“Join host Eric Flickinger from It Is Written as he discusses this week’s Sabbath School lesson with the author, Gavin Anthony. Come away with unique insights and discover the main points the author wished to convey in this week’s lesson.”
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYOAlPhVcEs&w=560&h=315]

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You can view an in-depth discussion of Waiting in the Crucible in the Hope Sabbath School class led by Pastor Derek Morris. Click on the image to view:

With thanks to

Hope Channel – Television that will change your life.

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Part 11: The Final Attack

By Andrew McChesney

Two weeks before Father’s baptism, he inexplicably grew angry after guests left the house following a small group Bible study in Manaus, Brazil, on Friday evening. He announced that he would sleep in the living room.

The night was darker than usual. Electricity went out in the neighborhood, leaving the houses and streets in pitch blackness.

About 1 a.m., Junior woke up to the sound of a voice shrieking that Father was not going to be baptized.

Junior was scared and didn’t know what to do. He stayed in his room to see what would happen.

The voice screamed again, saying that Father was not going to be baptized.

Junior waited.

He heard someone enter his room.

“Please, son, pray with me,” Father said. “The enemy is attacking again.”

Another voice spoke. “What are you doing?” It was Mother. When she heard the screams from the living room, she had sunk onto her knees and began to pray. Now she invited Father and Junior to join her in pleading for Jesus to chase away the evil spirits.

After some minutes of prayer, Mother suggested that they step outside the house where they would be able to see one another in the dim moonlight.

Outside, Father said he was thirsty. Junior volunteered to go back in and fetch a glass of water. In the kitchen, he spotted a mysterious dark spot on the floor. Calling for Mother, he pointed at the spot and asked, “What’s that?” Mother looked closely at the floor. “That’s hair!” she said.

Back outside, Junior and Mother took a closer look at Father. Big tufts of hair were missing from his head. It looked as if someone had taken a pair of scissors and chopped off his hair haphazardly.

Father put his hands to the top of his head and winced.

“I’ll have to shave my head,” he said. “I don’t care if I’m bald.”

When the sun rose on Sabbath morning, Father felt terribly tired. He was unusually weak after the nighttime attack by evil spirits, as if he had received a severe beating. He decided to pray at home instead of going to church.

After Mother and Junior left, he prayed, “Jesus, don’t let them take over my body. Please be close to me. I don’t want to be possessed anymore.”

Opening his Bible, he read in Psalms 37:5, “Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass” (NKJV).

Father understood that Jesus was telling him not to be afraid. Jesus would guide him to his baptism. Sure enough, evil spirits never possessed Father again after that Friday night. But he could still hear them.

Your Thirteenth Sabbath Offering will help open eight churches in the South American Division, including four in Brazil, where Father (Eduardo Ferreira dos Santos) and his family live.

Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. Find more mission stories at adventistmission[dot]org

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Further Thought:

Read Ellen G. White, “The Anointing of David,” Pages 637-642, in Patriarchs and Prophets.

God’s plan for us may require that we do a lot of waiting, and this really can feel like a crucible.

Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com

Learning patience during this time can happen as we focus on the person of God and trust that He is acting for us. There are many reasons for waiting, but all are concerned with the fulfillment of God’s plans for us and His kingdom. We can lose much if we rush ahead of God, but we can gain much by maintaining an attitude of trust and delight in Him.

The Lord weighs and measures every trial.

“I cannot read the purpose of God in my affliction, but He knows what is best, and I will commit my soul, body, and spirit to Him as unto my faithful Creator. ’For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day’ (2 Timothy 1:12). If we educated and trained our souls to have more faith, more love, greater patience, and a more perfect trust in our heavenly Father, I know we would have more peace and happiness day by day as we pass through the conflicts of this life.

The Lord is not pleased to have us fret and worry ourselves out of the arms of Jesus. More is needed of the quiet waiting and watching combined. We think unless we have feeling that we are not in the right track, and we keep looking within for some sign befitting the occasion; but the reckoning is not of feeling but of faith.” — Ellen G. White, Selected Messages, book 2, p. 242.

Discussion Questions:

<–Thursday

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“Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4, NRSV).

Psalm 37:4 is a wonderful promise. Imagine getting what you have always wanted. But getting the desires of our hearts hinges on having a heart that takes delight in the Lord. So what does it mean to “take delight in the LORD”?

Image © Rolf Jansson from GoodSalt.com

Read Psalm 37:1-11. The context for Psalm 37:4 is perhaps a little surprising. David is writing about being surrounded by people who are working against God and against him. When people are working against us, the natural response is often to get angry or to set out to justify ourselves. But David advises something different.

In the following verses, what is David’s counsel to God’s people in this situation?

Psalm 37:1 

Psalm 37:5 

Psalm 37:7 

Psalm 37:8 

Read Psalm 37:4 again. In the context of the verses you have just made comments on, what does it mean to “take delight in the LORD”?

David is repeating again and again, in different ways, “Trust God.” Trust Him to act. Don’t get upset, because God is your God, and He is working for you — even right now. You don’t have to charge in and try to sort things out by yourself. Your Father in heaven is in charge. Trust Him. Trust Him completely.

It is in this context that David writes about taking delight in the Lord. To take delight in God means that we live in a state of perfect trust. Nothing can ruffle our peace, because God is here and at work. We can praise Him, we can even smile, because no one can outwit our God! When we can learn to do this, we really will receive what our hearts long for, because we will receive what our loving Father wants to give us, at the time that most benefits us and His kingdom.

<–Wednesday Friday–>

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