Gods Sabbath

T HE P LACE FOR OUR P LANS

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in God’s wonderful scheme of things. In this way the divine and the human suc cessfully co-worked together. “Christ could have commanded the stone to remove, and it would have obeyed His voice. He could have bidden

the angels who were close by His side to do this. At His bidding, invisible hands would have removed the stone. But it was to be taken away by human hands. Thus Christ would show that hu manity is to cooperate with divinity. What human power can do divine power is not summoned to do. God does not dispense with man’s aid. He strengthens him, co-operating with him as he uses the powers and capabilities given him.” The Desire of Ages , 535.3. Israel at Kadesh Another example can be taken from Israel at Kadesh. We have already spent some time studying the procedures adopted there. Let us consider now what they should have done and how they should have organized their work. When the command came from God for them to occupy the land, they should have simply waited for the specific orders di recting them to take a certain route. Then in God’s chosen se quence, they should have confronted the cities they were to in vest. When those specific orders came through, it would have then been their responsibility to make sure that the prepara tions were thoroughly made, their armor checked, their weapons sharpened, and that they were well practiced in the use of their equipment. The camp would have had to be set in order and ev erything for which they were responsible, thoroughly executed. God would not do those things for Israel, nor would He honor or make up the deficiencies for inexcusable inefficiency. God ex pects the thorough development of every capability He has in vested in His children. It is obvious that if there were no place for the use of the skills that God gives us, there would be no point in these gifts being provided. The Lord gives them to be used and He expects the wise application of all these talents. He will not do for us what we can do for ourselves, but He will work together with us to produce the finished work.