Volume I Part 3 (1/2)
No doubt, our Lord may and does, at times, intimate His mind and indicate our path by His providence; but we must be sufficiently near to Him to be able to interpret the providence aright, else we may find that what is called ”an opening of Providence” may actually prove an opening by which we slip off the holy path of obedience. Surrounding circ.u.mstances, just like our inward impressions, must be weighed in the presence of G.o.d, and judged by the light of His Word, else they may lead us into the most terrible mistakes. Jonah might have considered it a remarkable providence to find a s.h.i.+p going to Tars.h.i.+sh; but had he been in communion with G.o.d, he would not have needed a s.h.i.+p. In short, the Word of G.o.d is the one grand test and perfect touchstone for every thing--for outward circ.u.mstances and inward impressions--for feelings, imaginations, and tendencies--all must be placed under the searching light of holy Scripture and there calmly and seriously judged. This is the true path of safety, peace, and blessedness for every child of G.o.d.
It may, however, be said, in reply to all this, that we cannot expect to find a text of Scripture to guide us in the matter of our movements, or in the thousand little details of daily life. Perhaps not; but there are certain great principles laid down in Scripture, which, if properly applied, will afford divine guidance even where we might not be able to find a particular text. And not only so, but we have the fullest a.s.surance that our G.o.d can and does guide His children in all things. ”The steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord.”--”The meek will He guide in judgment; and the meek will He teach His way.”--”I will guide thee with Mine eye.” He can signify His mind to us as to this or that particular act or movement. If not, where are we? How are we to get on? How are we to regulate our movements? Are we to be drifted hither and thither by the tide of circ.u.mstances? Are we left to blind chance, or to the mere impulse of our own will?
Thank G.o.d, it is not so. He can, in His own perfect way, give us the certainty of His mind in any given case; and without that certainty we should never move. Our Lord Christ (all homage to His peerless name!) can intimate His mind to His servant as to where He would have him to go and what He would have him to do; and no true servant will ever think of moving or acting without such intimation. We should never act or move in uncertainty. If we are not sure, let us be quiet and wait.
Very often it happens that we hara.s.s and fret ourselves about movements that G.o.d would not have us make at all. A person once said to a friend, ”I am quite at a loss to know which way to turn.” ”Then, don't turn at all,” was the friend's wise reply.
But here an all-important moral point comes in, and that is, our whole condition of soul. This, we may rest a.s.sured, has very much to do with the matter of guidance. It is ”the meek He will guide in judgment, and teach His way.” We must never forget this. If only we are humble and self-distrusting--if we wait on our G.o.d, in simplicity of heart, uprightness of mind, and honesty of purpose, He will most a.s.suredly guide us. But it will never do to go and ask counsel of G.o.d in a matter about which our mind is made up, or our will is at work.
This is a fatal delusion. Look at the case of Jehoshaphat, in 1 Kings xxii.--”It came to pa.s.s in the third year, that Jehoshaphat the king of Judah came down to the king of Israel”--a sad mistake, to begin with.--”And the king of Israel said unto his servants, 'Know ye that Ramoth in Gilead is ours, and we be still, and take it not out of the hand of the king of Syria?' And he said unto Jehoshaphat, 'Wilt thou go with me to battle to Ramoth-gilead?' And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, 'I am as thou art, my people as thy people, my horses as thy horses; and, (as we have it in 2 Chronicles xviii. 3,) we will be with thee in the war.'”
Here we see that his mind was made up before ever he thought of asking counsel of G.o.d in the matter. He was in a false position and a wrong atmosphere altogether. He had fallen into the snare of the enemy, through lack of singleness of eye, and hence he was not in a fit state to receive or profit by divine guidance. He was bent on his own will, and the Lord left him to reap the fruits of it; and but for infinite and sovereign mercy, he would have fallen by the sword of the Syrians, and been borne a corpse from the battle-field.
True, he did say to the king of Israel, ”Inquire, I pray thee, at the word of the Lord to-day.” But where was the use of this, when he had already pledged himself to a certain line of action? What folly for any one to make up his mind and then go and ask for counsel! Had he been in a right state of soul, he never would have sought counsel in such a case at all; but his state of soul was bad, his position false, and his purpose in direct opposition to the mind and will of G.o.d.
