"Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you."
HAD there been no sin our Heavenly Father would have found other means by which to develop in us pa.s.sive virtues, and train us in the graces of meekness, patience, long-suffering, and forbearance, which so beautify and display the Christian character. But since sin is here, with its contradictions and falsehoods, its darkness, its wars, brutalities and injustices, producing awful harvests of pain and sorrow, G.o.d, in wonderful wisdom and lovingkindness, turns even these into instruments by which to fashion in us beautiful graces. Storm succeeds sunshine, and darkness the light; pain follows hard on the heels of pleasure, while sorrow peers over the shoulder of joy; gladness and grief, rest and toil, peace and war, interminably intermingled, follow each other in ceaseless succession in this world. We cannot escape suffering while in the body. But we can receive it with a faith that robs it of its terror, and extracts from it richest blessing; from the flinty rock will gush forth living waters, and the carcase of the lion will furnish the sweetest honey.
This is so even when the suffering is a result of our own folly or sin. It is intended not only in some measure as a punishment, but also as a teacher, a corrective, a remedy, a warning; and it will surely work for good, if, instead of repining and vainly regretting the past, we steadily look unto Jesus and learn our lesson in patience and thankfulness.
"If all the skies were sunshine, Our faces would be fain To feel once more upon them The cooling plash of rain.
"If all the world were music, Our hearts would often long For one sweet strain of silence To break the endless song.
"If life were always merry, Our souls would seek relief And rest from weary laughter In the quiet arms of grief."
Doubtless all our suffering is a result of sin, but not necessarily the sin of the sufferer. Jesus was the sinless One, but He was also the Chief of sufferers. Paul"s great and lifelong sufferings came upon him, not because of his sins, but rather because he had forsaken sin, and was following Jesus in a world of sin, and seeking the salvation of his fellows. In this path there is no escape from suffering, though there are hidden and unspeakable consolations. "In the world ye shall have tribulation,"
said Jesus. "All that will live G.o.dly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution," wrote Paul.
Sooner or later, suffering in some form comes to each of us. It may come through broken health, or pain and weariness of body; or through mental anguish, moral distress, spiritual darkness and uncertainty. It may come through the loss of loved ones, through betrayal by trusted friends; or through deferred or ruined hopes, or base ingrat.i.tude; or perhaps in unrequited toil and sacrifice and ambitions all unfulfilled. Nothing more clearly distinguishes the man filled with the Spirit from the man who is not than the way each receives suffering.
One with triumphant faith and shining face and strong heart glories in tribulation, and counts it all joy. To this cla.s.s belong the Apostles, who, beaten and threatened, "departed from the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His Name" (Acts v. 41).
The other with doubts and fears, murmurs and complains, and to his other miseries adds that of a rebellious heart and discontented mind. One sees the enemy"s armed host, and unmixed distress and danger; the other sees the angel of the Lord, with abundant succour and safety (2 Kings vi. 15-17).
An evangelist of my acquaintance told a story that ill.u.s.trates this. When a pastor he went one morning to visit two sisters who were greatly afflicted. They were about the same age, and had long been professing Christians and members of the Church. He asked the first one upon whom he called, "How is it with you this morning?" "Oh, I have not slept all night," she replied. "I have so much pain. It is so hard to have to lie here. I cannot see why G.o.d deals so with me." Evidently, she was not filled with the Spirit, but was in a controversy with the Lord about her sufferings, and would not be comforted.
Leaving her he called immediately upon the other sister, and asked, "How are you to-day?" "Oh, I had such a night of suffering!" she replied. "Then," said he, "there came out upon her worn face, furrowed and pale, a beautiful radiance, and she added, "but Jesus was so near and helped me so, that I could suffer this way and more, if my Father thinks best"; and on she went with like words of cheer and triumph that made the sick room a vestibule of glory. No lack of comfort in her heart, for the Comforter Himself, the Holy Spirit, had been invited and had come in. One had the Comforter in fullness, the other had not.
Probably, no man ever suffered more than Paul, but with soldier-like fort.i.tude he bore his heavy burdens, faced his constant and exacting labours, endured his sore trials, disappointments, and bitter persecutions by fierce and relentless enemies; he stood unmoved amid shipwrecks, stripes and imprisonments, cold, hunger, and homelessness without a whimper that might suggest repining or discouragement, or an appeal for pity. Indeed, he went beyond simple uncomplaining fort.i.tude, and said, "we glory in tribulation"
(Romans v. 3); "I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation"
(2 Cor. vii. 4); "I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ"s sake"
(2 Cor. xii. 10). After a terrible scourging upon his bare back, he was thrust into a loathsome inner dungeon, his feet fast in the stocks, with worse things probably awaiting him on the morrow.
