“OH, yes, I’ve come to Him,” said a woman, in response to the question, “Have you come to Jesus?”
The answer was given in such a way that we doubted the speaker’s sincerity. “Have you then obtained rest and assurance?”
“No, sir, I can’t say I have.”
“Then you make Jesus Christ untrue; for He says, ‘Come unto Me,’ and ‘I will give you rest.’ You say you have come, but that He has not given you the rest He promised.” We left her and passed across the fields to a few cottages standing in the open country. A brook flowed before us, and as we neared it, we met a woman of another stamp, who was carrying two buckets by means of a yoke. We reached the dipping place at the same moment, where, setting down her pails, she prepared to dip up the water for which she had come.
“Suppose,” said I, “as you returned to your house I met you, and said, ‘Have you been to the brook’ And you replied, ‘Yes, I have;’ and then I asked, ‘Have you got the water you went for?’ and you answered, ‘No, sir, I cannot say I have; we may not be certain of having it.’ Wouldn’t that seem a queer way of talking?” “It would indeed, sir.”
“Yes, so I think; but do you know, I went into a cottage just now, and the woman told me she had come to Jesus, but when I asked her if she had got rest by coming, she said she had not.”
“But I haves” said my brook-side friend with an emphasis which betokened the reality of her confession.
She saw the parallel at once, and, having come to the Fountain of Life, she could sing—
“I heard the voice of Jesus say, ‘Behold, I freely give The Living Water; thirsty one, stoop down, and drink, and live.”
And of course she could add―
“I came to Jesus, and I drank of that life-giving stream; My thirst was quenched, my soul revived, and now I live in Him.”
It would be poor work going to a stream and not to know that we were better for going, and it is a poor coming to Christ if we are not conscious of any blessing. His word is: “If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink” (John 7:3737In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. (John 7:37)); and coming, we realize the promise, “I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the Water of Life freely.” (Rev. 21:66And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. (Revelation 21:6).)
Shall we insult Him by saying we have come, but do not know of any benefit received?
“How long have you known the Saviour?” I continued.
“Only about twelve months, and I feel now that I am nothing.”
“You needed nothing when coming to Christ, just as you need not to bring water in your pails to this brook: you have nothing, not a drop, yet you possess all the fullness of the stream. Nothing in self, everything in Him.”
Her words called to mind the beautiful lines:
“Close, close to His feet on the pathway,
All empty and frail and small,
Was an earthen vessel lying,
That seemed of no use at all;
“But the Master saw and raised it
From the dust in which it lay,
And smiled as He gently whispered,
‘My work it shall do to-day.
“It is but an earthen vessel,
But close it is lying to Me;
It is small, but clean and empty,
That is all it merle to be.’
“So forth to the fountain He bore it,
And filled it full to the brim.
How glad was the earthen vessel
To be of some use to Him!
“He poured forth the living water,
All over His lilies so fair,
Till empty was the vessel,
And again He filled it there.”
Oh for this good woman’s experience — “I feel I am nothing and have nothing!” W.L.