Part 6
There is a still more explicit promise to this effect two chapters further on in John xvi. 12, 13, 14, R. V. Here Jesus says, "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He shall guide you into all the truth: for He shall not speak from Himself; but what things soever He shall hear, these shall He speak: and He shall declare unto you the things that are to come. He shall glorify Me: for He shall take of Mine, and shall declare it unto you."
This promise was made in the first instance to the Apostles, but the Apostles themselves applied it to all believers (1 John ii. 20, 27).
It is the privilege of each believer in Jesus Christ, even the humblest, to be "taught of G.o.d." Each humblest believer is independent of human teachers-"Ye need not that any teach you" (1 John ii. 27, R. V.). This, of course, does not mean that we may not learn much from others who are taught of the Holy Spirit. If John had thought that he would never have written this epistle to teach others. The man who is the most fully taught of G.o.d is the very one who will be most ready to listen to what G.o.d has taught others. Much less does it mean that when we are taught of the Spirit, we are independent of the written Word of G.o.d; for the Word is the very place to which the Spirit, who is the Author of the Word, leads His pupils and the instrument through which He instructs them (Eph. vi. 17; John vi. 33; Eph. v. 18, 19; cf. Col. iii. 16). But while we may learn much from men, we are not dependent upon them. We have a Divine Teacher, the Holy Spirit.
We shall never truly know the truth until we are thus taught directly by the Holy Spirit. No amount of mere human teaching, no matter who our teachers may be, will ever give us a correct and exact and full apprehension of the truth. Not even a diligent study of the Word either in the English or in the original languages will give us a real understanding of the truth. We must be taught directly by the Holy Spirit and we may be thus taught, each one of us. The one who is thus taught will understand the truth of G.o.d better even if he does not know one word of Greek or Hebrew, than the one who knows Greek and Hebrew thoroughly and all the cognate languages as well, but who is not taught of the Spirit.
The Spirit will guide the one whom He thus teaches "into all the truth."
The whole sphere of G.o.d's truth is for each one of us, but the Holy Spirit will not guide us into all the truth in a single day, nor in a week, nor in a year, but step by step. There are two especial lines of the Spirit's teaching mentioned:
(1) "He shall declare unto you the things that are to come." There are many who say we can know nothing of the future, that all our thoughts on that subject are guesswork. It is true that we cannot know everything about the future. There are some things which G.o.d has seen fit to keep to Himself, secret things which belong to Him (Deut. xxix. 29). For example, we cannot "know the times, or the seasons" of our Lord's return (Acts i.
7), but there are many things about the future which the Holy Spirit will reveal to us.
(2) "He shall _glorify Me_ (that is, Christ) for He shall take of Mine and shall declare it unto you." This is the Holy Spirit's especial line of teaching with the believer, as with the unbeliever, Jesus Christ. It is His work above all else to reveal Jesus Christ and to glorify Him. His whole teaching centres in Christ. From one point of view or the other, He is always bringing us to Jesus Christ. There are some who fear to emphasize the truth about the Holy Spirit lest Christ Himself be disparaged and put in the background, but there is no one who magnifies Christ as the Holy Spirit does. We shall never understand Christ, nor see His glory until the Holy Spirit interprets Him to us. No amount of listening to sermons and lectures, no matter how able, no amount of mere study of the Word even, would ever give us to see "the things of Christ"; the Holy Spirit must show us and He is willing to do it and He can do it.
He is longing to do it. The Holy Spirit's most intense desire is to reveal Jesus Christ to men. On the day of Pentecost when Peter and the rest of the company were "filled with the Holy Spirit," they did not talk much about the Holy Spirit, they talked about Christ. Study Peter's sermon on that day; Jesus Christ was his one theme, and Jesus Christ will be our one theme, if we are taught of the Spirit; Jesus Christ will occupy the whole horizon of our vision. We will have a new Christ, a glorious Christ.
Christ will be so glorious to us that we will long to go and tell every one about this glorious One whom we have found. Jesus Christ is so different when the Spirit glorifies Him by taking of His things and showing them unto us.