Nevertheless, we find him and Silas, his companion in suffering, at midnight praying and singing praises unto G.o.d (Acts xvi. 25).
What is his secret? Listen to him: "Because the love of G.o.d is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us" (Romans v. 5). His prayer for his Ephesian brethren had been answered in his own heart: "That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith." And this inner strength and consciousness, through faith, in an indwelling Christ enabled him to receive suffering and trial, not stoically as the Red Indian, nor hilariously, in a spirit of bravado, but cheerfully and with a thankful heart.
Arnold of Rugby has written something about his "most dear and blessed sister" that ill.u.s.trates the power flowing from exhaustless fountains of inner joy and strength through the working of the Holy Spirit. He says:--
"I never saw a more perfect instance of the spirit and power of love, and of a sound mind. Her life was a daily martyrdom for twenty years, during which she adhered to her early-formed resolution of never talking about herself; she was thoughtful about the very pins and ribands of my wife"s dress, about the making of a doll"s cap for a child--but of herself, save only as regarded her ripening in all goodness, wholly thoughtless, enjoying everything lovely, graceful, beautiful, high-minded, whether in G.o.d"s works or man"s, with the keenest relish; inheriting the earth to the very fullness of the promise, though never leaving her crib, nor changing her posture; and preserved, through the very valley of the shadow of death, from all fear or impatience, and from every cloud of impaired reason, which might mar the beauty of Christ"s and the Spirit"s work."
It is not by hypnotising the soul, nor by blessing it into a state of ecstatic insensibility, that the Lord enables the man filled with the Spirit to thus triumph over suffering. Rather it is by giving the soul a sweet, constant, and unshaken a.s.surance through faith: First, that it is freely and fully accepted in Christ. Second, that whatever suffering comes, it is measured, weighed, and permitted by love infinitely tender, and guided by wisdom that cannot err. Third, that however difficult it may be to explain suffering now, it is nevertheless _one_ of the "all things" which "work together for good to them that love G.o.d," and that in a "little while" it will not only be swallowed up in the ineffable blessedness and glory, but that in some way it is actually helping to work out "a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" (2 Cor. iv. 7). Fourth, that though the furnace has been heated seven times hotter than was wont, yet "the Form... like unto the Son of G.o.d" is walking with us in the fire; though triumphant enemies have thrust us into the lions"
den, yet the angel of the Lord arrived first and locked the lions" jaws; though foes may have formed against us sharp weapons, yet they cannot prosper, for His shield and buckler defend us; though all things be lost, yet "Thou remainest"; and though "my flesh and my heart may fail, G.o.d is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever."
Not all G.o.d"s dear children thus triumph over their difficulties and sufferings, but this is G.o.d"s standard, and they may attain unto it, if, by faith, they will open their hearts and "be filled with the Spirit."
Here is the testimony of a Salvation Army Officer up to date:--
"Viewed from the outside, my life as a sinner was easy and untroubled, over which most of my friends expressed envy; while these same friends thought my life as a Christian full of care, toil, hardship, and immense loss. This, however, was only an outside view, and the real state of the case was exactly the opposite of what they supposed. For in all the pleasure-seeking, idleness, and freedom from responsibility of my life apart from G.o.d, I carried an immeasurable burden of fear, anxiety, and constantly recurring disappointment; trifles weighed upon me, and the thought of death haunted me with vague terrors.
"But when I gave myself wholly to G.o.d, though my lot became at once one of toil, responsibility, comparative poverty and sacrifice, yet I could not feel pain in any storm that broke over my head, because of the presence of G.o.d. It was not so much that I was insensible to trouble, as sensible of His presence and love; and the worst trials were as nothing in my sight, nor have been for over twenty-two years. While as for death, it appears only as a doorway into more abundant life, and I can alter an old German hymn, and sing with joy:
""Oh, how my heart with rapture dances.
To think my dying hour advances!
Then, Lord, with Thee!
My Lord, with Thee!""
This is faith"s triumph over the worst the world can offer through the blessed fullness of the indwelling Comforter. Bless His Name!
"Here speaks the Comforter, Light of the straying, Hope of the penitent, Advocate sure, Joy of the desolate, tenderly saying, "Earth has no sorrow My grace cannot cure.""
"HAVE YE RECEIVED THE HOLY GHOST SINCE YE BELIEVED?"
XXI.
THE OVERFLOWING BLESSING.
"Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you."
THE children of Israel were instructed by Moses to give t.i.thes of all they had to the Lord, and in return G.o.d promised to richly bless them, making their fields and vineyards fruitful and causing their flocks and herds to safely multiply. But they became covetous and unbelieving, and began to rob G.o.d by withholding their t.i.thes, and then G.o.d began to withhold His blessing from them.
