Christian's Secret of a Happy Life - Chapter 8 Chapter 8
One of the greatest obstacles to living unwaveringly this life of entiresurrender is the difficulty of seeing God in everything. People say, "I caneasily submit to things which come from God; but I cannot submit to man, andmost of my trials and crosses come through human instrumentality." Or they say,"It is all well enough to talk of trusting; but when I commit a matter to God,man is sure to come in and disarrange it all; and while I have no difficulty intrusting God, I do see serious difficulties in the way of trusting men."
IS GOD IN EVERYTHING? This is no imaginary trouble, but it is ofvital importance, and if it cannot be met, does really make the life of faithan impossible and visionary theory. For nearly everything in life comes to usthrough human instrumentalities, and most of our trials are the result ofsomebody's failure, or ignorance, or carelessness, or sin. We know God cannotbe the author of these things, and yet unless He is the agent in the matter,how can we say to Him about it, "Thy will be done"?
Besides, what good is there in trusting ouraffairs to God, if, after all, man is to be allowed to come in and disarrangethem; and how is it possible to live by faith, if human agencies, in whom itwould be wrong and foolish to trust, are to have a predominant influence inmoulding our lives?
Moreover, things in which we can see God's handalways have a sweetness in them which consoles while it wounds. But the trialsinflicted by man are full of bitterness.
What is needed, then, is to see God ineverything, and to receive everything directly from His hands, with nointervention of second causes. And it is just to this that we must be brought,before we can know an abiding experience of entire abandonment and perfecttrust. Our abandonment must be to God, not to man, and our trust must be inHim, not in any arm of flesh, or we shall fail at the first trial.
The question here confronts us at once, "But isGod in everything, and have we any warrant from the Scripture for receivingeverything from His hands, without regarding the second causes which may havebeen instrumental in bringing it about?" I answer to this, unhesitatingly, Yes.To the children of God everything comes directly from their Father's hand, nomatter who or what may have been the apparent agents. There are no "secondcauses" for them.
The whole teaching of the Bible asserts andimplies this. "Not a sparrow falls to the ground without our Father." The veryhairs of our head are all numbered. We are not to be careful about anything,because our Father cares for us. We are not to avenge ourselves, because ourFather has charged Himself with our defence. We are not to fear, for the Lordis on our side. No one can be against us, because He is for us. We shall notwant, for He is our Shepherd. When we pass through the rivers they shall notoverflow us, and when we walk through the fire we shall not be burned, becauseHe will be with us. He shuts the mouths of lions, that they cannot hurt us. "Hedelivereth and rescueth." "He changeth the times and the seasons; He removethkings and setteth up kings." A man's heart is in His hand, and, "as the riverof water, He turneth it whithersoever He will." He ruleth over all the kingdomsof the heathen; and in His hand there is power and might," so that none is ableto withstand" Him. "He ruleth the raging of the sea; when the waves thereofarise, He stilleth them." He "bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought; Hemaketh the devices of the people of none effect." "Whatsoever the Lordpleaseth, that does He in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deepplaces."
"If thou seest the oppression of the poor, andviolent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at thematter; for He that is higher than the highest regardeth; and there be higherthan they."
"Lo, these are a part of His ways; but how littlea portion is heard of Him? But the thunder of His power who can understand?""Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord,the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There isno searching of His understanding."
And this "God is our refuge and strength, a verypresent help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth beremoved, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; thoughthe waters thereof roar and be troubled; though the mountains shake with theswelling thereof." "I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress, myGod, in Him will I trust. Surely He shall deliver thee from the snare of thefowler, and from the noisesome pestilence. He shall cover thee with Hisfeathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust. His truth shall be thy shieldand buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night, nor for thearrow that flieth by day, nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness, norfor the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side,and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee." "Becausethou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the Most High, thyhabitation, there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nighthy dwelling. For He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee inall thy ways."
To my own mind, these Scriptures, and many otherslike them, settle forever the question as to the power of second causes in thelife of the children of God. They are all under the control of our Father, andnothing can touch us except with His knowledge and by His permission. It may bethe sin of man that originates the action, and therefore the thing itselfcannot be said to be the will of God but by the time it reaches us, it hasbecome God's will for us, and must be accepted as directly from His hands. Noman or company of men, no power in earth or heaven, can touch that soul whichis abiding in Christ, without first passing through Him, and receiving the sealof His permission. If God be for us, it matters not who may be against us;nothing can disturb or harm us, except He shall see that it is best for us, andshall stand aside to let it pass.
