October 2nd — THE SPHERE OF HUMILIATION
October 2nd.THE SPHERE OF HUMILIATION
"If Thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us." Mark 9:22
After every time of exaltation we are brought down with a sudden rush into things as they are where it is neither beautiful nor poetic nor thril ing. The height of the mountain top is measured by the drab drudgery of the val ey; but it is in the val ey that we have to live for the glory of God. We see His glory on the mount, but we never live for His glory there. It is in the sphere of humiliation that we find our true worth to God, that is where our faithfulness is revealed.
Most of us can do things if we are always at the heroic pitch because of the natural selfishness of our hearts, but God wants us at the drab commonplace pitch, where we live in the val ey according to our personal relationship to Him. Peter thought it would be a fine thing for them to remain on the mount, but Jesus Christ took the disciples down from the mount into the val ey, the place where the meaning of the vision is explained.
"If Thou canst do any thing . . ." It takes the val ey of humiliation to root the scepticism out of us. Look back at your own experience, and you wil find that until you learned Who Jesus was, you were a cunning sceptic about His power. When you were on the mount, you could believe anything, but what about the time when you were up against facts in the val ey? You may be able to give a testimony to sanctification, but what about the thing that is a humiliation to you just now? The last time you were on the mount with God, you saw that al power in heaven and in earth belonged to Jesus - wil you be sceptical now in the val ey of humiliation?