Counsels for the Church - Ellen G. White

Chapter 10
Belief in a Personal God
It will be found in the day of final settlement that God was acquainted
with everyone by name. There is an unseen witness to every action of the
life. "I know thy works," says He that "walketh in the midst of the seven
golden candlesticks." Revelation 2:1. It is known what opportunities have
been slighted, how untiring have been the efforts of the Good Shepherd to
search out those who were wandering in crooked ways, and to bring them
back to the path of safety and peace. Again and again God has called after
the pleasure lovers; again and again He has flashed the light of His word
across their path, that they might see their peril, and escape. But on and on
they go, jesting and joking as they travel the broad road, until at length their
probation is ended. God's ways are just and equal; and when sentence is
pronounced against those who are found wanting, every mouth will be
stopped.
The mighty power that works through all nature and sustains all things is
not, as some men of science represent, merely an all-pervading principle, an
actuating energy. God is a spirit; yet He is a personal being, for man was
made in His image.
God's handiwork in nature is not God Himself in nature. The things of
nature are an expression of God's character; by them we may understand His
love, His power, and His glory; but we are not to regard nature as God. The
artistic skill of human beings produces very beautiful workmanship, things
that delight the eye and these things give us something of the idea of the
designer; but the thing made is not the man. It is not the work, but the
workman, that is counted worthy of honor. So, while nature is an expression
of God's thought, it is not nature but the God of nature that is to be exalted.
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