Read for This Week’s Study
Joshua 3, Num. 14:44, Luke 18:18–27, Joshua 4, John 14:26, Heb. 4:8–11.
Memory Text:
“ ‘For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we passed over, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever’ ” (Joshua 4:23, 24, ESV).
The police officer signaled. John had to pull over. The officer asked for his driver’s license, and, at that moment, it dawned on John that he had left his wallet, with his driver’s license, in the office. John explained what happened, and the officer asked about his job. John responded that he was a professor. As the officer gave John a ticket, he told him not to think of it as a fine.
“It’s tuition,” he said. “When people want to learn something, they pay tuition. This is your tuition to learn not to forget your license when driving. Have a good day, professor!”
As human beings, we are prone to forget things that are not constantly in our sight. We forget to return phone calls, respond to emails, water the plants, send birthday wishes, and so forth. The list could go on. Forgetting about our spiritual needs, however, could have more severe consequences than simply receiving a fine, especially because we are dealing with what is, literally, our eternal destiny.
Let’s study the crossing of the Jordan by the Hebrews and see what we can learn from their experiences.
*Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, October 18.
Supplemental EGW Notes
If all the misdirected energies were devoted to the one great object—the rich provisions of the grace of God in this life—what testimonials we could hang in memory’s halls, recounting the mercies and favors of God! . . . Then the habit would be carried with us as an abiding principle to accumulate spiritual treasures as earnestly and perseveringly as the worldly aspirants labor for the earthly and temporal things.
You may well be dissatisfied with the present supply when the Lord has a heaven of blessedness and a treasure house of good and gracious things to supply the necessities of the soul. Today we want more grace, today we want a renewal of God’s love and tokens of His goodness, and He will not withhold these good and heavenly treasures from the true seeker.—Mind, Character, and Personality, vol. 2, pp. 798, 799.
The Lord works continually to benefit mankind. He is ever imparting His bounties. He raises up the sick from beds of languishing, He delivers men from peril which they do not see, He commissions heavenly angels to save them from calamity, to guard them from “the pestilence that walketh in darkness” and “the destruction that wasteth at noonday” (Psalm 91:6); but their hearts are unimpressed. He has given all the riches of heaven to redeem them, and yet they are unmindful of His great love. By their ingratitude they close their hearts against the grace of God. Like the heath in the desert they know not when good cometh, and their souls inhabit the parched places of the wilderness.
It is for our own benefit to keep every gift of God fresh in our memory. Thus faith is strengthened to claim and to receive more and more. There is greater encouragement for us in the least blessing we ourselves receive from God than in all the accounts we can read of the faith and experience of others. The soul that responds to the grace of God shall be like a watered garden. His health shall spring forth speedily; his light shall rise in obscurity, and the glory of the Lord shall be seen upon him. Let us then remember the loving-kindness of the Lord, and the multitude of His tender mercies. Like the people of Israel, let us set up our stones of witness, and inscribe upon them the precious story of what God has wrought for us. And as we review His dealings with us in our pilgrimage, let us, out of hearts melted with gratitude, declare, “What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits toward me? I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all His people.” Psalm 116:12–14.—The Desire of Ages, p. 348.
The above quotations are taken from Ellen G. White Notes for the Sabbath School Lessons, published by Pacific Press Publishing Association. Used by permission.