Month Three
DAY 1
DISPENSERS OF GRACE
Each Christian is a dispenser. God has supplied each one with gifts He has selected (He does not offer an array of options), with the good of all in mind. When we imagine that these gifts are for our own mere satisfaction, we are forgetting they are intended for service. All that I have is meant to contribute to the needs of others, and what I need will be supplied through God’s dispensers. Thus He unifies and harmonizes the whole Church, which is His Body, making each dispenser indispensable, for each dispenses a grace that is peculiarly His.
Serve one another with the particular gifts God has given each of you, as faithful dispensers of the wonderfully varied grace of God (1 Pet. 4:10, Phillips).
DAY 2
WAIT QUIETLY
Few of us enjoy having to wait for something we want. It is human nature to desire instant gratification, and it is divine nature to do many things very, very slowly. Growth is always imperceptible. But the farmer exercises long patience in waiting for his crop. He has done his work and is assured of the result, hence he waits quietly. He is at rest because the outcome (barring disastrous “acts of God”) is certain. If we could simply remember that this is true of everything—that God’s purposes are slowly being worked out for His glory and our good—we would, like the farmer, keep faith and wait quietly.
Lord, take from us all fretting and hurrying and teach us to rest our hearts in the “ultimate certainty”
(Jas. 5:8, Phillips).
DAY 3
INTERRUPTED PLANS
We like things to go smoothly and as planned. Very often unexpected things intervene, and our plans go awry. We think we’ve got problems. There is another level at which everything that happens is being engineered. “God has no problems,” Corrie ten Boom said, “only plans.” When ours are interrupted, His are not. His plans are proceeding exactly as scheduled, moving us always (including those minutes or hours or years that seem most useless or wasted or unendurable) toward the goal of full maturity. Believe God. Turn the interruptions over to Him. He is at the controls.
DAY 4
APPORTIONED LIMITATIONS
The God who determined the measurements of the foundations of the earth sets limitations to the scope of our work. It is always tempting to measure ourselves by one another, but this easily leads to boasting or despair. It is our business to find the sphere of service allotted to us and to do all that He has appointed us to do within that sphere, not commending ourselves (see 2 Cor. 10:12).
Paul said, “We . . . will keep to the limits God has apportioned us” (v. 13, RSV). Jesus did that. He was willing to become a helpless, newborn baby, a growing child, an adolescent, a man—each stage bound by its peculiar strictures, yet each offering adequate scope in which to glorify His Father.
Lord, glorify Yourself through me and in the place You’ve set me. Let me not covet another’s place or work or glory.
DAY 5
HATRED OF AUTHORITY
The rebellion of Korah took place because he and 250 “leaders of the congregation, . . . well-known men” (Num. 16:2, RSV) could not stand the distinctions God had made in the organization of His people, Israel. Moses and Aaron were singled out to exercise authority; Korah and the others protested that all were holy, that no one should have prominence. Moses pointed out that others had been separated, brought near to the Lord, given service in the tabernacle, appointed to minister to the congregation. “And would you seek the priesthood also?” (v. 10, RSV). Their so doing was diagnosed by Moses as rebellion against God. Hatred against authority, even any earthly authority appointed by God, is rebellion against God.
Lord, teach me to take gladly the place You have assigned to me and to submit humbly to those over me, that I may do my part to keep the smooth and proper functioning of the Body of Christ.
DAY 6
DETOURS
When Pharaoh let God’s people leave Egypt, “God did not guide them by the road towards the Philistines, although that was the shortest. . . . God made them go round by way of the wilderness towards the Red Sea” (Exod. 13:17-18). The direct route would save time as well as wear and tear on the people, but God had something infinitely more important than economics in mind—He wanted the people to be able to sing the song of praise of chapter 15: “The LORD is my refuge and my defence, . . . my deliverer. He is my God, and I will glorify him; he is my father’s God, and I will exalt him” (v. 2). They sang this song because they had firsthand experience of God’s power and deliverance. Pursued by all the chariots and horses, cavalry and infantry of Egypt, they had passed through the Red Sea in safety and had seen the enemy drowned. They would have missed this glorious lesson if they had taken the short road. When we are puzzled by delays and detours, let us think about the great purpose of life: to glorify God. These lessons He wants to teach us “in the wilderness” are priceless means of providing us with a song we could not otherwise have sung: “In thy constant love thou hast led the people” (v. 13).
