ONLY SAFE WHEN NEAR THE LORD
ONLY SAFE WHEN NEAR THE LORD
May you remember that this is not your rest. And may you not weary in the race. We taste of the joys of the Father’s house when we reach the finish of the gospel, and though we know that we are placed in the heavenlies as united to Christ, we are not absolutely in heaven yet, we are running on to it. It is really a steeplechase. Every kind of obstruction is thrown in our way. But as we walk in faith we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. The great thing for you entering on this new year is faith. Faith is seeing Him that is invisible. When a mariner, however tossed about on the sea, can see the sun he can take the bearings of his ship. Your great object must be to set the Lord always before you. Be not satisfied with praying, or with reading scripture, seek that you see Him, that the eye of your soul may rest on Him whom not having seen we love, in whom though now we see Him not, yet believing, we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Look for Him as the mariner looks for the sun in the hour of difficulty. Every hour is an hour of difficulty with us while we are here, and if we do not keep our eye on Him in the little difficulties we shall not be able to find Him in the great ones.
There are two things you must ever be in the sense of, and the fuller your sense of them is, the better you will get on. One is the sufficiency of Christ for the one who seeks Him. My soul followeth hard after thee, thy right hand upholdeth me. This is all you could desire; but there is another sense you must have, and that is the [p. 224] violence of the power that is against you. Satan is the God of this world, the prince of the power of the air, so that you should feel — I am encompassed with enemies, and I am only safe when near the Lord. He is a strong tower, the righteous runneth into it and is safe. In most cases failure occurs not because souls are not reading and praying, but because they are not watching. They are caught when they did not fear any harm. Blessed is the man that feareth always. Be a little child holding tight to its mother’s hand when it sees a big dog. Be always assured that more than a mother’s hand is now beside you, and be also assured that a terrible dog is near you. Thus that you may be greatly blessed is my true desire for you.