III. _The Holy Spirit reveals to us the deep things of G.o.d which are hidden from and are foolishness to the natural man._
We read in 1 Cor. ii. 9-13, "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which G.o.d hath prepared for them that love Him. But _G.o.d hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit_: for _the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of G.o.d_. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of G.o.d knoweth no man, but the Spirit of G.o.d. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of G.o.d; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of G.o.d.
Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual." This pa.s.sage, of course, refers primarily to the Apostles but we cannot limit this work of the Spirit to them. The Spirit reveals to the individual believer the deep things of G.o.d, things which human eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, things which have not entered into the heart of man, the things which G.o.d hath prepared for them that love Him. It is evident from the context that this does not refer solely to heaven, or the things to come in the life hereafter. The Holy Spirit takes the deep things of G.o.d which G.o.d hath prepared for us, even in the life that now is, and reveals them to us.
IV. _The Holy Spirit interprets His own revelation. He imparts power to discern, know and appreciate what He has taught._
In the next verse to those just quoted we read, "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of G.o.d: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned" (1 Cor. iii. 14). Not only is the Holy Spirit the Author of revelation, the written Word of G.o.d: He is also the Interpreter of what He has revealed. Any profound book is immeasurably more interesting and helpful when we have the author of the book right at hand to interpret it to us, and it is always our privilege to have the author of the Bible right at hand when we study it. The Holy Spirit is the Author of the Bible and He stands ready to interpret its meaning to every believer every time he opens the Book. To understand the Book, we must look to Him, then the darkest places become clear. We often need to pray with the Psalmist of old, "Open Thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy law" (Ps. cxix. 18). It is not enough that we have the revelation of G.o.d before us in the written Word to study, we must also have the inward illumination of the Holy Spirit to enable us to apprehend it as we study.
It is a common mistake, but a most palpable mistake, to try to comprehend a spiritual revelation with the natural understanding. It is the foolish attempt to do this that has landed so many in the bog of so-called "Higher Criticism." In order to understand art a man must have aesthetic sense as well as the knowledge of colours and of paint, and a man to understand a spiritual revelation must be taught of the Spirit. A mere knowledge of the languages in which the Bible was written is not enough. A man with no aesthetic sense might as well expect to appreciate the Sistine Madonna, because he is not colour blind, as a man who is not filled with the Spirit to understand the Bible, simply because he understands the vocabulary and the laws of grammar of the languages in which the Bible was written. We might as well think of setting a man to teach art because he understood paints as to set a man to teach the Bible because he has a thorough understanding of Greek and Hebrew. In our day we need not only to recognize the utter insufficiency and worthlessness before G.o.d of our own righteousness, which is the lesson of the opening chapters of the Epistle to the Romans, but also the utter insufficiency and worthlessness in the things of G.o.d of our own wisdom, which is the lesson of the First Epistle to the Corinthians, especially the first to the third chapters. (See for example 1 Cor. i. 19-21, 26, 27.)
The Jews of old had a revelation by the Spirit but they failed to depend upon the Spirit Himself to interpret it to them, so they went astray. So Christians to-day have a revelation by the Spirit and many are failing to depend upon the Holy Spirit to interpret it to them and so they go astray.
The whole evangelical church recognizes theoretically at least the utter insufficiency of man's own righteousness. What it needs to be taught in the present hour, and what it needs to be made to feel, is the utter insufficiency of man's wisdom. That is perhaps the lesson which this twentieth century of towering intellectual conceit needs most of any to learn. To understand G.o.d's Word, we must empty ourselves utterly of our own wisdom and rest in utter dependence upon the Spirit of G.o.d to interpret it to us. We do well to lay to heart the words of Jesus Himself in Matt. xi. 25, "I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes." A number of Bible students were once discussing the best methods of Bible study and one man, who was in point of fact a learned and scholarly man, said, "I think the best method of Bible study is the baby method." When we have entirely put away our own righteousness, then and only then, we get the righteousness of G.o.d (Phil. iii. 4-7, 9; Rom. x. 3). And when we have entirely put away our own wisdom, then, and only then, we get the wisdom of G.o.d. "Let no man deceive himself," says the Apostle Paul. "If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, _let him become a fool_, that he may be wise" (1 Cor. iii. 18). And the emptying must precede filling, the self poured out that G.o.d may be poured in.