DAY 7
THE WAY APPOINTED
One aspect of the mystery of God’s sovereign will is how the calculated evil of men is not only permitted but also actually becomes a necessary part of the divine plan. We are tempted to think of the wrongs done to us as hindrances, frustrations, interruptions. “What has this got to do with the will of God?” we ask, irritated and, we suppose, justifiably impatient with human interference. But the truth is that both our time and our way are in God’s hands—they are appointed. Surely it is so for all His sons as it was for the Son of Man. When He was on the verge of being “handed over for crucifixion” (Matt. 26:2) and betrayed by one of his own disciples, He said, “My appointed time is near. . . . One who has dipped his hand into this bowl with me will betray me. The Son of Man is going the way appointed for him” (vv. 18,23-24, emphasis added).
Out of the deepest depths of human evil, the good God brought salvation—the very salvation of man whose sinfulness killed the Son He sent.
Nothing can reach us, from any source on Earth or in hell, no matter how evil, that God cannot turn to His own redemptive purpose. Let us be glad that the way is not a game of chance, a mere roll of dice that determines our fortune or calamity—it is a way appointed, and it is appointed for God’s eternal glory and our final good.
DAY 8
YOU CAN’T KEEP BOTH EYES
A young man was delivered from a life of self-destruction in the form of drug abuse. He turned from his old ways but, of course, was pursued by the enemy and tempted back. It was clear to him that he could not afford to be lenient with himself in allowing the least indulgence in the old habit. One day he said to his pastor, “Don’t ever allow me to use the word ‘struggle.’ Every time I use it I am excusing disobedience. I am really preferring to ‘struggle’ rather than to quit.”
Jesus made this necessity sharply clear when He said, “If your right eye is your undoing, tear it out and fling it away; it is better for you to lose one part of your body than for the whole of it to be thrown into hell” (Matt. 5:29, emphasis added).
To struggle—that is, to allow a “little bit” of sin, to be cautious with ourselves, to be tolerant of a certain amount of plain disobedience—is to try to keep both eyes.
DAY 9
DOES PRAYER WORK?
The answer to that depends on one’s definition of “work.” It is necessary to know what a thing is for in order to judge whether it works. It would be senseless, for example, to say that if a screwdriver fails to drive nails into a board, it doesn’t work. A screwdriver works very well for driving screws. Often we expect to arrange things according to our whims by praying about them, and when the arrangement fails to materialize, we conclude that prayer doesn’t work. God wants our willing cooperation in the bringing in of His kingdom. If “Thy kingdom come” is an honest prayer, we will seek to ask for whatever contributes to that end. What, after all is said and done, do you want above all? Is it “Thy will be done”? If so, leave it to Him.
Is it “My will be done”? Don’t waste your time and God’s by praying. Have it your way.
DAY 10
CLAY POTS
The jungle Indians of Ecuador make clay pots of very simple design with no ornamentation or glaze. They challenged me to try shaping them as they did, rolling “snakes” of wet clay and then coiling them round and round until they had a perfectly smooth and balanced vessel. It looked rather easy, but I found that it was a highly developed skill, and my attempts to imitate it were laughable. Mine was not a master hand.
The next steps were to build a very hot fire of thorns and brushwood and to bake the pot. It was then ready for use, to carry water from the river or to cook in. Nobody thought much about the pot itself once it was made. What mattered was what was in it.
We are, Paul said, clay pots (see 2 Cor. 4:7). The Potter has formed us, shaped us into a useful vessel, put us through the fire of testing that we might be fit to hold what He gives us. We are useful and fit—but we are still clay pots— it’s what’s inside that matters. It is a priceless treasure.
I can think of no clearer analogy of our place in God’s service and a no more accurate picture of the relative merits of who we are and what we have to offer. We shall always be just pots, quite cheap on the market, but what we carry for others is priceless.
Love, Paul said in another passage, does not “cherish inflated ideas of its own importance” (1 Cor. 13:4, Phillips).
DAY 11
CONFUSION
There are many bewildered and miserable Christians today. Confusion seems to characterize many Christian homes; marriages are described as “a mess”; kids are called “mixed up”; people say they can’t “get their heads together.” There is a clue to the cause of all this in Matthew 9:36. It is the lack of authority. When a flock of sheep is left without a shepherd, they are bewildered and miserable, not knowing what to do or where to go. No one is there to lead them.
