THE WORD HID IN THE HEART. MARKS OF HIS PRESENCE
THE WORD HID IN THE HEART. MARKS OF HIS PRESENCE
... It is a great thing to have the word laid up in our hearts, and so vividly there, that it can declare itself. Its voice is heard when a demand for its light occurs. It is a great thing (as Mr. D. used to say) ‘to think in scripture’. To be so in the mind of the Lord as revealed in scripture, that you are ever looking at everything in the light in which the word sets it. How different every way of it is to man’s judgment! The more you seek light from the word for everything, the more it will come to you. He that honoureth me, I will honour. The Lord Himself is now our Urim and Thummim. He could say, “I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation” (Psalm 119: 99). The Lord has ever but one judgment, we must exclude our own, which is no easy matter, before we can know His. This is one of the great gains in drawing near to Him, for I must disappear then. The Lord bless you much, and keep the light of His word ever fresh in your heart....
The marks of His presence when practically known are:
- Holiness — separation from everything dishonouring to Him, and a maintenance of all that is due to Him.
- Personal devotedness and surrender, in order to suit Him.
- His chief interest mine — the church paramount.
- A sense of the ruin all around, and therefore the more fully cleaving to Him who faileth not. The remnant in principle.
- Truth in all its branches more and more unfolded and developed.
- Service according to His pleasure.