July 9th — THE GREAT PROBING
July 9th.THE GREAT PROBING
"Ye cannot serve the Lord." Joshua 24:19
Have you the slightest reliance on anything other than God? Is there a remnant of reliance left on any natural virtue, any set of circumstances? Are you relying on yourself in any particular in this new proposition which God has put before you? That is what the probing means. It is quite true to say - "I cannot live a holy life," but you can decide to let Jesus Christ make you holy. "Ye cannot serve the Lord God"; but you can put yourself in the place where God's almighty power wil come through you. Are you sufficiently right with God to expect Him to manifest His wonderful life in you?
"Nay, but we wil serve the Lord." It is not an impulse, but a deliberate commitment. You say - But God can never have cal ed me to this, I am too unworthy, it can't mean me. It does mean you, and the weaker and feebler you are, the better. The one who has something to trust in is the last one to come anywhere near saying - "I wil serve the Lord."
We say - "If I real y could believe!" The point is - If I real y will believe. No wonder Jesus Christ lays such emphasis on the sin of unbelief. "And He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief." If we real y believed that God meant what He said - what should we be like! Dare I real y let God be to me al that He says He wil be?