Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. 1 Samuel 15:22.
The last days are upon us, and Satan is working with all his hellish arts to deceive and destroy souls. Reproofs by testimony are met almost universally, by the ones corrected and reproved, with “I believe the testimonies, but I do not understand them.” The Lord has corrected their wrong ways in order to save them from unhappiness, deception, and ruin; but they pass on the same as if light and warnings had never come to them. If they were in harmony with God, they would not be departing from Him. It is because they are so far departed from God that they do not hear His voice as He calls to them, “Return unto me, and I will return unto you,” “and I will heal your backslidings.”
Saul, after he had disobeyed the requirement of God to destroy the Amalekites, met Samuel and said, “Blessed be thou of the Lord: I have performed the commandment of the Lord. And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears?” … The answer was the same that we have heard in similar cases—an excuse, a falsehood: “The people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God.” Saul did not say “my” or “our,” but “thy” God. Many who profess to be serving God are in the same position as Saul—covering over ambitious projects, pride of display, with a garment of pretended righteousness….
Samuel looked upon Saul with indignation, yet with deep pity and undisguised grief for the sinful course of one he loved sincerely; but this love must not close his lips…. Samuel then spake the cutting words of the Lord…. “Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king.” …
Oh, how few can know the sadness of heart that Samuel bore back to Ramah! God had laid upon him the burden of Saul and the burden of this terrible message that he must bear to the monarch.
Sinners seldom feel right in regard to reproof. They blame the ones who open their lips to speak the words of warning, as though it were a personal matter. In their blindness they fail to see that they are flinging from them, in their stubborn resistance, the last offer of light and mercy.—Manuscript 1a, 1890.
Christ Triumphant p. 143
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Prayer Requests
—–E and children continue to need your prayers. R
—–Please pray for my husband’s friend who has a blood clot in his spleen. Mary
—–Please pray that Jack who has been missing for over a week will be found. BP
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Dear Friends,
Occasionally, someone asks the question concerning my alternate e-mail address. It seems strange to them that it is “Louisamarie” when my name is Rose. Some people think that that email address belongs to someone else. So today I thought I would share the reason with everyone, although this will be “old news” for some.
My parents were divorced when I was a born, and my grandmother talked my mother into letting her adopt me. Although my mother had wanted to name me “Louisamarie,” my grandmother named me “Rosa Lee.” My father begged her not to, since he already had a daughter by the name of Rosalie. My grandmother wouldn’t listen. She felt she had the right to name me whatsoever she wanted to since she was adopting me.
Years later, my mother told me that she had wanted my name to be Louisamarie but that my grandmother insisted on naming me after some girl on some radio program. From that moment, I no longer liked my name. So years later, when I was thinking of what to have as an e-mail address, I thought about my mother’s desire. I chose the name that my mother had wanted me to have. I never realized how confusing it would be.
Jacob must have hated his name as much as I hated the name my grandmother named me. Jacob was named “cheat” because of something he had done at his birth. “And when her (Rebecca’s) days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau. And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau’s heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them.” Gen 25:24-26
For many years, Jacob lived up to his name. He cheated his brother. He cheated his father. Because of that incident, he had to flee from Esau’s wrath. He had to bear the consequences of his cheating ways. Over and over and over again he was cheated by his father-in-law. Years later, his own sons deceived him in the matter concerning Joseph.
As Jacob was returning to his homeland, our Dear Saviour gave Jacob a new name. “And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. . . .” Gen 32:24-30 From that moment his life changed.
I can somewhat understand this change of feeling on Jacob’s part as he went from being called a cheater to being called a prince of God. Why? Because many years later when I was researching my genealogy, I discovered that Rosa was my grandmother’s aunt. Suddenly I realized that she had named me after a well-loved aunt! How much better I felt!
Someday soon, our Heavenly Father will give each of us a new name too. We will have a special name that is unique to us. It will be a precious secret between God and ourselves, a name known only to the two of us. We will receive our new name with joy! We will cherish it forever. This promise is found in Revelation 2:17. “To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.” May we give diligence to make our “calling and election sure” that we may someday receive that new name from our Great Creator is my prayer. 2 Peter 1:10
Rose