Part 48 (1/2)

NOVEMBER 15.

”Oh, man of desires” (margin) (Dan. x. 11).

This was the divine character given to Daniel of old. It is translated in our version, ”O man, greatly beloved.” But it literally means ”O man of desires!” This is a necessary element in all spiritual forces. It is one of the secrets of effectual prayer, ”What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them.” The element of strong desire gives momentum to our purposes and prayers. Indifference is an unwholesome condition; indolence and apathy are offensive both to G.o.d and nature.

And so in our spiritual life, G.o.d often has to wake us up by the presence of trying circ.u.mstances, and push us into new places of trust by forces that we must subdue, or sink beneath their power. There is no factor in prayer more effectual than love. If we are intensely interested in an object, or an individual, our pet.i.tions become like living forces, and not only convey their wants to G.o.d, but in some sense convey G.o.d's help back to them.

May G.o.d fill us to-day with the heart of Christ that we may glow with the Divine fire of holy desire.

NOVEMBER 16.

”Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day” (Matt. xxv. 13).

Jesus ill.u.s.trates the unexpectedness of His coming by the figure of a thief entering a house when the master was not there. Life, like the old Jewish night, may be divided into three watches, youth, maturity, old age.

The summons to meet G.o.d may come to us in either of these watches. A writer tells us of his experience with a camping party, of which he was a member, and which, he tells us, always arranged to have watches at night.

”We became especially careful after what I am about to narrate happened.

During the first night, from sunset to sunrise, we had in turn carefully guarded our camp. But when the next night came, so impressed were we with the orderly character of the neighborhood, that we concluded that no guard was needed until bedtime. Within our main tent the evening was spent in story-telling, singing and general amus.e.m.e.nt. When the hour to retire arrived, it was discovered that our other tents had been robbed and everything of value stolen. The work was done before we thought a guard necessary.” It is never too soon to begin watching against sin.

NOVEMBER 17.

”The ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them” (Num. x. 33).

G.o.d does give us impressions but not that we should act on them as impressions. If the impression be from G.o.d, He will Himself give sufficient evidence to establish it beyond the possibility of a doubt.

How beautifully we read, in the story of Jeremiah, of the impression that came to him respecting the purchase of the field of Anathoth, but Jeremiah did not act upon this impression until after the following day, when his uncle's son came to him and brought him external evidence by making a proposal for the purchase. Then Jeremiah said: ”I knew this was the word of the Lord.”

He waited until G.o.d seconded the impression by a providence, and then he acted in full view of the open facts, which could bring conviction unto others as well as himself.

G.o.d wants us to act according to His mind.

We are not to ignore the Shepherd's personal voice, but like Paul and his companions at Troas, we are to listen to all the voices that speak, and ”gather” from all the circ.u.mstances, as they did, the full mind of the Lord.