THE all-important consideration for the unpardoned sinner, is his state before God. When God began to deal with sinful man, He laid bare man’s state before Him by this solemn question—
WHERE ART THOU?
Called forth from his hiding-place by the irresistible voice of Jehovah, man had to reply to his Maker—he had to tell God the truth as to his fallen state, and to confess to his disobedience.
Let this question, Where art thou? be answered, dear reader, by you to God Himself, even before this year passes away. It is one of eternal importance to you. Hide milt from God under any covert. Many, alas! die hiding from God. The time will come when you must appear before God, for the judgment day approaches; but now is the day of salvation—now God waits to be gracious—now there is mercy for you. Then tell God all that you are—all that you have done—own everything to Him. He will pardon; He will save; He will forgive and bless you.
Where art thou? Ah! poor unsaved sinner, are you blind to the reality that you are in a state of sin, afar from God, and that if you die as you are, you must remain eternally afar from God, and in your state of sin? Where art thou?
The great consideration for the one who has gone by faith to the Lord Jesus, is to get so near the Lord that He tells Him everything. Even as it was with her who “fell down before Him, and
TOLD HIM ALL THE TRUTH.”
This poor, troubled heart had tried all kinds of remedies for her sorrow. She had “suffered many things of many physicians,” but none had healed her. She had spent her all upon herself in vain. At length she heard of Jesus—of the Almighty Healer of disease and sin—of the all-gracious Lover of helpless sinners. And she went to Jesus. She went in her weakness, and with her fears. She dared not fall before His face and plead, “Lord, save me!” but she crept up to Him “behind and touched his garment,” and then, such was His grace, that in a moment she was made whole.
There are some of our readers just like this poor, trembling creature. They have been to Jesus—they are His, but they have not yet confessed Him, nor what He has done for them. Fall down “before” Him, you who have crept up to Him “behind;” tell Him all the truth—all about your sins, your unbelief, your fears; and all about His blood, His grace, His love—and you shall hear His tender voice saying to you before this old year closes, “Go in peace.”
The supreme consideration for the believer who would glorify God is to be in the presence of his God. The believer who years ago heard the solemn voice, “Where art thou?” and came into the presence of God as a lost sinner, and who afterward, as a sinner saved by grace, heard the Saviour’s words, “Go in peace,” too often, alas fails to live continually in the presence of God.
The way of happiness for the believer is to abide in His presence. This is no new thing. Saints of bygone days, and of these times, witness alike to this truth.
SEARCH ME, O GOD!
are the words of a freed heart, which says, “How precious also are Thy thoughts unto me, O God!” (Psa. (Psa. 139:1717How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! (Psalm 139:17)). The happy child wishes for no secrets in his parent’s presence. He rejoices in his parent’s acquaintance with his ways. So, too, but infinitely deeper, is it with the child of God. He seeks to be not only for God, but with God, day by day.
Hide nothing from God; tell Him all; go not before Him with a secret in your breast. He knows all things. How many a believer has lost the freshness of his early zeal for Christ by having a thing hidden in his soul which he has not had fully out with his God! Thus the bloom has been rubbed from the fruit, the bright gold has been tarnished, and the beauty of a holy and loving Christian life has faded away.
“Search me, O God,” let us each say, “and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
The great consideration for the servant who would please his Master is absolute openness. We should be like the apostles who “gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and
TOLD HIM ALL THINGS,
both what they had done, and what they had taught.” (Mark 6:3030And the apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and told him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught. (Mark 6:30)). It was a great moment in their lives when they thus opened their hearts, and poured all their contents into the heart of their Lord and Master. Every act of service told to Jesus. Every doctrine taught told to Jesus.
Is it in visiting the sick, is it in teaching the little child, is it in the noble work of the gospel uttered in public? Oh! what a lesson for the servant is this, they told Him all things! The manner of their service, the means adopted, the success attending their labor, the disappointments and heartbreaking. They told Him how some had received them, and receiving them, had received Jesus, how some had rejected them, and thus had rejected Jesus. They told Him all things, their failures and their efforts, their cowardice and their courage. Sweet confidence in the Master’s love. And perhaps more difficult, they told Him, too, what they had taught. It is too often with us a matter of what we think right, rather than the doctrine which the Master approves, which occupies us. Let us so seek His confidence that we can go to Him and tell Him what kind of things we teach about Him and His Father, as well as what things we do in His Name.
And what was the Lord’s reply to this their opening of heart to Him? An invitation to come alone with Him to a place where they might rest. And this is the servants’ reward in time, who tell their Master all, and this shall be their reward in eternity, even rest with Jesus.
May the joy of rest with Christ be yours, dear reader! If still unpardoned, tell God exactly what you are. If pardoned, but lacking the joy of salvation, tell Jesus all the truth. If pardoned, but without the freshness of heart which flows from communion with your God, tell Him to search your heart—get into His presence. If a servant of the Master—and who that loves Him does not serve?—go to Jesus; tell Him all things.
And now farewell for this year, through the sorrows and difficulties of which Is e have been brought in the mercy of God.
H. F. W.