Where there is no word of authority, there is no direction, no control, no power, for power comes by restraint and guidance. The Lord, our Shepherd, leads us to pleasant pastures and refreshing waters that are for our own good. He leads us also in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Disobedience to His authority results in confusion. This disobedience to God’s authority frequently shows itself in the refusal to exercise or obey the authority God has assigned here on Earth, in government, work, church and home. No wonder there is bewilderment and misery.
DAY 12
WHERE GOD IS TAKING US
Bishop Lesslie Newbigin, in his South India Diary, tells of the union of churches that took place in South India in 1947. It was the culmination of nearly 50 years of prayer and work on the part of Indians and missionaries. At the second synod a memorable sentence was spoken: “The demand to know where we are going is one which no Christian has a right to make.” The bishop writes, “In a very real sense we do not know where we are going, but we are trying to meet day by day the plain requirements of God’s will. This means a constant effort to bring every part of church life and practice to the test of conformity with the Gospel.”
It is not for the flock of sheep to know the pasture the Shepherd has in mind. It is for them simply to follow Him. If they knew that His plans included a valley of deep shadow, they would panic. Keeping close to the One they have learned to trust is all that is necessary. He will faithfully provide rest, refreshment, correction and protection as the needs arise. His accompanying presence is guaranteed, all the way—even through the darkest shadows—to the house of the Lord.
DAY 13
NO EVIDENCE OF PROGRESS
At times nothing seems to be happening. So it must be for the bird that sits on her nest. Things are apparently at a standstill. But the bird sits quietly, knowing that in the stillness something vital is going on, and in the proper time it will be shown. It takes faith and patience for the bird, and such faith and patience never seem to waver, day after day, night after night, as she bides the appointed time.
Restless and doubtful, we wonder why we have nothing to show for our efforts, no visible evidence of progress. Let us remember the perfect egg—unchanged in its appearance from the day it is laid. But while the bird waits faithfully, doing the only thing she is required to do throughout those silent weeks, important things are taking place.
I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the LORD more than watchmen for the morning (Ps. 130:5-6, RSV).
DAY 14
IS FAITH EASY?
A young man asked me last night if it was easier to trust God here in this country, in this comfortable house, than it was “down where all the disasters were,” meaning, I suppose, in the jungle. No, I told him, you live by faith wherever you are. The house was robbed last week—a small reminder that all that I am and have belongs to the Lord, to do with as He chooses. There are enough “disasters” anywhere to keep one trusting God. In the jungle there is the immanent presence of snakes, vampire bats, scorpions, electric eels, etc.—to say nothing of savages’ spears. In Hamilton (Massachusetts) there are thieves, the possibility of fire, plumbing or electrical breakdowns; and hanging over us at all times are threats of war, totalitarianism, secular humanism, economic collapse, cancer, not to mention the “small” emergencies that can bring our best-laid plans to a halt.
“I have become absolutely convinced that neither death nor life, . . . neither what happens today nor what may happen tomorrow . . . has any power to separate us from the love of God” (Rom. 8:38-39, Phillips, emphasis added). So wrote Paul, whose life did not represent a series of events in which we would say it was easy to trust. It was not easy. It was necessary. A life free from suffering would be a life in which faith in God would be a mere frill. A human life, on the contrary, is one in which faith is a necessity. Only a fool tries to do without it.
DAY 15
FEAR GOD AND FEAR NOTHING ELSE
The world is shaking with fear. “What will become of us?” “Where will it all end?” “What if Russia . . . ?” “What if cancer . . . ?” “What if depression . . . ?” The love of God has wrapped us round from before the foundations of the world. If we fear Him—that is, if we are brought to our knees before Him, reverence and worship Him in absolute assurance of His sovereignty—we cannot possibly be afraid of anything else. To love God is to destroy all other fear. To love the world is to be afraid of everything—what it may think of me, what it may do to me, what may happen today or tomorrow for which I am not prepared.
The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? (Ps. 27:1, RSV).
And yet, Lord, the truth is that I am often afraid. I confess it. All the weight of Your promises seems sometimes to be only a feather, and the weight of my fears is lead. Reverse that, Lord, I pray. Give me the healthy fear that will make light of all the others: “The fear of the LORD is life; he who is full of it will rest untouched by evil”
(Prov. 19:23).
