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In my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved - Peace and prosperity had seduced the heart of David, and led him to suppose that his mountain - his dominion, stood so strong, that adversity could never affect him. He wished to know the physical and political strength of his kingdom; and, forgetting to depend upon God, he desired Joab to make a census of the people; which God punished in the manner related in 2 Samuel 24, and which he in this place appears to acknowledge.
And in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved - I shall never be visited with calamity or trial. This refers to a past period of his life, when everything seemed to be prosperous, and when he had drawn around him so many comforts, and had apparently made them so secure, that it seemed as if they could never be taken from him, or as if he had nothing to fear. To what precise period of his life the psalmist refers, it is now impossible to ascertain. It is sufficient to say, that men are often substantially in that state of mind. They have such vigorous constitutions and such continued health; their plans are so uniformly crowned with success; everything which they touch so certainly turns to gold, and every enterprise so certainly succeeds; they have so many and such warmly attached friends; they have accumulated so much property, and it is so safely invested - that it seems as if they were never to know reverses, and they unconsciously suffer the illusion to pass over the mind that they are never to see changes, and that they have nothing to dread. They become self-confident. They forget their dependence on God. In their own minds they trace their success to their own efforts, tact and skill, rather than to God. They become worldly-minded, and it is necessary for God to teach them how easily he can sweep all this away - and thus to bring them back to a right view of the uncertainty of all earthly things. Health fails, or friends die, or property takes wings and flies away; and God accomplishes his purpose - a purpose invaluable to them - by showing them their dependence on Himself, and by teaching them that permanent and certain happiness and security are to be found in Him alone.
From the light given me of God, I know that some should acquire a perfect understanding of every line of work connected with the printing and binding of books, for God will place them in positions where such work will be required of them. Because we are now settled here, we seem to think that we shall never be moved. But there will come a time when there will be a great scattering, a scattering that we do not now dream of; and it will be brought about in unexpected ways. Some of you will be taken away to remote regions, but God will have a work for you there. While you are here, let everyone be teachable. Educate and train every power of the mind that you may obtain an understanding in every part of the work. Cultivate the voice. Learn to speak so as to make the most favorable impression upon other minds.—Manuscript 73, 1906. PM 92.5
Read in context »In regard to the distribution of the work on our publications among unbelievers, the light that has been given me is that it will cost us more in the end than it would to have done the work ourselves in the name and fear of the Lord. The Lord desires the workers in our publishing houses to become very proficient, for they will be taken to distant countries. Many who think they will never be moved from their homes will be moved away unexpectedly, and unless they have improved their opportunities to obtain an education, they cannot stand upon the eminence that Christ desires them to stand upon.—Manuscript 73, 1906. PM 120.2
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