Hence, although he heard, from the lips of Jehovah's messenger, His solemn judgment on the entire expedition, yet he took his own way, and well-nigh lost his life in consequence.
We see the same thing in the forty-second chapter of Jeremiah. The people applied to the prophet to ask counsel as to their going down into Egypt; but they had already made up their minds as to their course--they were bent on their own will. Miserable condition! Had they been meek and humble, they would not have needed to ask counsel in the matter; but they said unto Jeremiah the prophet, ”'Let, we beseech thee, our supplication be accepted before thee, and pray for us unto the Lord _thy_ G.o.d [Why not say, The Lord _our_ G.o.d?] even for all this remnant; (for we are left but a few of many, as thine eyes do behold us:) that the Lord _thy_ G.o.d may show us the way wherein we may walk, and the thing that we may do.' Then Jeremiah the prophet said unto them, 'I have heard you; behold, I will pray unto the Lord _your_ G.o.d according to your words; and it shall come to pa.s.s, that whatsoever thing the Lord shall answer you, I will declare it unto you; I will keep nothing back from you.' Then they said to Jeremiah, 'The Lord be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not even according to all things for the which the Lord _thy_ G.o.d shall send thee to us. Whether it be good, or whether it be evil [How could the will of G.o.d be aught but good?], we will obey the voice of the Lord our G.o.d, to whom we send thee; that it may be well with us, when we obey the voice of the Lord our G.o.d.'”
Now, all this seemed very pious and very promising; but mark the sequel. When they found that the judgment and counsel of G.o.d did not tally with their will, ”then spake ... _all the proud men_, saving unto Jeremiah, 'Thou speakest falsely: the Lord our G.o.d hath not sent thee to say, Go not into Egypt to sojourn there.'”
Here, the real state of the case comes clearly out. Pride and self-will were at work; their vows and promises were false. ”Ye dissembled in your hearts,” says Jeremiah, ”when ye sent me unto the Lord your G.o.d, saying, 'Pray for us unto the Lord our G.o.d; and according unto all that the Lord our G.o.d shall say, so declare unto us, and we will do it.'” It would have been all very well had the divine response fallen in with their will in the matter; but inasmuch as it ran counter, they rejected it altogether.
How often is this the case! The Word of G.o.d does not suit man's thoughts; it judges them, it stands in direct opposition to his will, it interferes with his plans, and hence he rejects it. The human will and human reason are ever in direct antagonism to the Word of G.o.d, and the Christian must refuse both the one and the other if he really desires to be divinely guided. An unbroken will and blind reason, if we listen to them, can only lead us into darkness, misery, and desolation. Jonah _would_ go to Tars.h.i.+sh, when he ought to have gone to Nineveh; and the consequence was that he found himself ”in the belly of h.e.l.l,” with ”the weeds wrapped about his head.” Jehoshaphat _would_ go to Ramoth-gilead, when he ought to have been at Jerusalem; and the consequence was that he found himself surrounded by the swords of the Syrians. The remnant, in the days of Jeremiah, _would_ go into Egypt, when they ought to have remained at Jerusalem; and the consequence was that they died by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence in the land of Egypt, ”whither they _desired_ to go and to sojourn.”
Thus it must ever be. The path of self-will is sure to be a path of darkness and misery; it cannot be otherwise: the path of obedience, on the contrary, is a path of peace, a path of light, a path of blessing, a path on which the beams of divine favor are ever poured in living l.u.s.tre. It may, to the human eye, seem narrow, rough, and lonely; but the obedient soul finds it to be the path of life, peace, and moral security. ”The path of the just is as the s.h.i.+ning light, that s.h.i.+neth more and more unto the perfect day.” Blessed path! May the writer and the reader ever be found treading it, with a steady step and earnest purpose.
Before turning from this great practical subject of divine guidance and human obedience, we must ask the reader to refer, for a few moments, to a very beautiful pa.s.sage in the eleventh chapter of Luke.
