Insight, not seeing

Sometimes Spurgeon’s devotional is expressed in flowery descriptions of Christ that are lovely, yet beyond me. While I can say I love Him with words, His Word tells me that obedience is the better way to express my love for Him. In my experience, words can often be just that, words.

On the days that I cannot relate to those descriptions, I turn to Oswald Chambers and My Utmost for His Highest. Today, he focuses on obedience even when I have no vision of God at all. He uses the Moffatt translation which says:

I have to lead my life in faith, without seeing Him. (2 Corinthians 5:7)

My version is the more traditional, “For we walk by faith, not by sight” (ESV). A modern version says it this way, “It’s what we trust in but don’t yet see that keeps us going” (The Message).

All of them express encouragement to obey God even when I cannot see Him or the results of what I am doing. As Chambers says, I can be conscious of God’s attention, then plunged into trials and difficulties where it seems He is no longer listening or speaking. This is a test. Will I obey anyway? Or do I need His pat on my head to keep going?

Chambers describes this as God trying to make me do my duty as an obscure person. He says that none of us would be obscure spiritually if we could help it. I agree. I like the attention of His blessing on my life, and even if I can manage to keep those blessings to myself, I still relish in them. The question is, can I do my duty when God has shut up heaven? Am I relying on Him in faith, or on experiences?

Chambers says that an “illuminated saint with golden halo and the flush of inspiration. . . . is no good, abnormal, unfit for daily life, and altogether unlike God.” Rather, God put me here as an ordinary person, not an angel or some sort of superior being. I can obey Him because I have His life in me, not because I am anything special. 

But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. (2 Corinthians 4:7)

The memories of mountain top experiences with God are often enough to carry me through these days when it seems He is gone, but if I try to recreate them, it shows that I am more interested in emotions and experience than I am in God.

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Father, I thank You for those times when You are silent. It shows me that You are pushing me to greater maturity. You desire that I walk by faith, trusting You no matter what. I know better than to try and force You to make Yourself known, but need forgiveness for those times I beg You to “do something” when I pray. I realize that if You did that, it would ruin the surprises. You always give me moments of inspiration, answers to prayer and the experience of Yourself when I least expect it. That way, I am not led away to self-glory by these wonders, but instead led to humility and worship. Keep my heart focused on You and obedience, not on inspiration and experience. You are my treasure, the One I can trust. I’m fully convinced that even when You hide Yourself, You are still here with me.