Chapter 4: "When I Had Ceased From My Struggles"
Chapter 4: "When I Had Ceased From My Struggles"
"Therefore will the Lord wait, that He may be gracious unto you." - Isa. 30:18
THERE IS NOTHING else for you but to come to this. As long as you wrestle with God, you miss his richest blessings. Your hands are so occupied with your grasping and wrenching, that they are not open enough to receive his choice bestowments of life and peace. Jacob wrestled with God the whole night, and was no further advanced. It was when he could wrestle no more, because the sinew of his strength was shriveled, and he was near falling, and clung to the angel, helpless and exhausted, that he received the blessing which made him a prince for the remainder of his days.
Is not this the mistake of your life? You have fought for the blessing: with strong cryings and tears you have made supplication, and sought to prevail; you have been almost angry, because you could not get what others had. Now lie down at the feet of Christ, a broken and emptied vessel, and see if He will not take you in hand, and fill you to overflowing. "By the strength shall no man prevail." "Not of works, lest any man should boast."
Suppose a man inexperienced to the water were drowning, how would you save him? Would you dare to put yourself in the way of his hands? Were you to do so, he would drag you with him to the bottom. As long as he struggles you can do little for him; you must swim around in easy reach till he is exhausted and about to sink in despair, then you come up from behind and support him through the water to the land. That is how God acts. He waits that He may be gracious (Isa. xxx, 18). You think that He takes no notice of your tears, and prayers, and agonies. Ah, but He does! And He is not waiting because wanting in grace. He is waiting that He may show it. He cannot show his grace till you lie low and broken and helpless at his feet; then He will say, "I am thy salvation."
This is wonderfully illustrated in that chapter of Isaiah. Shebna and other Hebrew politicians were extremely anxious to form a great confederation of contiguous States to oppose the growing power of Assyria, which had already carried Samaria into captivity, and was threatening the remoter kingdoms as with the long arms of an octopus.
At the time of which Isaiah writes, ambassadors were crossing the strip of desert between Canaan and Egypt - the home of the young lion and flying serpent - to negotiate an alliance with the reigning dynasty of the Pharaohs. A graphic picture is given of the asses and camels laden with treasure patiently plodding their way over the heavy sands. Against this confederacy Isaiah protested with all his might. In his judgment it was a denial of Jehovah's protectorate; it was an unworthy appeal to worldly alliances; it was a policy foredoomed to fail. "For Egypt helpeth in vain, and to no purpose, therefore have I called her Rahab that sitteth still" (R.V.). "Woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take counsel, but not of Me; and that make a league, but not of my Spirit."
But Isaiah was not satisfied with denouncing the wrong; he vehemently entreated them to return to rest, and repent and believe, to give up Egypt and trust simply in the living God. He said that God was not unmindful of their needs, and was only waiting till they had abandoned all their own efforts and endeavours, and were willing to let Him save them in his own way. "Therefore will the Lord wait, that He may be gracious unto you .... Blessed are all they that wait for Him."
How truly is this applicable to you!
To those who are burdened with a sense of sin.- You have been trying, like Christian, to rid yourself of your burden, and have been to Mr. Worldly Wiseman, to Madame Bubble, and to Mount Sinai. You have piled up penance, and almsgiving, and good works. You have agonized, and wrestled, and entreated; but all has been vain. Now be quiet. Your gigantic struggles have been drawing the knots tighter. Be still, and know that God can save you. He has been waiting all this while to save you, and as soon as you come to an end of yourself He will begin. He is exalted that He may have mercy-- -exalted to the cross and to the throne. He will be very gracious at the voice of thy cry.
It is told of Sancho Panza, in the great Spanish story, that he hung for hours to a window-ledge, fearing to loose his hold lest he should drop through many yards and be maimed for life; and when, after much anguish, he could hold out no longer, and dropped, it was only a few inches, and he had reached the ground. So you have only to let yourself go, and you will find the everlasting arms just beneath.
To those who are seeking rest. - We often seek rest in the wrong way. We think we must go down lower into humiliation, or climb up into a higher experience. We go backward and forward like birds that have got imprisoned in a room, and persist in flying to and fro, refusing to let themselves be caught by the hand which longs to capture them only to fling them out through the window into the sunny air.
It is just ceasing from your own works. The whole secret is in that word cease. He that hath entered into God's rest ceases from his own works as God did from his. Cease from self; from your own endeavours after rest; from going after this teacher and the other; sink down like a tired child on the pillow of God's loving care. Lean back on God. God loves; God cares; God will interpose when the right moment is come. God will do the very best that can be done. He is waiting to do it, as soon as you will let Him. Trust and rest.
To those who are seeking deliverance from besetting sin, or a holier life, or success in Christian work. - There is but one law for all experiences. It is not of him that willeth, or of him that runneth; but of God that showeth mercy. God longs to deliver from besetting sin; longs to lead to a life of full consecration, and Holy Spirit possession; longs to make the utmost use of each vessel whom He has purchased. He waits to be gracious. But his loving work is in suspense until the excitement, the oscillation, the restless fever is subdued.
Call back the ambassadors from Egypt; break off the coalition with the Gentiles; call in your thoughts. Isaac Taylor said of his sister that she refused invitations to friends' houses when death was drawing near, in order that she might call home her thoughts. Call home your thoughts, and be still. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him. Be silent to Him. So He will be gracious. This is his method. He is a God of judgment, i.e., of method. Comply with his method, and his grace will flow to you as a river.