DAY 16
THE NEED FOR SILENCE
It is always easier to add to the noise of the world than to be silent. Silence is a very precious thing. “There was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour” (Rev. 8:1, KJV) when the seventh seal was opened in the book of Revelation. Thunder and horses and martyrs and earthquakes had preceded the opening of this seal. Hail, fire, blood and fearful judgment followed it—but in between, angels stood in the presence of God and there was utter silence. Have we learned to stand in God’s presence, mouths shut, hearts open? “Lord, what do you want me to do?” We must be quiet in order to know Him and to hear Him and to hear Him answer us.
“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask his friends.” No. That is not the Word of the Lord. “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God” (Jas. 1:5, KJV) is His Word to us. There is a place for asking wisdom of godly friends, but let us always go first to God.
“Be still”—that is, shut up—“and know that He is God” (see Ps. 46:10, KJV).
DAY 17
STOP QUIVERING
Isaiah tells us in the story of Syria’s occupation of Ephraim that the king’s heart “shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind” (Isa. 7:2, RSV). The worst had happened. The thing Ahaz feared had come upon him, and he was terrified. So are we when we seem to have no defense against something. We are at the mercy of an enemy—debt or disease or disaster or doubt—and we wait, quivering in fear, for our final ruin. Then we are reminded of our sure defense—the only absolutely impregnable stronghold—the word of the Lord; and when He speaks, “This plan shall not succeed; it shall never come to pass” (see v. 7), as He did to Ahaz, we are safe. No power on Earth (or in heaven or hell) can shake the Rock of our salvation. It is on that Rock that we plant our faith and stop quivering.
DAY 18
GOD’S HELP FOR GOD’S ASSIGNMENT
Sometimes a task we have begun takes on seemingly crushing size, and we wonder what ever gave us the notion that we could accomplish it. There is no way out, no way around it, and yet we cannot contemplate actually carrying it through. The rearing of children or the writing of a book are illustrations that come to mind. Let us recall that the task is a divinely appointed one, and divine aid is therefore to be expected. Expect it! Ask for it, wait for it, believe that God gives it. Offer to Him the job itself, along with your fears and misgivings about it. He will not fail or be discouraged. Let His courage encourage you. The day will come when the task will be finished. Trust Him for it.
For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed (Isa. 50:7, KJV).
DAY 19
A SAFEGUARD FOR THE SOUL
Souls are vulnerable things. They need safeguards. It was when Paul was in prison that this idea came to him. He had just been writing to the Philippians about the benefits that accrued because of his own sufferings and the possible death he might die. He told them of Epaphroditus’s illness and anxiety, and finished with “Finally, my brothers, delight yourselves in the Lord! . . . You will find it a safeguard to your souls” (Phil. 3:1, Phillips).
It would be very easy to allow depression and anxiety to overcome us when we look at the dismal circumstances in which we sometimes find ourselves. Who had better reason than Paul for depression? (“Oh well, but he was Saint Paul!” we counter.) He had learned by practice how to apply the soul’s safeguard, which is not mere enjoyment. It is delight. This is a command and therefore an act of will, and it is done in the Lord. No circumstance is so dismal as to prevent obedience to the command. No trouble can blast that safeguard. Do it. Do it by faith. Delight yourself in the Lord. Maybe you will have to get out of bed, get up from your chair, go outdoors and walk, sing a song out loud, bake a pie for somebody or mow the lawn as an offering of praise. You can do something that will help you to obey that command. It is amazing how strongly what we do affects how we feel.
DAY 20
THE FRUIT OF FORGIVENESS
Every day I am forgiven for many sins of many kinds, and although on the one hand forgiveness seems such an impossible thing (but grace is greater than all my sin), on the other hand I receive it often without wonder and nearly always without offering any “fruit.”
When the Lord punished Israel, Isaiah wrote: “Only then can the fruit of his forgiveness be shown: they must smash their stone altars into pounded chalk” (Isa. 27:9, Phillips).
When I acknowledge a specific sin, it is a good thing to do something specific to demonstrate my determination to forsake it. Smash an altar, sacrifice an hour of sleep or a meal (if the sin has been, for example, the failure to do what I want to do because “I haven’t time”), write a note of apology to one sinned against, make restitution in some way for a wrong. To arise and obey in such a particular act is an appropriate sign of the genuineness of my repentance—the fruit of forgiveness.
DAY 21
WHERE DO WE START?