We must daily be taught by the Spirit to understand the Word. We cannot depend to-day on the fact that the Spirit taught us yesterday. Each new time that we come in contact with the Word, it must be in the power of the Spirit for that specific occasion. That the Holy Spirit once illumined our mind to grasp a certain truth is not enough. He must do it each time we confront that pa.s.sage. Andrew Murray has well said, "Each time you come to the Word in study, in hearing a sermon, or reading a religious book, there ought to be as distinct as your intercourse with the external means, the definite act of self-abnegation, denying your own wisdom and yielding yourself in faith to the Divine teacher" ("The Spirit of Christ," page 221).
V. _The Holy Spirit enables the believer to communicate to others in power the truth he himself has been taught._
Paul says in 1 Cor. ii. 1-5, "And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of G.o.d. For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of G.o.d." In a similar way in writing to the believers in Thessalonica in 1 Thess. i. 5, "For our Gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much a.s.surance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake." We need not only the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth to chosen apostles and prophets in the first place, and the Holy Spirit in the second place to interpret to us as individuals the truth He has thus revealed, but in the third place, we need the Holy Spirit to enable us to effectually communicate to others the truth which He Himself has interpreted to us. We need Him all along the line. One great cause of real failure in the ministry, even when there is seeming success, and not only in the regular ministry but in all forms of service as well, comes from the attempt to teach by "enticing words of man's wisdom" (that is, by the arts of human logic, rhetoric, persuasion and eloquence) what the Holy Spirit has taught us. What is needed is Holy Ghost power, "demonstration of the Spirit and of power."
There are three causes of failure in preaching to-day. First, Some other message is taught than the message which the Holy Spirit has revealed in the Word. (Men preach science, art, literature, philosophy, sociology, history, economics, experience, etc., and not the simple Word of G.o.d as found in the Holy Spirit's Book,-the Bible.) Second, The Spirit-taught message of the Bible is studied and sought to be apprehended by the natural understanding, that is, without the Spirit's illumination. How common that is, even in inst.i.tutions where men are being trained for the ministry, even inst.i.tutions which may be altogether orthodox. Third, The Spirit-given message, the Word, the Bible studied and apprehended under the Holy Ghost's illumination is given out to others with "enticing words of man's wisdom," and not in "demonstration of the Spirit and of power."
We need, and we are absolutely dependent upon the Spirit all along the line. He must teach us how to speak as well as what to speak. His must be the power as well as the message.
CHAPTER XVII. PRAYING, RETURNING THANKS, WORSHIPPING IN THE HOLY SPIRIT.
Two of the most deeply significant pa.s.sages in the Bible on the subject of the Holy Spirit and on the subject of prayer are found in Jude 20 and Eph.
vi. 18. In Jude 20 we read, "But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, _praying in the Holy Ghost_," and in Eph. vi. 18, "_Praying_ always with all prayer and supplication _in the Spirit_, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints."
These pa.s.sages teach us distinctly that _the Holy Spirit guides the believer in prayer_. The disciples did not know how to pray as they ought so they came to Jesus and said, "Lord, teach us to pray" (Luke xi. 1). We to-day do not know how to pray as we ought-we do not know what to pray for, nor how to ask for it-but there is One who is always at hand to help (John xiv. 16, 17) and He knows what we should pray for. He helps our infirmity in this matter of prayer as in other matters (Rom. viii. 26, R.
V.). He teaches us to pray. True prayer is prayer in the Spirit (_i. e._, the prayer that the Holy Spirit inspires and directs). The prayer in which the Holy Spirit leads us is the prayer "according to the will of G.o.d"
(Rom. viii. 27). When we ask anything according to G.o.d's will, we know that He hears us and we know that He has granted the things that we ask (1 John v. 14, 15). We may know it is ours at the moment when we pray just as surely as we know it afterwards when we have it in our actual possession.
