THE SERVANT AND THE SOLDIER
THE SERVANT AND THE SOLDIER
I was saying to myself this morning how the Lord’s service makes up for every privation here! It more than compensates for separation from all that is interesting to one naturally. If we are going in His way His joy remains with us and our joy is full. I am sorry ———— is going to ————. There is an effort to be metropolitan. In sadness of heart I say, How many are there in ———— who would stand up for the truth without the tendency to compromise? I wish I knew of more in ———— who have a circumcised ear that I might sound the voice of alarm!
I feel it is daily coming to this issue! Is the gospel simply and solely man’s benefit from it? Is good to man to be the centre and object of everything on earth? or, Is God to be the sphere where man is to find his fullest [p. 253] blessing and God that which satisfies Himself? If it be the former, everything sinks down and is limited to man’s benefit, it is all human. If it be the latter, man is brought to God and set in the Beloved according to the good pleasure of His will.
I spoke on Psalm 18:19, Psalm 18:29, Psalm 18:39 — three grades of power; first — Where His grace sets us. Secondly — What He makes us, strong in God like David in the wilderness; the recruits developed into strong men through faithfulness. God has grace for us, but it is not available to us unless we are fit for it; that is (and it is so in everything), He has a supply for us, but unless we are walking righteously He cannot give it to us. Christendom has lost faith in the presence of the Holy Ghost. God could not support a man in a wrong position. Some servants are like Joshua (see Joshua 7) lying on the ground, and questioning whether there is any power to deliver the people; he ought to have said — There is power but there is something wrong in us so that we cannot be helped. I must be assured of two things, first, that there is bread (supply for me here), and secondly, that I must have clean hands or it will not be given to me. If it were given to me without clean hands it would be to support me in what is wrong; there must be righteousness before strength; and thirdly, if you are made a soldier you are fit for the battlefield.
May the oil of gladness cause your face to shine.