NOTES ON SCRIPTURE 1895 NO. 63
NOTES ON SCRIPTURE 1895 NO. 63
The more intelligent and impressed the mind of man is with the purpose of God, the more does it need subjection to God, for otherwise it will seek to accomplish, by natural means, what ought to be left to the ordering of God, and this produces restlessness. When this is the case the Lord allows His servant to find by sorrowful experience the fruits of his own plans. Jacob is a remarkable example of one appreciating blessing but ever and anon intercepting and anticipating the ways of God by his own plans.... The possession of the birthright failed to give Jacob that assurance of the blessing which it represented, for if it had he would not afterwards have so readily complied with his mother’s unworthy expedient to secure it for him. And why? The desired mercy had been grasped by him in a natural way, and he derived none of the satisfaction from it, which he would have experienced [p. 118] had it reached him in a divine way; for a divine way always connects the soul with the Lord.
If a mercy is not connected with the Lord it may often make me more miserable, but if it is, if I know that it flows from His love, the heart receives it in tranquillity and confidence, for I know that though I may lose the proof of His love, I cannot lose the love itself, and that the love cannot exist without declaring itself.. .. The Lord in His grace will teach us sooner or later to connect all our mercies or services with Himself, because He knows that without this we cannot reckon on His strength in supporting us. Jacob was one seeking for blessings, but too unsubdued to confide the ordering of them to the Lord alone.