But how can we know the will of G.o.d when we pray? In two ways: First of all, by what is written in His Word; all the promises in the Bible are sure and if G.o.d promises anything in the Bible, we may be sure it is His will to give us that thing; but there are many things that we need which are not specifically promised in the Word and still even in that case it is our privilege to know the will of G.o.d, for it is the work of the Holy Spirit to teach us G.o.d's will and lead us out in prayer along the line of G.o.d's will. Some object to the Christian doctrine of prayer; for they say that it teaches that we can go to G.o.d in our ignorance and change His will and subject His infinite wisdom to our erring foolishness. But that is not the Christian doctrine of prayer at all; the Christian doctrine of prayer is that it is the believer's privilege to be taught by the Spirit of G.o.d Himself to know what the will of G.o.d is and not to ask for the things that our foolishness would prompt us to ask for but to ask for things that the never-erring Spirit of G.o.d prompts us to ask for. True prayer is prayer "in the Spirit," that is, the prayer which the Spirit inspires and directs. When we come into G.o.d's presence, we should recognize our infirmity, our ignorance of what is best for us, our ignorance of what we should pray for, our ignorance of how we should pray for it and in the consciousness of our utter inability to pray aright look up to the Holy Spirit to teach us to pray, and cast ourselves utterly upon Him to direct our prayers and to lead out our desires and guide our utterance of them.
There is no place where we need to recognize our ignorance more than we do in prayer. Rushing heedlessly into G.o.d's presence and asking the first thing that comes into our minds, or that some other thoughtless one asks us to pray for, is not praying "in the Holy Spirit" and is not true prayer. We must wait for the Holy Spirit and surrender ourselves to the Holy Spirit. The prayer that G.o.d, the Holy Spirit, inspires is the prayer that G.o.d, the Father, answers.
The longings which the Holy Spirit begets in our hearts are often too deep for utterance, too deep apparently for clear and definite comprehension on the part of the believer himself in whom the Spirit is working-"The Spirit Himself maketh intercession for us _with groanings which cannot be uttered_" (Rom. viii. 26, R. V.). G.o.d Himself "must search the heart" to know what is "the mind of the Spirit" in these unuttered and unutterable longings. But G.o.d does know what is the mind of the Spirit; He does know what these Spirit-given longings which we cannot put into words mean, even if we do not, and these longings are "according to the will of G.o.d," and G.o.d grants them. It is in this way that it comes to pa.s.s that G.o.d is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us (Eph. iii. 20). There are other times when the Spirit's leadings are so clear that we pray with the Spirit and with the understanding also (1 Cor. xiv. 15). We distinctly understand what it is that the Holy Spirit leads us to pray for.
II. _The Holy Spirit inspires the believer and guides him in thanksgiving_ as well as in prayer. We read in Eph. v. 18-20, R. V., "And be not drunken with wine, wherein is riot, but be filled with the Spirit; speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; _giving thanks always_ for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to G.o.d, even the Father." Not only does the Holy Spirit teach us to pray, He also teaches us to render thanks. One of the most prominent characteristics of the Spirit-filled life is thanksgiving. On the Day of Pentecost, when the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit, and spoke as the Spirit gave them utterance, we hear them telling the wonderful works of G.o.d (Acts ii. 4, 11), and to-day when any believer is filled with the Holy Spirit, he always becomes filled with thanksgiving and praise. True thanksgiving is "_to_ G.o.d, even the Father,"
_through_, or "in the name of" our Lord Jesus Christ, _in_ the Holy Spirit.
III. _The Holy Spirit inspires worship_ on the part of the believer. We read in Phil. iii. 3, R. V., "For we are the circ.u.mcision, who _worship by the Spirit of G.o.d_, and glory in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh." Prayer is not worship; thanksgiving is not worship. Worship is a definite act of the creature in relation to G.o.d. Worship is bowing before G.o.d in adoring acknowledgment and contemplation of Himself and the perfection of His being. Some one has said, "In our prayers, we are taken up with our needs; in our thanksgiving we are taken up with our blessings; in our worship, we are taken up with Himself." There is no true and acceptable worship except that which the Holy Spirit prompts and directs.
"G.o.d is a Spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him _in Spirit_ and truth; for such doth the Father seek to be His worshippers" (John iv.
24, 23). The flesh seeks to intrude into every sphere of life. The flesh has its worship as well as its l.u.s.ts. The worship which the flesh prompts is an abomination unto G.o.d. In this we see the folly of any attempt at a congress of religions where the representatives of radically different religions attempt to worship together.
