WHENEVER AND WHEREVER there is a controversy between God and a man, God is always right and the man always wrong. “So that you may be proved right in your words and prevail in your judging” (Psalm 51:4).\tThe only way any man can be right is to come over onto God’s side. Whoever sticks to his own side is forever wrong.\tThe points at which God’s way and man’s intersect are likely to be four (though there may be others), and we will usually find our differences with God to occur somewhere in these four areas.\tFirst, our thoughts. Divine inspiration has declared that the thoughts of man are vain, and in the prophecy of Isaiah, God sets His case before us so plainly that comment is hardly necessary: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9).\tSecond, our moral standards. There are probably as many ideas of righteousness as there are people in the world, and it would be futile to argue that one is better than another. The test is not which code is best but whether or not any code agrees with the Scriptures. In the Christian Scriptures, the Lord of the whole earth declares His own moral will for mankind, and it is profound wisdom to seek it and conform to it. Otherwise, we are at the mercy of our own deceitful hearts. For all men of faith, God’s will is righteousness. The believing soul will not argue about it; he will accept it and bring the controversy to an end.\tThe third point of possible controversy is in our way of life. This embraces the whole of our lives on earth as decided by our basic moral ideas. Our way of life is simply our moral code in its daily outflow.\tThe fourth is our plans. The Christian who has in principle accepted God’s truth as his standard of conduct and has submitted himself to Christ as his Lord, may yet be tempted to lay his own plans and even fight for them when they are challenged by the Word of God or the inner voice of the Spirit. We humans are a calculating, planning race, and we like to say, “Tomorrow I will '85” But our Heavenly Father knows us too well to trust our way to our own planning, so He very often submits His own plans to us and requires that we accept them. Right there a controversy is sometimes stirred up between the soul and God. But we had better not insist on our own way. It will always be bad for us in the long run. God’s way is best.\tAmong men, questions usually have more than one side; sometimes they have many. Pros and cons are often balanced so finely against each other that it is virtually impossible to know where the right lies. But with God there is only one side. God’s side is good and holy and all other sides are wrong, the degree and seriousness of the wrong increasing as we move away from the center of God’s will.\tOur desire for moral self-preservation should dictate that we come over immediately onto God’s side and stay there even if (as is likely) it may result in our being out of accord with man’s philosophies and man’s moral codes. We cannot win when we work against God, and we cannot lose when we work with Him.\tNow, how can we know for certain which side is God’s side? No one in this late day should need to ask that question, but since it is being asked in all sincerity by many, we are glad to give the answer. There is a Book which says of itself, “And God spoke all these words,” and about which it is said, “Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up to glory” (1 Timothy 3:16). Acquaintance with this Book will bring light to all dark paths and show us the right side of all questions. Of course, that Book is the Bible.What glory gilds the sacred page,Majestic like the sun!It gives a light to every age;It gives, but borrows none.
