Under Shepherds, February 28

He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young. Isaiah 40:11.TDG 67.1

In the visible creation, divine wisdom is manifested in an endless variety of processes. Uniformity is not the rule that is followed in the kingdom of nature. Neither is it the rule that is followed in the kingdom of grace. In different ways God works to attain one purpose—the saving of souls. By different methods the gracious Redeemer deals with different minds. The change of heart is as truly wrought out by one process as by another. It is the Lord working upon minds and molding characters.TDG 67.2

All are not led to the Lord in precisely the same way. Human beings are not to define, arbitrarily and narrowly, the characteristics of God's working on minds. It may be given to one to gain spiritual strength and discernment easily, while another has to contend with “a thorn in the flesh” (2 Corinthians 12:7), and at times is ready, apparently, to step off the heights over the precipice. Yet who dare say that God does not still love and regard as His child the one so sorely beset, and that His hand is not still stretched out to save?TDG 67.3

The heavenly Shepherd knows where to find the lambs that are straying from the fold. He will gather them in. He calls upon ministers and lay members to arouse to their responsibility, and unite with Him in this work. It is the special duty of Christians to seek and save the lost. Ministers and laymen are to encourage and help those who, sorely beset by temptation, know not which way to turn. My brother, through the grace of God you may become one who is able to bring back to the fold the wandering ones.TDG 67.4

As in the days of Elijah, God had seven thousand who had not bowed the knee to Baal, so today He has in the world many who are walking in all the light they have received. A whole firmament of chosen ones has He in reserve, that will yet shine forth amidst the darkness. In places where there might be expected only briars and thorns, fruit-bearing trees of righteousness will appear. In such places as these there are those who will bloom more sweetly for the Lord than many who live in more favored places. All around them they will shed the fragrance of His grace as they bloom in most unpromising places.—Letter 39, February 28, 1903, to J. Wessels.TDG 67.5