Gods Sabbath

O PPOSING P RINCIPLES OF O PERATION

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leading. Invariably, that which to human judgment is the best for the cause, is the worst in God’s assessment, while what we might look upon as disaster, can be the pathway to victory. Take, for example, John Huss. When he offered up his life to be burned at the stake, his followers thought it was a great loss for the cause. But his death was to the world such a witness of the righteousness of his teaching and such a revelation of the unrighteousness of his enemies, that it helped to spread the ref ormation far more effectively than a few more years of his life could have done. “The execution of Huss had kindled a flame of indignation and horror in Bohemia. It was felt by the whole na tion that he had fallen a prey to the malice of the priests and the treachery of the emperor. He was declared to have been a faith ful teacher of the truth, and the council that decreed his death was charged with the guilt of murder. His doctrines now attract ed greater attention than ever before.” The Great Controversy , 115.3. Furthermore, as a result of this reaction to his martyr dom, the emperor Charles V was afraid to repeat the unfaithful conduct of Sigismund who broke his pledge to Huss. Therefore Luther was spared the same fate and the reformation spread still further.* In the disciples’ case, if they had been the decision makers, Christ would have gone to Bethany and delivered Lazarus from sickness and death. The disciples would have looked upon such a result not only with great satisfaction, but as confirmation that they had selected the one course which would truly advance God’s cause. This is how it would have appeared to them, when in fact, it would have been the most disastrous course possible. On the other hand, the procedure Christ adopted seemed to them the worst that could befall the infant church. The fact is that we are incapable of either planning God’s work ourselves, or of accurately assessing what outcome is for the best good of the cause. Only the Lord is able to determine such matters. Therefore, we need to beware of reasoning that because the imme diate outcome is deemed by human minds to be a success, this is proof that we can sometimes make wise plans for God’s cause.

* see The Great Controversy, 163.2.