To be transformed into the image of Christ, I must begin to do the will of the Father in the same place where He began: He emptied Himself. There is for any serious disciple, quite simply, no other starting place. It is a matter of beginning today to say no to yourself—specifically about something you’ve been insisting you must have, specifically about something you have been refusing. This is step one. You travel the road “toward Jerusalem” from there, gladly taking up a cross (which is step two: saying yes to God) and following, knowing where the road led Jesus. It did not—and don’t forget this!—end with a cross. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven. His prayer for us is, “Father, I desire that these men, who are thy gift to me, may be with me where I am” (John 17:24).
DAY 22
DIFFICULTIES ARE PROOF CONTEXTS
Repeatedly I am asked variations of this question: Did the Lord comfort you or were you sometimes lonely or sad? It is not an either-or thing. If I had not been lonely and sad at times, how could I have needed, received or appreciated comfort? It is the sick who need the physician, the thirsty who need water. This is why Paul not only did not deplore his weaknesses but also gloried in them, for they provided the very occasions for his appropriating divine help and strength.
It was in prison that Joseph knew the presence of the Lord. It was in the lion’s den that Daniel’s faith was proved. It was in the furnace that Daniel’s three friends found themselves accompanied by a fourth.
We have plenty of “proof texts”—but in order to experience their truth we have to be placed in “proof contexts.” The prison, the lion’s den, the furnace are where we are shown the realities, incontestably and forever.
DAY 23
WHAT SHALL I DO?
It is not always possible to know whether the source of an idea or deed is God or Satan, since God sometimes covers Himself in cloud and Satan is often an angel of light. It is, however, always possible to trust the Shepherd who has promised to lead us in paths of righteousness. We must do the thing that appears to be right to do at the right time and do it by faith. That is, we do it with an honest desire to obey God and a willingness to have what He wills us to have, or not to have what He does not will us to have. If it were not for uncertainties, we would have no need to walk by faith.
Show me the way that I must take; to thee I offer all my heart. Teach me to do thy will, for thou art my God. . . . Keep me safe, O LORD, for the honour of thy name (Ps. 143:8,10-11).
DAY 24
SUBMISSION AND INDEPENDENCE
Paul tells us to submit to one another out of reverence for Christ (see Eph. 5:21), and James tells us we ought to have the right sort of independence (see Jas. 1:2-4). Can the same person obey both commands? The answer is yes, for in both he is being obedient to Christ. Submission is the recognition of and obligation to authority. An independence that refuses all accountability to those assigned by God to exercise authority—parents, husbands, employers, teachers, government—is the wrong sort. The right sort, according to James, begins with the acceptance of adversity. That in itself indicates a measure of maturity. One who has not attained that maturity but tries to achieve independence will certainly have the wrong sort. To accept adversity, obviously, goes against the grain of all of us. We don’t like adversity. Acceptance takes fortitude and faith—faith that Somebody knows what this trouble is all about and has the situation well in hand. In other words, acceptance is submission to God Himself. Often the real proof of our obedience is the willingness to submit, not only to adversity, but also to the specific individuals whom God has put over us (and sometimes this comes to the same thing—those individuals spell “adversity”!). Take a close look at what James says: Whatever tests our faith leads in the end to the right sort of independence.
DAY 25
IS IT GOOD FOR ME?
Yesterday we looked at a piece of property on the sea. There were lovely woods to one side; two tall, scraggly, very picturesque pine trees on the other; huge rocks that turned pink in the sunset below; and in front miles and miles of blue ocean.
It is not always easy to know whether a thing we long for is a temptation from Satan to distract us from obedience and to make us discontent, or is something God actually wants to give us and therefore wants us to pray for. There is no such thing as something “too good to be true.” God is loving and lavishly generous and has promised to give what is good—that is, what He who is omniscient knows to be good for us.
So today I asked Him to give me the prayers He wants me to pray and to give or withhold anything according to His plan for me. Nothing is too big to ask of Him, not even an ocean lot. It is God’s business to decide if it is good for me. It is my business to obey Him.
No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly (Ps. 84:11, KJV).
DAY 26
TRANSFORMING POWER
If God is almighty, there can be no evil so great as to be beyond His power to transform. That transforming power brings light out of darkness, joy out of sorrow, gain out of loss, life out of death.
