Chapter 9: Not Joy, But Christ
Chapter 9: Not Joy, But Christ
"Follow on to know the Lord." - Hosea 6:3
I AM CONSTANTLY meeting people who complain that the joy experienced by them in their consecration to God has faded away after the first few days, like light fades off a landscape; and they complain bitterly, as if they had receded from the position which they had taken up, and, in seeking their lost joy, they become involved in deeper darkness. We may become as much self-centred in our search for joy as we are in our search for salvation.
Of course there may be reasons for this loss of rapture; and these should be dealt with. One of these may be the trust in the impetus received at the moment, instead of the constant clinging to Christ - as if a number of railway carriages could suppose that a rapid run of several miles would suffice to carry them for coming hours in complete independence of the engine. Or, again, we may suppose that we can do with less fellowship with Christ through his Word, whereas, in point of fact, the consecrated soul needs more; and, indeed, that consecration is spurious which does not lead to more. Or, again, there may be some laxity in applying to new events the principles assumed at the solemn moment of self-dedication.
But, supposing none of these causes apply, there is no reason for anxiety at the loss of emotion. Feeling comes and goes, but the facts of spiritual experience are permanent. The nature of man cannot be always yielding crops of ecstatic pleasure. Like the fields of nature, the heart of man must lie fallow. Tides must ebb after their flow. But all this does not affect by a single iota the position of the will to be only for Jesus. And it is a blessed thing to look up into his face and say, "I do not feel as I did, but I am precisely as I was when I felt most."
This search for highly-kindled feeling is a mistake; and it is the source of perplexity and trouble to numberless souls. We have to seek, not feeling, but to know Christ; to do Christ's will; to keep his commandments; to be conformed to his image. If feeling comes as the result of any of these things, welcome it as God's most precious kiss of approval; but if it does not come, dare to believe that God is equally pleased, even though He withhold the sense of his warm embrace.
Let us "follow on to know the Lord. "Let us count all things but loss for the excellency of his knowledge. Let us make every endeavour to grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our God and Saviour. In doing this we must be content to pass through times of comparative darkness. You cannot know the sadder aspects of Christ's character, unless you are prepared to go with Him into the shadow. His path lies now, as formerly, through Gethsemane, with its somber shadows; beneath the weight of the Cross; arid down into the grave. To know Him under these circumstances demands a curtaining of the soul from the full blaze of the sun of unbroken rapture. Christ is the man of Sorrows, and the Lamb slain, and the High Priest touched with the feeling of our infirmities; and there must be a stepping down with Him into the shadowed valley, if we are to know some of the innermost aspects of his nature. Paul spoke about "the fellowship of his sufferings" and "conformity to his death."
Flowers will not reach their perfection if they are kept always in a place of light, natural and artificial; and there are lessons to be learnt, and virtues to be acquired, which are incompatible with a highly exalted state of emotional rapture. Light is sown for the righteous, and sowing time is the stripping time of the dank autumn days, with the fallen leaves bestrewing the forest glade. There are plenty that like the glad harvest of light, but are unwilling to pay the price.
His coming forth is prepared, not only as the morning, but as the rain; and the rain means clouds, and the clouds mean brooding shadows. But Jesus is in the rain and the shadow as much as in the light that breaks from the east at dawn. Ah, soul! thou wouldst always have Him come with the radiant glow of his transfiguration fresh upon Him; but a greater miracle was wrought when He crossed the sea in the storm, and they knew not that it was He, because the mists had veiled his figure.
It is consistent with Scripture and experience to believe that the soul may be at perfect rest and peace, unruffled and permanent through every phase of feeling. This is blessedness. This is the heritage of every true servant of Christ; like the rock which remains steadfast amid the ebb and flow of the tide. Young believers, cling to this as your inalienable portion.
But, whilst this peace is possible, a highly-wrought emotional rapture is neither healthy nor needful. Still, whether it is present or not, the one thing is to abide in the will of God, and to find our peace in fulfilling the sombre bits of the plan, as well as the brighter, gayer ones; leaving it for Him to put gladness into our hearts, if we can learn more of Him so, or sadness if thus we can make more rapid progress toward his ideal.
" For he, and he only, with wisdom is blest,
Who, gathering true pleasures wherever they grow,
Looks up in all places for joy or for rest,
To the Fountain whence Time and Eternity flow."