Not all earnest and honest worship is worship in the Spirit. A man may be very honest and very earnest in his worship and still not have submitted himself to the guidance of the Holy Spirit in the matter and so his worship is in the flesh. Oftentimes even when there is great loyalty to the letter of the Word, worship may not be "in the Spirit," _i. e._, inspired and directed by Him. To worship aright, as Paul puts it, we must have "no confidence in the flesh," that is, we must recognize the utter inability of the flesh (our natural self as contrasted to the Divine Spirit that dwells in and should mould everything in the believer) to worship acceptably. And we must also realize the danger that there is that the flesh intrude itself into our worship. In utter self-distrust and self-abnegation we must cast ourselves upon the Holy Spirit to lead us aright in our worship. Just as we must renounce any merit in ourselves and cast ourselves upon Christ and His work for us upon the cross for justification, just so we must renounce any supposed capacity for good in ourselves and cast ourselves utterly upon the Holy Spirit and His work in us, in holy living, knowing, praying, thanking and _worshipping_ and all else that we are to do.
CHAPTER XVIII. THE HOLY SPIRIT SENDING MEN FORTH TO DEFINITE LINES OF WORK.
We read in Acts xiii. 2-4, "As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, _the Holy Ghost said, Separate Me_ Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. So they, being _sent forth by the Holy Ghost_, departed into Seleucia; and from thence they sailed to Cyprus." It is evident from this pa.s.sage that _the Holy Spirit calls men into definite lines of work and sends them forth into the work_. He not only calls men in a general way into Christian work, but selects the specific work and points it out. Many a one is asking to-day, and many another ought to ask, "Shall I go to China, to Africa, to India?" There is only one Person who can rightly settle that question for you and that Person is the Holy Spirit. You cannot settle the question for yourself, much less can any other man settle it rightly for you. Not every Christian man is called to go to China; not every Christian man is called to go to Africa; not every Christian man is called to go to the foreign field at all. G.o.d alone knows whether He wishes you in any of these places, but He is willing to show you. In a day such as we live in, when there is such a need of the right men and the right women on the foreign field, every young and healthy and intellectually competent Christian man and woman should definitely offer themselves to G.o.d for the foreign field and ask Him if He wants them to go. But they ought not to go until He, by His Holy Spirit, makes it plain.
The great need in all lines of Christian work to-day is men and women whom the Holy Ghost calls and sends forth. We have plenty of men and women whom men have called and sent forth. We have plenty of men and women who have called themselves, for there are many to-day who object strenuously to being sent forth by men, by any organization of any kind, but, in fact, are what is immeasurably worse, sent forth by themselves and not by G.o.d.
_How does the Holy Spirit call?_ The pa.s.sage before us does not tell us how the Holy Spirit spoke to the group of prophets and teachers in Antioch, telling them to separate Barnabas and Saul to the work to which He had called them. It is presumably purposely silent on this point.
Possibly it is silent on this point lest we should think that the Holy Spirit must always call in precisely the same way. There is nothing whatever to indicate that He spoke by an audible voice, much less is there anything to indicate that He made His will known in any of the fantastic ways in which some in these days profess to discern His leading-as for example, by twitchings of the body, by shuddering, by opening of the Bible at random and putting his finger on a pa.s.sage that may be construed into some entirely different meaning than that which the inspired author intended by it. The important point is, He made His will clearly known, and He is willing to make His will clearly known to us to-day. Sometimes He makes it known in one way and sometimes in another, but He will make it known.
But _how shall we receive the Holy Spirit's call_? First of all, by desiring it; second, by earnestly seeking it; third, by waiting upon the Lord for it; fourth, by expecting it. The record reads, "As they _ministered to the Lord, and fasted_." They were waiting upon the Lord for His direction. For the time being they had turned their back utterly upon worldly cares and enjoyments, even upon those things which were perfectly proper in their place. Many a man is saying to-day in justification for his staying home from the foreign field, "I have never had a call." But how do you know that? Have you been listening for a call? G.o.d usually speaks in a still small voice and it is only the listening ear that can catch it. Have you ever definitely offered yourself to G.o.d to send you where He will? While no man or woman ought to go to China or Africa or other foreign field unless they are clearly and definitely called, they ought each to offer themselves to G.o.d for this work and be ready for the call and be listening sharply that they may hear the call if it comes. Let it be borne distinctly in mind that a man needs no more definite call to Africa than to Boston, or New York, or London, or any other desirable field at home.