He will find it full of the most valuable instruction.
”The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. Take heed, therefore, that the light which is in thee be not darkness. If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright s.h.i.+ning of a candle doth give thee light.” (Ver. 34-36.)
Nothing can exceed the moral force and beauty of this pa.s.sage. First of all, we have the ”single eye.” This is essential to the enjoyment of divine guidance. It indicates a broken will--a heart honestly fixed upon doing the will of G.o.d. There is no under-current, no mixed motive, no personal end in view. There is the one simple desire and earnest purpose to do the will of G.o.d, whatever that will may be.
Now, when the soul is in this att.i.tude, divine light comes streaming in and fills the whole body. Hence it follows that if the body is not full of light, the eye is not single; there is some mixed motive; self-will or self-interest is at work; we are not upright before G.o.d.
In this case, any light which we profess to have is darkness; and there is no darkness so gross or so terrible as that judicial darkness which settles down upon the heart governed by self-will while professing to have light from G.o.d. This will be seen in all its horrors by and by in christendom, when ”that Wicked shall be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming; even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because _they received not the love of the truth_, that they might be saved. And _for this cause_ G.o.d shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie; that they all might be d.a.m.ned who believed not the truth, but _had pleasure in unrighteousness_.” (2 Thess. ii.
8-12.)
How awful is this! How solemnly it speaks to the whole professing church! How solemnly it addresses the conscience of both the writer and the reader of these lines! Light not acted upon becomes darkness.--”If the light which is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” But on the other hand, a little light honestly acted upon is sure to increase; for ”to him that hath shall more be given,”
and ”the path of the just is as the s.h.i.+ning light, that s.h.i.+neth more and more unto the perfect day.”
This moral progress is beautifully and forcibly set forth in Luke xi.
36.--”If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having _no part dark_”--no chamber kept closed against the heavenly rays--no dishonest reserve--the whole moral being laid open, in genuine simplicity, to the action of divine light; then ”the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright s.h.i.+ning of a candle doth give thee light.” In a word, the obedient soul has not only light for his own path, but the light s.h.i.+nes out, so that others see it, like the bright s.h.i.+ning of a candle. ”Let your light so s.h.i.+ne before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”
We have a very vivid contrast to all this in the thirteenth chapter of Jeremiah.--”Give glory to the Lord your G.o.d, _before He cause darkness_, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and while ye look for light, He turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness.” The way to give glory to the Lord our G.o.d is to obey His Word. The path of duty is a bright and blessed path; and the one who, through grace, treads that path will never stumble on the dark mountains. The truly humble, the lowly, the self-distrusting, will keep far away from those dark mountains, and walk in that blessed path which is ever illuminated by the bright and cheering beams of G.o.d's approving countenance.
This is the path of the just, the path of heavenly wisdom, the path of perfect peace. May we ever be found treading it, beloved reader; and let us never, for one moment, forget that it is our high privilege to be divinely guided in the most minute details of our daily life. Alas!
for the one who is not so guided. He will have many a stumble, many a fall, many a sorrowful experience. If we are not guided by our Father's eye, we shall be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding, whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle,--like the horse, impetuously rus.h.i.+ng where he ought not, or the mule, obstinately refusing to go where he ought. How sad for a Christian to be like these! How blessed to move, from day to day, in the path marked out for us by our Father's eye!--a path which the vulture's eye hath not seen, or the lion's whelp trodden; the path of holy obedience; the path in which the meek and lowly will ever be found, to their deep joy, and the praise and glory of Him who has opened it for them and given them grace to tread it.
In the remainder of our chapter, Moses rehea.r.s.es in the ears of the people, in language of touching simplicity, the facts connected with the appointment of the judges, and the mission of the spies. The appointment of the judges, Moses here attributes to his own suggestion: the mission of the spies was the suggestion of the people.
That dear and most honored servant of G.o.d felt the burden of the congregation too heavy for him; and a.s.suredly it was very heavy; though we know well that the grace of G.o.d was amply sufficient for the demand, and, moreover, that that grace could act as well by one man as by seventy.