THE MEASURE OF OUR STRENGTH

THE MEASURE OF OUR STRENGTH

With an increase of knowledge and apprehension of the truth, there is a constant sense that we are not practically up to what we have received; and hence the measure of our strength is not the enjoyment of a truth, but the extent to which we maintain what we believe in spite of every obstacle. It is the way in which we surmount the difficulties in our path, which really indicates our strength, and not the enjoyment of the truth which defines our position.

The revelation unfolds God to us in His nature and purposes, and as we believe in Him thus revealed, we depend on Him, and use Him in every circumstance in which we are placed, and everything, the smallest as well as the greatest, tests and proves our faith, where ^[p. 151] nothing is in accordance with it; hence the measure of our strength is the strait we pass through in the power of Christ.

There is a genuine delight in the soul in seeing any of the portion which God has given us in Christ; but delight is not power, though the delight is lost if there be not power to sustain oneself according to the truth accepted, whenever or howsoever challenged; and here it is that one is so tried. The revelation has been received and the beauty and excellence of it delights the heart, but the commonest thing — nay, everything here — challenges it and denies it. Hence it is not the truth revealed, but the power of Christ whom the truth has revealed, which will alone enable us to rise above the power of evil. The revelation has set before me what God has given me, but everything here is hostile to God. Satan attempts to deprive me of it; and it is only as I am superior to the opposition that I retain, in any degree, delight in and possession of what I have seen. The more I see of God’s favour to me — and in that way the deeper my enjoyment — the more I must be practically superior to everything that would rob me of it. A lesser portion would expose me to less opposition; but the highest portion must expose me to opposition from everything, where everything is contrary to God. It is as I am able, in the power of Him who has revealed my position to me, to refuse and counteract every opposing thing, that I am really strong, and strong skilfully; that is, strong in wisdom’s ways, for wisdom indicates to me the path for my faith. The more distinctly I see my position, the more necessarily must I see everything which would interfere with or compromise it. Now merely seeing this is not strength; but as I triumph in faith over this and that which opposes me on every side, so I have strength; so that the higher my position with regard to everything here, the more must I maintain my superiority or be compromised, while I profess and am ^[p. 152] entitled to superiority. According as I maintain my height spiritually, where everything naturally opposes me, so am I strong in enjoying my high position, though in the very midst of my enemies. I overcome them. Thus, while my position indicates the extent of the power required, and conferred too, my strength is really only as I surmount each rising hindrance that would degrade or debar me from my position; and my faith in God, as to His favour in Christ, in putting me in this exalted position, is tested by everything here.

We read or hear His word, the light reaches our heart, we are delighted, we see His grace and purpose towards us. Now if we are walking in faith, and have received the truth in faith, we are not shaken by the things here which refuse and deny it; but the contrarieties only prove and manifest it. Hence it is “the proving of your faith, much more precious than of gold which perishes, though it be proved by fire”, (1 Peter 1: 7); and as there is faith, as one stands the test, patience — enduring power of holding out — is ensured. The believing soul experiences a sense of enjoyment in the reception of the truth; but it is when we come into contact with contrarieties that we prove whether we are really dependent on God with respect to it. If everything were favourable, there would be no sifting or testing, no disclosure of the amount of faith; but when faith is tested, then patience is acquired, power to bear up against what is adverse; and therefore the measure of our strength is the strait we pass through with God. A man who passes through no straits has no sense of strength; he has not needed, as to his experience, the power of Christ, and he has not used it; he knows not his strength. Abraham in faith obeys the call of God, and into the land of Canaan he came; but soon as a famine in the land tests his faith in God, and the measure of his strength is proved to be this — that in faith he could enter the land, but that he could not remain there in a famine.

The revelation of God’s favour, outside this scene of sorrow and rebellion of which we are by nature a part, must necessarily expose us to tribulation in it, if we accept in faith what He has revealed. Jacob is subjected to much tribulation before his dream at Luz (Genesis 28) is fulfilled at El-Bethel, nearly forty years afterwards (Genesis 35); and his strength was not in keeping with the revelation until he had returned to Bethel and set up an altar to the God of Bethel. The revelation defines the extent of my position, and my strength is as I maintain my position in circumstances entirely adverse to it. Paul, as a man in Christ, is carried into the third heaven — a revelation of untold blessedness while in the light of it; but when he comes back from that region, where everything is for him, to this, where everything is against him, Satan buffeting him, his strength is as he maintains himself here in the power of Christ. As one entitled to so great an elevation he feels his weakness as a man more than ever. But this to faith is only an occasion for the power of Christ, commensurate with the position given him in Christ; and as he rested in Christ and was exercised to maintain what was revealed to him, so did he receive of the power of Christ to maintain him in Christ, as surely here where everything was against him, as in the third heaven, where everything was for him. And the measure of his strength was as he was in Christ; not where there were no hindrances, as in the third heaven, but here, where there were the greatest hindrances, and where the strength was challenged at every turn. The revelation defines the scope of the faith, and as there is faith so there is strength; and faith accepts nothing short of the revelation; and hence, as there is revelation, there must be deeper and greater tribulation to test the faith, and to make known to the soul the power of Christ, in whom I am graced and blessed.

There is no personal knowledge of God but as we count on Him, as we are practically conscious of depending ^[p. 154] on Him and of His caring for us. One without straits, and exercises, and victories, really has no growing acquaintance with God; and where there is not this, however great the intelligence or sincerity, there is little or no savour. It is the trials and difficulties of the way which are the opportunities for our hearts to grow in acquaintance with Him; and it will be found, while there may be great enjoyment in ministry, and in the unfolding of truth, that really there is not strength but in proportion as one has learned how God has been for and with one in the trials and sorrows of the way; and as one has known Him in them, so one is able to speak of Him. Intelligent christians are often confounded when a trial occurs, simply because they have not been accustomed to cast all their care on God. They have not learnt in their own history that in everything He cares for them. I refer not now to the rest that this would impart to themselves, but rather to there being no sense of strength, because there is no sense of how God had hitherto sustained them. When David’s strength was challenged, he could say, “Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God”. If I am resting on God, difficulties only test my faith; and faith like the rising sun, scatters the darkness that seemed to obstruct and dispute its power. You will never find a soul possessing a truth unless it has been tested by some circumstances as to it, because the more I value it, the more I fear being deprived of it. But when it is tested, “tribulation works endurance; and endurance, experience; and experience, hope; and hope does not make ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given to us”.

Truth received in power always displaces everything in me which is opposed to it. The strong man is not only bound, but his goods are spoiled. Surely, as I ^[p. 155] accept a truth which introduces me into a position contrary to everything I am in, so must I, as I am true to it, deny and refuse all that I am. And hence everything which hinders and assails is a tribulation — it tests the reality of my possession of the truth; and I am assured of my possession as I overcome that which would naturally overcome me. As I overcome, I know my strength, and my victory is the result of my strength; and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. I know what faith has done, but I must keep in faith to be cheered and encouraged by what it has wrought. Former faith cheers and encourages; but as the next step is never like any former one, so must there be fresh faith for every step, fresh dependence on God. The heart derives strength for each fresh trial in its thanksgiving for former deliverances, and the strength is assured and measured by the victory.