The Holy Spirit not only calls men and sends them forth into definite lines of work, but He also _guides in __ the details of daily life and service as to where to go and where not to go, what to do and what not to do_. We read in Acts viii. 27-29, R. V., "And he (Philip) arose and went: and behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was over all her treasure, who had come to Jerusalem for to worship; and he was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah. _And the Spirit said_ unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot." Here we see the Spirit guiding Philip in the details of service into which He had called him. In a similar way, we read in Acts xvi. 6, 7, R. V., "And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, _having been forbidden of the Holy Ghost to speak the word in Asia_; and when they were come over against Mysia, they a.s.sayed to go into Bithynia; and _the Spirit of Jesus suffered them not_."
Here we see the Holy Spirit directing Paul where not to go. It is possible for us to have the unerring guidance of the Holy Spirit at every turn of life. Take, for example, our personal work. It is manifestly not G.o.d's intention that we speak to every one we meet. To attempt to do so would be to attempt the impossible, and we would waste much time in trying to speak to people where we could do no good that might be used in speaking to people where we could accomplish something. There are some to whom it would be wise for us to speak. There are others to whom it would be unwise for us to speak. Time spent on them would be taken from work that would be more to G.o.d's glory. Doubtless as Philip journeyed towards Gaza, he met many before he met the one of whom the Spirit said, "Go near, and join thyself to this chariot." The Spirit is as ready to guide us as He was to guide Philip. Some years ago, a Christian worker in Toronto had the impression that he should go to the hospital and speak to some one there.
He thought to himself, "Whom do I know at the hospital at this time?"
There came to his mind one whom he knew was at the hospital, and he hurried to the hospital, but as he sat down by his side to talk with him, he realized it was not for this man that he was sent. He got up to lift a window. What did it all mean? There was another man lying across the pa.s.sage from the man he knew and the thought came to him that this might be the man to whom he should speak. And he turned and spoke to this man and had the privilege of leading him to Christ. There was apparently nothing serious in the man's case. He had suffered some injury to his knee and there was no thought of a serious issue, but that man pa.s.sed into eternity that night. Many instances of a similar character could be recorded and prove from experience that the Holy Spirit is as ready to guide those who seek His guidance to-day as He was to guide the early disciples. But He is ready to guide us, not only in our more definite forms of Christian work but in all the affairs of life, business, study, everything we have to do. There is no promise in the Bible more plainly explicit than James i. 5-7, R. V., "But if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of G.o.d, who giveth to all liberally and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing doubting: for he that doubteth is like the surge of the sea driven by the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord." This pa.s.sage not only promises G.o.d's wisdom but tells us specifically just what to do to obtain it. There are really five steps stated or implied in the pa.s.sage:
1. That we "lack wisdom." We must be conscious of and fully admit our own inability to decide wisely. Here is where oftentimes we fail to receive G.o.d's wisdom. We think we are able to decide for ourselves or at least we are not ready to admit our own utter inability to decide. There must be an entire renunciation of the wisdom of the flesh.
2. _We must really desire to know G.o.d's way and be willing at any cost to do G.o.d's will._ This is implied in the word "_ask_." The asking must be sincere, and if we are not willing to do G.o.d's will, whatever it may be, at any cost, the asking is not sincere. This is a point of fundamental importance. There is nothing that goes so far to make our minds clear in the discernment of the will of G.o.d as revealed by His Spirit as an absolutely surrendered will. Here we find the reason why men oftentimes do not know G.o.d's will and have the Spirit's guidance. They are not willing to do whatever the Spirit leads at any cost. It is he that "_willeth to_ do His will" who shall know, not only of the doctrine, but he shall know his daily duty. Men oftentimes come to me and say, "I cannot find out the will of G.o.d," but when I put to them the question, "Are you willing to do the will of G.o.d at any cost?" they admit that they are not. The way that is very obscure when we hold back from an absolute surrender to G.o.d becomes as clear as day when we make that surrender.
3. _We must definitely __"__ask__"__ guidance._ It is not enough to desire; it is not enough to be willing to obey; we must _ask_, definitely ask, G.o.d to show us the way.
