SUCH was an expression made use of by one the writer was privileged to visit a few days before he passed away to be “absent from the body, present with the Lord." I had heard that dear A— had been unwell, and that the doctors feared a general break u so felt led to go and see him, and sweet, indeed, was the time I spent with him, full of praise to the Lord for all He was TO him, as well as what He had done FOR him. At that time he was not sure of the Lord's purpose concerning him, whether He was about to restore him to health or call him home. The "far better" was uppermost in his mind, and with this thought before him he spoke of his son, and said, " I tell my boy perhaps he will have to have his father's grave opened for his conversion." Alluding to his unconverted relatives, he said, “I am looking to the Lord, that if I should fall asleep, a good many of them will be at the funeral, and that He will be pleased to use some word ministered at the grave for their blessing."
In the course of our happy communion together, among other things, I quoted that verse of the hymn, which I knew had been such a source of joy to a dear one who had then but recently fallen asleep:—
"As weaker than a bruised reed
I cannot do without THEE,
I want THEE here each hour of need.
Shall want THEE too in glory.”
"Ah!" he said, "how true;" but looking up quickly, added: " There is something more blessed than that—He can't do without me up THERE, He can put any one into my little post of service down here, but He can't do without me up there." How preciously true-how thoroughly humbling at the same time.
Dear friend, have you through mercy been enabled to enter into this, that on account of your union with our risen Head in glory, as the feeblest member of that body, He can't do without YOU up there. Most true is it you can't—nor would you if you could—get along here a single day, nay, one hour, without Him, as that verse of the hymn quoted above correctly puts it; nor would He let you, such is His loving care. For not only (see Luke 10) has He come where you were—had compassion bound up your wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set you on His own beast—but He takes care of you all the way along, till He lands you in that same glory where He is, and as He is—" presents you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.”
Praise Him for His shepherd care-and how we need it, and draw upon it, too. But that He can't do without you up there, have you learned THIS, and are you resting upon IT? “For we are members of his body, of his flesh, of his bones” (Eph. 5:3030For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. (Ephesians 5:30)). On the Other hand, have you, beloved worker—much used one, it may be, in the Lord's service—learned that while " He can't do without you up there," He CAN do without YOU down here? A needful lesson, indeed, and one which has to be learned at some time or another by every SERVANT, while the former is most true of every MEMBER of CHRIST, every CHILD of God, and learned, too, in His presence, either in personal experience—laid aside, it may be, in the midst of a vast "sphere of usefulness," as it is called—or through some precious servant, whom one had judged could ill be spared, being called away in the " midst of his work," as man would say. HE could do without him down here. And you and I have to learn through Him this humbling, but needed lesson— He CAN do without us down here.
The Lord make us apt scholars, dear believer—dear fellow journeyman of God.
He CAN do without me down here. He can't do without me up there! We can't do without Him either down here or up there, and He doesn't mean us to, for down here it is, “I am with you "—" The God of peace shall be with you;" up there it is" Forever with the Lord” —and then:—
How shall I meet those eyes?
Mine on Himself I cast,
And own myself the Saviour's prize;
Mercy from first to last!”
S. P. H.