8:7Jeremiah 8:7

The stork, turtledove, crane, and swallow know their appointed times and observe the time of their coming by following the seasons and moving to the climate suited to their life in obedience to the laws governing them, while God's people do not know the judgment of the Lord.Ms 29, 1911, par. 3+2 They fail to know it though entrusted with reason, speech, intellect, great light and opportunity, and the privilege of knowing God, which would enable them to trace cause and effect and to understand His warnings, reproofs, corrections, and dealings with them.Ms 29, 1911, par. 3+2 The faithful service of creatures without reason is a reproach to reasoning men and women who repay His goodness and mercy with ingratitude and lack of devotion.18MR 85.2–4+1 The burning of the two largest institutions at Battle Creek verily was His judgment and working of providence, yet those with every advantage to understand His past dealings with Israel failed to discern His reproof and publicly ridiculed the idea.Ms 108, 1905, par. 1–7+2 It is a present rebuke calling the church to consider its course, amend its ways and doings, cease trusting lying words, search the Scriptures to understand and obey His voice, and turn from rebellion, including ceasing to dishonor Him by breaking the laws of life and health while the birds obey the laws governing their lives.Ms 60, 1900, par. 1–2+4

The stork in the heaven knows her appointed times, and the turtledove and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming, while God's people know not the judgment of the Lord.Ms 29, 1911, par. 3+3 Guided by instinct in obedience to the laws governing their lives, the birds mark the changes of the seasons and migrate from country to country to find a climate suited to their life, convenience and happiness as designed for them.CT 189.3+2 The swallow and the crane in particular observe the seasons by moving to climates suited to them in obedience to the laws governing their lives.CT 189.3+1 This regularity of migratory movement stands in contrast to human indifference and willful blindness toward God.Ms 29, 1911, par. 3+1

That ignorance is inexcusable because men and women were entrusted with reason, speech, intellect, great light and opportunities, and the privilege of knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He sent.Ms 137, 1908, par. 6–9+1 With reasoning faculties they could have traced cause and effect and understood His warnings, reproofs, corrections, dealings and judgments, but they stubbornly ignored them.Ms 137, 1908, par. 6–9+1 Instead they followed their own inclinations and indulged inherited and cultivated tendencies to wrong without reference to His Word.Ms 35, 1899, par. 1–2 Their failure to recognize His judgment is therefore willful blindness rather than lack of ability.Ms 29, 1911, par. 3+1

Dumb animals, which lack reason, show more gratitude to God and give Him better service than many beings endowed with reason and capabilities.18MR 85.2–4+1 Their faithful service makes the ignorance and lack of gratitude of God's people a reproach to those who have reason and understanding.18MR 85.2–4+1 That reproach rebukes the ingratitude and lack of devotion returned for His goodness and mercy.18MR 85.2–4+1

In its setting the verse exposes perpetual backsliding, holding fast deceit, refusing to return, and speaking not aright.Ms 60, 1900, par. 1–2+2 No one repents of wickedness or asks what he has done, but everyone rushes his own course as the horse rushes into the battle.Ms 60, 1900, par. 1–2+1 They falsely claim to be wise and to have the law of the Lord while rejecting the word of the Lord, so the work of the scribes is made vain and the wise men are ashamed, dismayed, taken, with no wisdom in them.Lt 43, 1898, par. 8–12+1 They heal the hurt slightly by declaring peace when there is no peace, and they commit abominations without shame or blushing.Lt 43, 1898, par. 8–12 Turning away their ears from hearing plainly specified requirements instead of searching the Scriptures to understand and obey His voice, they have turned from guidance and lost truth, leaving them accountable to divine judgment to fall among them that fall and be cast down in the time of their visitation.Ms 60, 1900, par. 1–2+2

The failure to recognize divine judgment fell with special force upon Battle Creek, where those who had been given great advantages and were fully capable of understanding how God had dealt with His people in the past refused to discern His reproof in their own time.Ms 108, 1905, par. 1–7+3 In public assemblies men stood up and ridiculed the thought that the burning of the two largest institutions was a reproof and a judgment from God, when in truth that burning verily was His judgment and a working of His providence in dealing with His people.Ms 108, 1905, par. 1–7+3 To deny this was to defy the Holy One of Israel and to make His providence of none effect, and if the scoffers could have seen the future their ridicule would have turned to mourning.Ms 108, 1905, par. 1–7+1

Those who make light of, deny, and defy such punishments and providences cherish a wicked spirit of resistance and opposition that holds out to the bitter end.Ms 108, 1905, par. 1–7+2 An unerring record of their utterances is kept written in the books, and though they have chosen the power of worldly law they will one day feel the power of a higher law from which they have departed and which cannot be evaded or escaped.Ms 108, 1905, par. 1–7+2 Those who trifle with His corrections will face heavier judgments when it is too late to repent.Ms 137, 1908, par. 6–9 Unless those who dare to brave His will fully repent and turn to Him in humility and contrition, they will perish with all evildoers who stand in the way of His work.Ms 108, 1905, par. 1–7+2

The same ignorance is a present rebuke to the church for spiritual blindness and continued rebellion, calling it to consider its course of action and to turn from rebellion against God.Ms 60, 1900, par. 1–2+2 It exposes a people in perpetual backsliding who hold fast deceit and refuse to return, who turn the ear from hearing the Word lest they be disturbed by its plain requirements instead of searching the Scriptures to understand for themselves what the Lord says that they may obey His voice.Ms 60, 1900, par. 1–2+1 No one repents of wickedness and asks what he has done, but each rushes his own course as a horse rushes into battle, while falsely claiming wisdom and possession of the law yet rejecting the word of the Lord so that scribal work is in vain and the wise are ashamed, dismayed, taken, and left without wisdom.Ms 60, 1900, par. 1–2+1 The hurt is healed slightly by declaring peace when there is no peace, abominations are committed without shame or blushing, and therefore the demand stands to amend ways and doings, to obey His voice, to cease trusting in lying words, and to escape falling among those who fall and being cast down in the time of visitation.Lt 43, 1898, par. 8–12

The rebuke extends to the body, for while the swallow and crane and their companions observe the changes of the seasons and migrate to climates suited to their life in obedience to the laws governing their lives, human beings formed in the divine image dishonor their Maker by disregarding the laws governing the human organism.CT 189.3+2 To break the laws of life is to break His law, yet warnings are ignored because habit is strong, and cause is not traced to effect.CT 189.3+2 Health, peace, and happiness are sacrificed to ignorance and selfishness by gratifying appetite, by forgetting the Giver in the desire to accumulate treasure, by abusing health and God-given powers for unsanctified ambitious projects, and by persisting in determined wrong habits and practices.CT 189.3+2 The result is days filled with pain of body and disquietude of mind, which disqualifies the transgressor from serving God.CT 189.3+1