4. _We must confidently expect guidance._ "Let him ask in faith nothing doubting," There are many and many who cannot find the way, though they ask G.o.d to show it to them, simply because they have not the absolutely undoubting expectation that G.o.d will show them the way. G.o.d promises to show it if we expect it confidently. When you come to G.o.d in prayer to show you what to do, know for a certainty that He will show you. In what way He will show you, He does not tell, but He promises that He will show you and that is enough.
5. _We must follow step by step as the guidance comes._ As said before, just how it will come, no one can tell, but it will come. Oftentimes only a step will be made clear at a time; that is all we need to know-the next step. Many are in darkness because they do not know and cannot find what G.o.d would have them do next week, or next month or next year. A college man once came to me and told me that he was in great darkness about G.o.d's guidance, that he had been seeking, to find the will of G.o.d and learn what his life's work should be, but he could not find it. I asked him how far along he was in his college course. He said his soph.o.m.ore year. I asked, "What is it you desire to know?" "What I shall do when I finish college."
"Do you know that you ought to go through college?" "Yes." This man not only knew what he ought to do next year but the year after but still he was in great perplexity because he did not know what he ought to do when these two years were ended. G.o.d delights to lead His children a step at a time. He leads us as He led the children of Israel. "And when the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, then after that the children of Israel journeyed: and in the place where the cloud abode, there the children of Israel pitched their tents. At the commandment of the LORD the children of Israel journeyed, and at the commandment of the LORD they pitched: as long as the cloud abode upon the tabernacle they rested in their tents. And when the cloud tarried long upon the tabernacle many days, then the children of Israel kept the charge of the LORD, and journeyed not. And so it was, when the cloud was a few days upon the tabernacle; according to the commandment of the LORD they journeyed. And so it was, when the cloud abode from even unto the morning, and that the cloud was taken up in the morning then they journeyed: whether it was by day or by night that the cloud was taken up, they journeyed. Or whether it were two days, or a month, or a year, that the cloud tarried upon the tabernacle, remaining thereon, the children of Israel abode in their tents, and journeyed not: but when it was taken up, they journeyed. At the commandment of the LORD they rested in the tents, and at the commandment of the LORD they journeyed: they kept the charge of the LORD, at the commandment of the LORD by the hand of Moses" (Num. ix. 17-23).
Many who have given themselves up to the leading of the Holy Spirit get into a place of great bondage and are tortured because they have leadings which they fear may be from G.o.d but of which they are not sure. If they do not obey these leadings, they are fearful they have disobeyed G.o.d and sometimes fancy that they have grieved away the Holy Spirit, because they did not follow His leading. This is all unnecessary. Let us settle it in our minds that G.o.d's guidance is _clear_ guidance. "G.o.d is light, and in Him is no darkness at all" (1 John i. 5). And any leading that is not perfectly clear is not from Him. That is, if our wills are absolutely surrendered to Him. Of course, the obscurity may arise from an unsurrendered will. But if our wills are absolutely surrendered to G.o.d, we have the right as G.o.d's children to be sure that any guidance is from Him before we obey it. We have a right to go to our Father and say, "Heavenly Father, here I am. I desire above all things to do Thy will. Now make it clear to me, Thy child. If this thing that I have a leading to do is Thy will, I will do it, but make it clear as day if it be Thy will." If it is His will, the heavenly Father will make it as clear as day. And you need not, and ought not to do that thing until He does make it clear, and you need not and ought not to condemn yourself because you did not do it. G.o.d does not want His children to be in a state of condemnation before Him. He wishes us to be free from all care, worry, anxiety and self-condemnation.
Any earthly parent would make the way clear to his child that asked to know it and much more will our heavenly Father make it clear to us, and until He does make it clear, we need have no fears that in not doing it, we are disobeying G.o.d. We have no right to dictate to G.o.d _how_ He shall give His guidance-as, for example, by asking Him to shut up every way, or by asking Him to give a sign, or by guiding us in putting our finger on a text, or in any other way. It is ours to seek and to expect wisdom but it is not ours to dictate how it shall be given. The Holy Spirit divides to "each man severally _as He will_" (1 Cor. xii. 11).
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