| Finding the Way |
Chapter 1 |
Page 4 |
God’s way does not always lie in the sunshine; sometimes it runs into deep glooms. We are not always out of the way when we find ourselves facing obstacles and difficulties. When we cannot see where we are going, we may be in the way everlasting, because God is guiding us. He leads us away many a time from the path we would have taken. Always He leads us away from whatever is wrong. God’s way is a way of holiness, a white, clean way. It is the road to heaven.
When we pray for guidance we must surrender our will to God. If we ask Him to guide us, we must let Him do it; we must yield our own preference and accept His. For example, we think we should always be active in some kind of service for our Master. Then one day we are called into a sick room and have to stay there for a month. We think the time is lost, because in it we have done no work, helped no one, relieved no distress, spoken no word of cheer or comfort. What is the compensation for this loss of time in doing good, this missing of opportunities for serving others? We cannot tell, but we know at least that God’s will does not call us always to activity; sometimes they serve best “who only stand and wait.” We are in this world not only to do a great deal of good, but also to grow into the likeness of Christ. If then in any certain weeks we are not permitted to do any kindnesses, but if, meanwhile, we have been growing a little more patient, gentle, thoughtful, humble, if the peace of our hearts has become a little deeper, quieter, sweeter, the time has not been lost.
Always when we pray to be guided we must take God’s way wherever it may lead us; we must let God decide whether we shall work or rest. One writes: “No time of seeming inactivity is laid upon you by God without a just reason. It is God calling upon you to do His business by ripening in quiet all your powers for some high sphere of activity which is about to be opened to you.” We are doing God’s work not only when we are pressing forward in eager haste to accomplish some achievement for Him, but quite as much when we are keeping still and allowing God to work in us, enriching and beautifying our lives.
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