"Whenever a thing becomes difficult in personal experience, we are in danger of blaming God, but it is we who are in the wrong, not God; there is some perversity somewhere that we will not let go. Immediately we do, everything becomes as clear as daylight. As long as we try to serve two ends, ourselves and God, there is perplexity. The attitude must be one of complete reliance on God. When once we get there, there is nothing easier than living the saintly life; difficulty comes in when we want to usurp the authority of the Holy Spirit for our own ends.
Whenever you obey God, His seal is always that of peace, the witness of an unfathomable peace, which is not natural, but the peace of Jesus. Whenever peace does not come, tarry till it does or find out the reason why it does not. If you are acting on an impulse or from a sense of the heroic, the peace of Jesus will not witness; there is no simplicity or confidence in God, because the spirit of simplicity is born of the Holy Ghost, not of your decisions. Every decision brings a reaction of simplicity.
My questions come whenever I cease to obey. When I have obeyed God, the problems never come between me and God, they come as probes to keep the mind going on with amazement at the revelation of God. Any problem that comes between God and myself springs out of disobedience; any problem, and there are many, that is alongside me while I obey God, increase my ecstatic delight, because I know that my Father knows, and I am going to watch and see how He unravels the thing."
- Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest
Timely... OC was unique in ability and insight.
ReplyDeleteHe was, STxAR. And interestingly, his writings seem to hit different parts of my life at different times. I have probably read this particular passage six or eight times in the past and not had the same insight.
DeleteIndeed TB, whenever we are prone to "being mad at God," WE are the problem; not God. OUR ways aren't jiving with HIS ways.
ReplyDeleteIt's a matter of trust. If we're going to trust God, we need to trust Him even when things don't go our way. Even when the job goes away. Even when the love of your life is taken from this Earth way, WAY too soon... TRUSTING that God has a reason for EVERYTHING, both good AND bad, that happens in your life, is the THE KEY to it ALL.
God bless you and yours, TB.
Thanks Pete. Honestly, the biggest struggle I am finding on a daily basis is just that sense that I am being sidelined into what will turn out to be a cul-de-sac. I am sure that is not true, of course; the challenge is reminding myself of that.
DeleteIf you keep posting C.S. Lewis, I'll have nothing to say, as his worst thought is so much better than my best thought.
ReplyDeleteJohn, posting Lewis is almost like cheating, he is that good.
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