But still G.o.d loved and pitied them, and sent to them again and again by His prophets; and finally by the prophet Malachi He said: "Bring ye all the t.i.thes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house, and prove Me now herewith, saith the Lord of Hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it" (Malachi iii. 10).
He promised to make their barns overflow, if they would be faithful, if they would pay their t.i.thes and discharge their obligations to Him.
Now, this overflow of barns and granaries is a type of overflowing hearts and lives when we give ourselves fully to G.o.d, and the blessed Holy Ghost comes in, and Jesus becomes all and in all to us. The blessing is too big to contain, but just bursts out and overflows through the life, the looks, the conversation, the very tones of the voice, and gladdens and refreshes and purifies wherever it goes. Jesus calls it "rivers of living water" (John vii. 38).
There is an overflow of _love_. Sin brings in an overflow of hate, so that the world is filled with wars and murders, slanders, oppression, and selfishness. But this blessing causes love to overflow. Schools, colleges, and hospitals are built; shelters, rescue homes, and orphanages are opened; even war itself is in some measure humanised by the Red Cross Society and Christian commissions. Sinners love their own, but this blessing makes us to love all men--strangers, the heathen, and even our enemies.
There is an overflow of _peace_. It settles old quarrels and grudges. It makes a different atmosphere in the home. The children know it when father and mother get the Comforter. Kindly words and sweet goodwill take the place of bitterness and strife.
I suspect that even the dumb beasts realise the overflow.
I heard a laughable story of a man whose cow would switch her tail in his face, and then kick over the pail when he was milking her, after which he would always give her a beating with the stool on which he sat. But he got the blessing, and his heart was overflowing with peace. The next morning he went to milk that cow, and when the pail was nearly full, swish! came the tail in his face, and with a vicious kick she knocked over the pail, and then ran across the barn-yard. The blessed man picked up the empty pail and stool and went over to the cow, which stood trembling, awaiting the usual kicks and beating; but instead he patted her gently, and said, "You may kick over that pail as often as you please, but I am not going to beat you any more"; and the cow seemed to understand, for she dropped her head and quietly began to eat, and never kicked again! That story is good enough to be true, and I doubt not it is, for certainly when the Comforter comes a great peace fills the heart and overflows through all the life.
There is an overflow of _joy_. It makes the face to shine; it glances from the eye, and bubbles out in thanksgiving and praise. You never can tell when one who has the blessing will shout out, "Glory to G.o.d! Praise the Lord! Hallelujah! Amen!"
I have sometimes seen a whole congregation wakened up and refreshed and made glad by the joyous overflow from one clean-hearted soul. A Salvation Soldier or Officer with an overflow of genuine joy is worth a whole company of ordinary folks. He is a host within himself, and is a living proof of the text, "The joy of the Lord is your strength."
There is an overflow of _patience_ and _long-suffering._ A man got this blessing, and his wicked wife was so enraged that she left him, and went across the way and lived as the wife of his unmarried brother. He was terribly tempted to take his gun and go over and kill them both. But he prayed about it, and the Lord gave him the patience and long-suffering of Jesus, who bears long with the backslider who leaves Him and joins himself with the world; and he continued to treat them with the utmost kindness, as though they had done him no wrong. Some people might say the man was weak, but I should say he was unusually "strong in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ," and a neighbour of his told me that all his neighbours believed in his religion.
There is an overflow of _goodness_ and _generosity_. I read the other day of a poor man who supports eight workers in the foreign mission field. When asked how he did it, he replied that he wore celluloid collars, did his own washing, denied himself, and managed his affairs in order to do it.
Do you ask, "How can I get such a blessing?" You will get it by bringing in all the t.i.thes, by giving yourself in love and obedience and wholehearted, joyous consecration to Jesus, as a true bride gives herself to her husband. Do not try to bargain with the Lord and buy it of Him, but wait on Him in never-give-in prayer and confident expectation, and He will give it to you. And then you must not hold it selfishly for your own gratification, but let it overflow to the hungry, thirsty, fainting world about you. G.o.d bless you even now, and do for you exceeding abundantly above all you ask or think!
A comrade went from one of my meetings recently with a heart greatly burdened for the blessing, and for two or three days and nights did little else but read the Bible, and pray and cry to G.o.d for a clean heart filled with the Spirit. At last the Comforter came, and with Him fullness of peace and joy and soul-rest, and that day this comrade led a number of others into the blessing. Hallelujah! "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him" (Luke xi. 13).
"_Ask,... seek,... knock_."
"HAVE YE RECEIVED THE HOLY GHOST SINCE YE BELIEVED?"