Sometimes we boggle at the evil in the world and especially in ourselves, feeling that this sin, this tragedy, this offense cannot possibly fit into a pattern for good. Let us remember Joseph’s imprisonment, David’s sin, Paul’s violent persecution of Christians, Peter’s denial of his Master. None of it was beyond the power of grace to redeem and turn into something productive.
The God who establishes the shoreline for the sea also decides the limits of the great mystery, which is evil. He is the blessed Controller of all things. God will finally be God, Satan’s best efforts notwithstanding.
DAY 27
WILL GOD EXPLAIN WHY?
We sometimes imagine that God must eventually sit us down and explain His mysterious ways to our satisfaction. Let us suppose we have never seen a skyscraper. We discover a whole city block surrounded by a board fence. Finding a knothole, we peer inside. Huge earthmovers are at work; hundreds of men in hard hats are busy at mysterious tasks; cranes are being moved into place; truckloads of pipes and cement are being unloaded. What on earth is happening? There is nobody around to answer our questions. If we wait long enough, nobody will need to. When we see the finished building, all the incomprehensible activity becomes comprehensible. “Oh! So this is what that was for.”
I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness (Ps. 17:15, KJV).
DAY 28
THE LORD KEEPS FAITH
When trouble comes, we are tempted to think that we are being punished or that God has forgotten us. He never forgets. He keeps faith—that is He keeps His promises, is faithful to His word, even when it appears that we are forsaken.
Joseph suffered one disaster after another. When, because of the vicious lie of a rejected woman, he was put in prison, the Lord was with him there, keeping faith (see Gen. 39:21). Perhaps Joseph wondered why the almighty God could not have prevented the woman’s triumphing over him—or prevented his ever having been victimized by his brothers in the first place and thus being at this woman’s mercy. But we are given the complete picture, which Joseph did not have while he was in prison—the amazing purpose of God for His chosen people, Jacob and all his family, who, because of Joseph’s long-drawn-out sufferings, were saved. God keeps faith—He has a perfect blueprint, and He is building according to its specifications.
DAY 29
GENTLE AS A NURSE
A good nurse does not pamper her charge but seeks his best interest with fortitude, consistency and love. Paul’s love for the new Christians at Thessalonica was like that. It was no sentimental feeling. He writes of having brought them the Word:
In the power of the Holy Spirit, and with strong conviction (1 Thess. 1:5).
Frankly and fearlessly, by the help of our God. A hard struggle it was (2:2).
We do not curry favour with men. . . . Our words have never been flattering words . . . nor . . . a cloak for greed (2:4-5).
We have never sought honour from men, from you or from anyone else. . . . We were as gentle with you as a nurse caring fondly for her children (2:6-7).
Here is the pattern for all who would do God’s work with souls: faithful giving of the Word, a heart true and pure in seeking God’s glory, gentleness, self-giving and plain hard work.
DAY 30
CONTENT TO BE WEAK
What weakness are you feeling today? The inability to manage circumstances that cry out to be changed? Helplessness in the face of another’s deep need or of evil you have to watch perpetrated on others you love? A sense of inadequacy for some task laid upon you? Physical weakness or pain? The need for power to forgive an injury or to keep silent about unjust accusations against you?
Christ has been there before you. Every form of human limitation He knew, and out of that utter poverty we have been made strong. Yet, again and again, in the life of each disciple comes the experience of weakness in order that we may live His life for others.
We who share his weakness shall by the power of God live with him in your service (2 Cor. 13:4).
This sharing of His weakness is one aspect of the death of the Cross, one of the conditions of our discipleship, and hence a cause for joy rather than bitterness. For we walk the road, not alone, but with Christ, “well content to be weak at any time if only you are strong” (v. 9). The mystery is constantly being worked out—strength out of weakness, life out of death.
DAY 31
THE TERMS
The man who is challenged by fate does not take umbrage at the terms,” wrote Dag Hammarskjold. So, too, the man called by Christ. Any terms at all are acceptable if we may be permitted to walk with Him.
“But is this the path, Lord? Must we take this one in order to reach Home?”
“Trust Me.”
When the way to the house of the Lord leads through the valley of the shadow, we accept those terms, too. If we suffer loss, scorn, misunderstanding, false accusation or any other form of trouble, it is what we agreed on to begin with. Compared with the rewards promised, it is nothing; so let us not take umbrage. Let us be quite clear and matter-of-fact about it: “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer [cheer up!]; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33, KJV).