The Tupelo journal., 1903-01-16
GIVE GOD A CHANCE.
The 0mnipotert Arm Shortened by
the Activity of the Flesh.
Christian Aggressiven exs often Lima
its the work of The Spirit of God
Sermon by the "Highway and
Eywayr Preacher.

Text:-"Not by might, nor by power, but
by My Spirit, saith the LORD of Hosts
Zoch. as.
God works in q mysterious way
His wonders to perform"
The magic wand of the good fairy
of my boyhood story book always held
a peculiar fascination for me. That
the simple waving of the rod in the
hands of the little creature could ac-
complish such wonderful things so
easily and so quickly impressed me
very deeply, and l sighed for the fairy's
talisman that would make of life such
an easy problem. 1t seemed such a
desirable thing to be able TO do things
as the fairy did, and my imaginative
mind pictured all the good deeds l
would perform if the fairy's wand were
placed in my hand. Little then did |
think, as / pored over the fascinat-
ing stories and spent hours in idle
dreaming, that the wonderful things
in the fairy story had their realization
in the spiritual realm, and that the
potency of the fairy's wand was as
nothing in comparison with the mar
velous operations of the Spirit of God.
1t was the Spirit of God moving
through the rod in Moses hand
which wrought such mighty wonders
in the presence of Pharaoh, which
opened a way through the Red sea.
which made the hard rocks of the will
derness yield their gushing waters,
which gave the Israelites the victory
over the Amalekites. It was the Spirit
of God that circled the city of Jericho
in answer to the obedient tread of
Gods people and that rang out in the
shout and the trumpet blast and laid
the massive walls of the heather
stronghold low upon the ground. 1t
was the Spirit of God thatmoved in the
times OF the judges and wrought
mighty Geliverances for Gods OPP
pressed people. It was the Spirit of
God which on the day of P~entecost
transformed a handful of simple
hearted, ignorant disciples into fluent
linguists~ preaching the Gospel of Jesus
Christ in every known tongue. 1t was
Che Spirit of God which wrought such
mighty wonders through the instru-
mentality of the disciples in the early
days Of the church. 1t is the Spirit of
God Whose tracings can be discovered
running through the sacred pages of
Gods Word from Genesis to Revela-
ton. More marvellous and fascinating
is it all than the most ~extravagant
fairy tale. The latter is naught but a
tale, but the former is the truth and
majesty and power of God.
There are two reasons why man
fails to understand and appreciate the
operations of the Spirit of God: First,
because he does not know Gods will,
and, second, because he is an alien
from the righteousness of God; for the
Spirit of God always operates along
the line of Gods will and moves within
the sphere of His perfect righteous
ness. In this m~aterialistic age mans
will shuts out the vision of the will of
God and mans self-righteousness and
self-esteem render him insensible to
the righteousness of God, and hence
the might and power" of mar is IN
duly magnified and emphasized and
the workings of Gods Spirit are lost
sight of. But nevertheless it is the
eternal and Interchangeable truth of
God that it is mot by might, nor by
power OF man." but by the Spirit of
God, that the purposes of God are
wrought out through men.
Zerubbabel, to- whom the words of
our text were sent through the proph-
ct Zechariah, had been called to a
great work by the Lord. The task of
rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem
end the restoring of the temple had
rested upon him. After the first burst
of enthusiasm of the people incident to
the return from captivity and the rees-
Establishment of their homes in Jerusa-
lem, the work of rearing the city's pro-
tecting wall and restoring the temple
Jagged. Zerubbabel felt the burden of
the gigantic task. AS Christian peo-
pie are always so prone to do, he came
to feel that he was carrying the burden
all alone. That it all depended upon
him, if the walls completed and
the temple reconstructed. And in
proportion as he took his eyes off God
and locked within himself for the pow
er and ability to carry on the great
work, he became discouraged and per-
haps was almost ready to give up in
disgust. He did not have the sympathy
and cooperation of the inhabitants of
the city as was his right to demand
and expect. He doubtless tried to push
and drive them to the completion of
the task which he knew God had set
him to accomplish. Perhaps he set to
scolding them in the impatience of his
encouragement. Perhaps he went as
far as some Christians do when facing
difficulties similar to those of Zerub-
babel, and threatened to quit and go
back to the easier surroundings of the
Babylonian home. And just at the
point when he fully realized how ut
terly helpless he was to accomplish the
task before him, and when, utterly
discouraged, he was ready to give up,
God sent His prophet to him with the
re~assuring message that it was mot
by the might and power" of a talented
and able Zerubbabel that the work
Of the Lord was to be completed, but
that it was through the mysterious
and marvellous operations of the Spirit
of God.
If the question had been asked of
Zerubbabel before the word of God
by His prophet had come to him, as
TO what were the most d~iscouraging
features of the work he had in hand,
he world have been able to quickly and