God’s Leading

God can lead our lives in unexpected and unpredictable ways. But how can we distinguish God’s voice from mere intuition or even the voice of Satan trying to mislead us? Ellen White explains that “there are three ways in which the Lord reveals His will to us, to guide us, and to fit us to guide others.” First is His Word, the Holy Scriptures, which must be consulted before anything else. The second way is in His providential workings, which we can discern if we maintain a sanctifying relationship with God.

And the third way is “through the appeals of His Holy Spirit, making impressions upon the heart, which will be wrought out in the character.” The winds of the Great Depression were still blowing when C. H. Watson and W. H. Williams, General Conference president and under treasurer, respectively, were impressed to make some unscheduled banking transactions. On Thursday, March 3, 1934, Williams took the midnight train from Washington, DC, to New York City.

The next morning, Friday, March 4, without telling anyone, he went to two different banks and sent three months’ worth of funds in advance to most of the overseas missions of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. That afternoon, he returned to Takoma Park, Maryland. The next morning (Sabbath), the newspaper headlines revealed that the banks were closed nationwide. After sunset, J. L. Shaw, General Conference treasurer, called an urgent meeting to discuss how to handle the financial crisis.

Williams’s explanation of what he had done on Friday brought much relief to the group. But what about the General Conference’s own employee payroll? Williams reported that he regularly set aside funds, which he kept in envelopes of $1,000 each in a safety deposit box at the bank. This reserve would meet the payroll for three months.

The same Holy Spirit who inspired the Bible will never contradict the Bible. So, “if you are in doubt upon any subject you must first consult the Scriptures.” Through the sanctifying influence of the Scriptures, your conscience will become more and more sensitive to the impressions of the Holy Spirit.