An earthly parent's care for his helpless childis a feeble illustration of this. If the child is in its father's arms, nothingcan touch it without that father's consent, unless he is too weak to preventit. And even if this should be the case, he suffers the harm first in his ownperson, before he allows it to reach his child. And if an earthly parent wouldthus care for his little helpless one, how much more will our Heavenly Father,whose love is infinitely greater, and whose strength and wisdom can never bebaffled! I am afraid there are some, even of God's own children, who scarcelythink that He is equal to themselves in tenderness, and love, and thoughtfulcare; and who in their secret thoughts, charge Him with a neglect andindifference of which they would feel themselves incapable. The truth reallyis, that His care is infinitely superior to any possibilities of human care;and that He who counts the very hairs of our head, and suffers not a sparrow tofall without Him, takes note of the minutest matters that can affect the livesof His children, and regulates them all according to His own sweet will, lettheir origin be what they may.
The instances of this are numberless. TakeJoseph. What could have seemed more apparently on the face of it to be theresult of sin, and utterly contrary to the will of God, than his being soldinto slavery? And yet Joseph, in speaking of it, said, "As for you, ye thoughtevil against me: but God meant it unto good." "Now, therefore, be not grievednor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither, for God did send me beforeyou to preserve life." To the eye of sense it was surely Joseph's wickedbrethren who had sent him into Egypt; and yet Joseph, looking at it with theeye of faith, could say, "God sent me." It had been undoubtedly a grievous sinin his brethren, but, by the time it had reached Joseph, it had become God'swill for him, and was in truth, though at first it did not look so, thegreatest blessing of his whole life. And thus we see how the Lord can make eventhe wrath of man to praise Him, and how all things, even the sins of others,shall work together for good to them that love Him.
I learned this lesson practically andexperimentally long years before I knew the scriptural truth concerning it. Iwas attending a prayer-meeting held for the promotion of scriptural holiness,when a strange lady rose to speak, and I looked at her, wondering who she couldbe, little thinking she was to bring a message to my soul which would teach mesuch a grand lesson. She said she had had great difficulty in living the lifeof faith, on account of the second causes that seemed to her to control nearlyeverything that concerned her. Her perplexity became so great, that at last shebegan to ask God to teach her the truth about it, whether He really was ineverything or not. After praying this for a few days, she had what shedescribed as a vision. She thought she was in a perfectly dark place, and thatthere advanced towards her from a distance a body of light, which graduallysurrounded and enveloped her and everything around her. As it approached, avoice seemed to say, "This is the presence of God; this is the presence ofGod." While surrounded with this presence, all the great and awful things inlife seemed to pass before her, -- fighting armies, wicked men, raging beasts,storms and pestilences, sin and suffering of every kind.
She shrank back at first in terror, but she soonsaw that the presence of God so surrounded and enveloped each one of these,that not a lion could reach out its paw, nor a bullet fly through the air,except as His presence moved out of the way to permit it. And she saw that, letthere be ever so thin a sheet, as it were, of this glorious presence betweenherself and the most terrible violence, not a hair of her head could beruffled, nor anything touch her, unless the presence divided to let the evilthrough. Then all the small and annoying things of life passed before her, andequally she saw that these all were so enveloped in this presence of God thatnot a cross look, not a harsh word, nor petty trial of any kind, could reachher unless His presence moved out of the way to let them through.
Her difficulty vanished. Her question wasanswered forever. God was in everything; and to her henceforth there were nosecond causes. She saw that her life came to her day by day and hour by hourdirectly from His hand, let the agencies which should seem to control it bewhat they might. And never again had she found any difficulty in an abidingconsent to His will and an unwavering trust in His care.
If we look at the seen things, we shall not beable to understand the secret of this. But the children of God are called tolook, "not at the things which are seen: for the things which are seen aretemporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal." Could we but see withour bodily eyes His unseen forces surrounding us on every side, we would walkthrough this world in an impregnable fortress, which nothing could everoverthrow or penetrate, for "the angel of the Lord encampeth round about themthat fear Him, and delivereth them."
We have a striking illustration of this in thehistory of Elisha. The king of Syria was warring against Israel, but his evildesigns were continually frustrated by the prophet; and at last he sent hisarmy to the prophet's own city for the express purpose of taking him captive.We read, "He sent thither horses and chariots and a great host; and they cameby night and compassed the city about." This was the seen thing. And theservant of the prophet, whose eyes had not yet been opened to see the unseenthings, was alarmed. And we read, "And when the servant of the man of God wasrisen early and gone forth, behold an host compassed the city, both with horsesand chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master, how shall we do?"But his master could see the unseen things, and he replied, "Fear not; for theythat be with us are more than they that be with them." And then he prayed,saying, "Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes that he may see. And the Lord openedthe eyes of the young man, and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full ofhorses and chariots of fire round about Elisha."
The presence of God is the fortress of Hispeople. Nothing can withstand it. At His presence the wicked perish; the earthtrembles; the hills melt like wax; the cities are broken down; "the heavensalso dropped, and Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God." And in thesecret of this presence He has promised to hide His people from the pride ofman, and from the strife of tongues. "My presence shall go with thee," He says,"and I will give thee rest."
