Post by MIRIAM JACOB on Jun 12, 2008 6:49:43 GMT -5
SUDDENNESS OF CHANGE
"And immediately the Spirit drove him into the wilderness"
- (Mark 1:12)
It seemed a strange proof of Divine favor. "Immediately." Immediately
after what? After the opened heavens and the dove-like peace and the
voice of the Father's blessing, "You are my beloved Son, in whom I am
well pleased." It is no abnormal experience. You, too, has passed
through it, O my soul. Are not the times of your deepest depression
just the moments that follow your loftiest flight? Yesterday you were
soaring far in the firmament, and singing in the radiance of the morn;
today your wings are folded and your song silent. At noon you were
basking in the sunshine of a Father's smile; at evening you are saying
in the wilderness, "My way is hid from the Lord."
Nay, but, my soul, the very suddenness of the change is a proof that
it is not revolutionary.
Have you weighed the comfort of that word "immediately"? Why does it
come so soon after the blessing? Just to show that it is the sequel to
the blessing. God shines on you to make you fit for life's
desert-places--for its Gethsemanes, for its Calvaries. He lifts you
up that He may give you strength to go further down; He illuminates
you that He may send you into the night, that He may make you a
help to the helpless.
Not at all times are you worthy of the wilderness; you are only
worthy of the wilderness after the splendors of Jordan. Nothing but
the Son's vision can fit you for the Spirit's burden; only the glory
of the baptism can support the hunger of the desert. --George Matheson
After benediction comes battle.
The time of testing that marks and mightily enriches a soul's
spiritual career is no ordinary one, but a period when all hell seems
let loose, a period when we realize our souls are brought into a net,
when we know that God is permitting us to be in the devil's hand. But
it is a period which always ends in certain triumph for those who have
committed the keeping of their souls to Him, a period of marvelous
"nevertheless afterward" of abundant usefulness, the sixty-fold that
surely follows. --Aphra White
© STREAMS IN THE DESERT
compiled by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman
"And immediately the Spirit drove him into the wilderness"
- (Mark 1:12)
It seemed a strange proof of Divine favor. "Immediately." Immediately
after what? After the opened heavens and the dove-like peace and the
voice of the Father's blessing, "You are my beloved Son, in whom I am
well pleased." It is no abnormal experience. You, too, has passed
through it, O my soul. Are not the times of your deepest depression
just the moments that follow your loftiest flight? Yesterday you were
soaring far in the firmament, and singing in the radiance of the morn;
today your wings are folded and your song silent. At noon you were
basking in the sunshine of a Father's smile; at evening you are saying
in the wilderness, "My way is hid from the Lord."
Nay, but, my soul, the very suddenness of the change is a proof that
it is not revolutionary.
Have you weighed the comfort of that word "immediately"? Why does it
come so soon after the blessing? Just to show that it is the sequel to
the blessing. God shines on you to make you fit for life's
desert-places--for its Gethsemanes, for its Calvaries. He lifts you
up that He may give you strength to go further down; He illuminates
you that He may send you into the night, that He may make you a
help to the helpless.
Not at all times are you worthy of the wilderness; you are only
worthy of the wilderness after the splendors of Jordan. Nothing but
the Son's vision can fit you for the Spirit's burden; only the glory
of the baptism can support the hunger of the desert. --George Matheson
After benediction comes battle.
The time of testing that marks and mightily enriches a soul's
spiritual career is no ordinary one, but a period when all hell seems
let loose, a period when we realize our souls are brought into a net,
when we know that God is permitting us to be in the devil's hand. But
it is a period which always ends in certain triumph for those who have
committed the keeping of their souls to Him, a period of marvelous
"nevertheless afterward" of abundant usefulness, the sixty-fold that
surely follows. --Aphra White
© STREAMS IN THE DESERT
compiled by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman