DEPENDENCE AND WATCHING
DEPENDENCE AND WATCHING
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 members of the body of 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 on in faith, “we are more than conquerors through him that loved us” (Romans 8: 37).
The great thing for you entering this new year is faith. Faith is seeing Him who is invisible. When a mariner, however tossed about on the sea, can see the sun, he can tell the bearings of his ship.
[p. 396] Your great object should be to set the Lord always before you. Be not satisfied with praying or reading the Scriptures, but that you see Him, your eye resting on Him, “Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory” (1 Peter 1: 8). You look for Him as the mariner looks for the sun in the hour of difficulty. Every hour is an hour of difficulty with us, 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 is, the better you will get on. One is the sufficiency of Christ if you seek Him - “My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me” (Psalm 63: 8). This is all you could desire; but there is another sense you must have, and that is, the 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 not safe unless 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, where they did not fear any harm. “Happy is the man that feareth always” (Proverbs 28: 14). 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 ever beside you, and be always aware that a terrible dog is in wait for you. Thus may you be greatly blessed.