I wish it were only possible to make everyChristian see this truth as plainly as I see it; for I am convinced it is theonly clue to a completely restful life. Nothing else will enable a soul to liveonly in the present moment, as we are commanded to do, and to take no thoughtfor the morrow. Nothing else will take all the risks and "supposes" out of aChristian's heart, and enable him to say, "Surely goodness and mercy shallfollow me all the days of my life." Abiding in God's presence, we run no risks;and such a soul can triumphantly say, --
"I know not what it is to doubt,
My heart is alway gay;
I run no risks, for, come what will,
God alway has His way."
I once heard of a colored woman who earned aprecarious living by daily labor, but who was a joyous, triumphant Christian."Ah! Nancy," said a gloomy Christian lady to her one day, who almostdisapproved of her constant cheerfulness, and yet envied it, -- "ah! Nancy, itis all well enough to be happy now; but I should think the thoughts of yourfuture would sober you. Only suppose, for instance, that you should have aspell of sickness and be unable to work; or suppose your present employersshould move away, and no one else should give you anything to do; or suppose --" "Stop!" cried Nancy, "I never supposes. De Lord is my shepherd, and I knows Ishall not want. And, honey," she added to her gloomy friend, "it's all demsupposes as is makin' you so misable. You'd better give dem all up, and justtrust de Lord."
There is one text that will take all the"suppose" out of a believer's life, if only it is received and acted out in achildlike faith; it is in Heb. 3:5, 6: "Be content, therefore, with such thingsas ye have; for He hath said I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee"; sothat we may boldly say, "THE LORD IS MY HELPER, AND I WILL NOT FEAR WHAT MANSHALL DO UNTO ME." What if dangers of all sorts shall threaten you from everyside, and the malice or foolishness or ignorance of men shall combine to do youharm? You may face every possible contingency with these triumphant words, "TheLord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me." If the Lordis your helper, how can you fear what man may do unto you? There is no man inthis world, nor company of men, that can touch you, unless your God, in whomyou trust, shall please to let them. "He will not suffer thy foot to be moved:He that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, He that keepeth Israel shallneither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is thy keeper; the Lord is thy shade uponthy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day nor the moon by night. TheLord shall preserve thee from all evil: He shall preserve thy soul. The Lordshall preserve thy going out, and thy coming in, from this time forth, and evenfor evermore."
Nothing else but this seeing God in everythingwill make us loving and patient with those who annoy and trouble us. They willbe to us then only the instruments for accomplishing His tender and wisepurposes towards us, and we shall even find ourselves at last inwardly thankingthem for the blessings they bring us.
Nothing else will completely put an end to allmurmuring or rebelling thoughts. Christians often feel a liberty to murmuragainst man, when they would not dare to murmur against God. But this way ofreceiving things would make it impossible ever to murmur. If our Father permitsa trial to come, it must be because that trial is the sweetest and best thingthat could happen to us, and we must accept it with thanks from His dear hand.The trial itself may be hard to flesh and blood, and I do not mean that we canlike or enjoy the suffering of it. But we can and must love the will of God inthe trial, for His will is always sweet, whether it be in joy or in sorrow.
Our trials may be our chariots. We long for somevictory over sin and self, and we ask God to grant it to us. His answer comesin the form of a trial which He means shall be the chariot to bear us to thelonged-for triumph. We may either let it roll over us and crush us as aJuggernaut car, or we may mount into it and ride triumphantly onward. Joseph'schariots, which bore him on to the place of his exaltation, were the trials ofbeing sold into slavery, and being cast unjustly into prison. Our chariots maybe much more insignificant things than these; they may be nothing butirritating people or uncomfortable circumstances. But whatever they are, Godmeans them to be our cars of triumph, which shall bear us onward to thevictories we have prayed for. If we are impatient in our dispositions and longto be made patient, our chariot will probably be a trying person to live in thehouse with us, whose ways or words will rasp our very souls. If we accept thetrial as from God, and bow our necks to the yoke, we shall find it just thediscipline that will most effectually produce in us the very grace of patiencefor which we have asked.
God does not order the wrong thing, but He usesit for our blessing; just as He used the cruelty of Joseph's wicked brethren,and the false accusations of Pharaoh's wife. In short, this way of seeing ourFather in everything makes life one long thanksgiving, and gives a rest ofheart, and more than that, a gayety of spirit, that is unspeakable. Someonesays, "God's will on earth is always joy, always tranquillity." And since Hemust have His own way concerning His children, into what wonderful greenpastures of inward rest, and beside what blessedly still waters of inwardrefreshment, is the soul led that learns this secret.
If the will of God is our will, and if He alwayshas His way, then we always have our way also, and we reign in a perpetualkingdom. He who sides with God cannot fail to win in every encounter; andwhether the result shall be joy or sorrow, failure or success, death or life,we may, under all circumstances, join in the apostle's shout of victory,"Thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ!"