The Clio messenger. (Clio, Mich.) 1907-current, 1919-01-02

OF the contrary
wind Is no sign Of
being out Of the will Of God.
Before Jesus sent his disciples out
upon the lake he knew the contrary
wind was coming. 1t was no surprise
to him, and he had deliberately sent
them into the place where he knew
the storm was coming. The presence
of the storm therefore was no proof
that they were out Of his will. There
is some teaching today that If one will
only yield or surrender wholly to the
Lord, all storms will thereby be avoid
ed and that one will have a life sur
rounded by peace and nothing that dis
turbs will be able to find entrance.
But both the Scripture as well as the
experience Of all the saints Of God
who have lived sanity lives bear tes-
timony to the opposite. The Scripture
says that Gin the world We shall have
tribulation" and sail .who will live
godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer"
And such a saint as Paul bears testi-
mony that in following the Lord he
found he was "in WEAKNESS and pain
fitness, in watchings often, in hunger
and thirst, in HASTINGS often, in cold
and nakedness."
No! The presence Of the storm Is no
proof that one is out Of the will or the
way of God. Some reader of these
words may be passing through deep
waters, and the devil may be suggest
ing that the deep waters are there be-
cause Of unfaithfulness, while all the
time it may be as it was with the dis
ciples, the contrary wind" is expert
enced because of wholly following the
Lord.
2. The lack Of seeming progress Is
no sign Of being out Of the will Of
God.
Before Jesus sent his disciples out
upon the lake he knew they would be
hindered by the contrary wind. Some
times we are tempted to think that be-
cause there are no seen results from
our work, because things seem to be
at standstill or apparently no prog
ress is being made, we have slipped
out Of his will. OF course this may
be possible, but before we give our
selves worry and care, let us be sure
that we are not being misled by Satan.
To worry Is against Scripture as well
as common sense. All the members Of
the body Of Christ have not the same
office, and what would be progress to
one may not be progress to another.
The Master sets one to blowing, an
other to sowing, another to watering
the seed and another to reaping. We
are in danger of thinking that only the
reaper is making progress. The disci-
pies were told to cross the lake. All
they could do was to keep the bow Of
the boat pointed in that direction, and
the Lord knew when he sent them out
that this was all they would be able
to do. But they could do that, and do
1t they did without trying something
else just because they were not max
ing any seeming progress. We need
to learn to have more Of an eye for
obedience than looking for results that
we can see and tabulate. To do what
he tells us to do without thinking Of
the results is the highest form of serv-
ice.
8. The sense Of fear and loneliness
10 no sign that we are out of the will
Of God.
With the contrary wind rising high
er and the darkness falling upon them.
together with the absence of the Lord,
II is little wonder that these disciples
should experience a feeling of loneli-
ness and fear. But such a feeling
should not give rise to self-recrimina-
lions, for 1t Is by no means q proof
that one Is out Of Gods way. 1t was
into the darkness and the loneliness
that the Lord had sent these disciples.
At the proper time he would come
to them, and until that time came
they had just one thing to do, and that
was to keep the boat pointed in the
right direction, ven though they made
no progress, and believe that as he had
sent them there, there was where he
wanted then to be. We may not I'M
derstand all of his dealings with us,
and sometimes when we seem to be In
dense darkness and can see no ray
Of light, we are tempted to become too
introspectiye. In such times Of dark
ness let us remember the words Of
Isaiah the prophet: "Who Is among
you that feareth the Lord, that obey
eth the voice of his servant, that walk
eth In darkness and hath no light? Let
him trust in the name of the Lord and
stay upon his God"