before them, do not realize this. Self-esteem, self-sufficiency, so corrodes the soul with the slime and selfishness of earthliness, that the excellence of the things of eternal interest makes scarce a ripple upon the human heart….

There needs to be a reaching out after God, not … now and then, but a continual earnest, heartbreaking confessing and humbling of the soul before God. God’s people must come into the audience chamber of the Most High…. God understands that you need Him, and if you ask, you will receive help when tempted and tried. Your petitions, made known only to God who searcheth the heart, He will hear and answer.—Letter 45, November 15, 1897, to A. G. Daniells and “my ministering brethren, and the church in Melbourne.”

From The Upward Look – Page 333

Hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps. 1 Peter 2:21.

There is danger of our losing so much in our spiritual experience because we let slip the words that God gives. He speaks to one heart, and He speaks to another heart, and they hear these words and then go away and treat the words as a common thing, and they do not impress the mind. God wants us to take the words home to every heart.

“For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him?” (Hebrews 2:2, 3). Here is presented to us the importance of our speaking. God wants us to communicate. Have the treasure house of the heart full, full of the precious words of the Scriptures. Hand it right out; it is the precious message of God to them….

Many speak and act as if they were ashamed of Jesus. They do not think of Him, and introduce Him to their friends. They do not live to glorify Him—ashamed of Jesus, who took humanity that they might have life! …

You cannot do another’s work. Each one has his own peculiar temperament…. We are not to expect that everyone is to travel in our own footprints, but in the footprints of our self-denying Redeemer. Take up the cross and follow Him. He is our Guide. There are perfect footprints; He has made them. We are safe in following Christ. But when we seek [to make] everyone follow some other one, there is where we make a mistake, there is where our differences come in; but we should never have differences. We must believe that others are just as honest before God as we are.

“For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings” (Hebrews 2:10). He had to understand all about the weakness of man, the strength of Satan’s temptations. He took humanity right upon Himself, and bore all the temptations of the devil, and He knows what every man has to endure. Consider Christ’s pity for man. He knows just how they were born. He knows just how they were surrounded in childhood. You don’t know what temptations came with their birth. You don’t know the conditions of their parents. Put away all judgment. Judgment belongs to the Son of God. He is the One who is to judge the world.—Manuscript 174, November 14, 1901, “Morning Lesson From Hebrews Two.”

From The Upward Look – Page 332