But with regard to our spiritual state before God, if we find we are dry, dull, listless, stupid, and out of communion spiritually, we should seriously consider it, and not go on with a senseless, joyless, lifeless, condition. We should at once pull' up, and place our souls before God. If our bodies were in a disordered state, and we were threatened with a serious illness, would we hang about, and put off using the needed remedies? And why not call a halt when our souls are out of order, and have matters set right before any severe spiritual disease overtake us? Just as deliverance from the law is by the knowledge of God in Christ and our death with Him, so deliverance from an unprofitable and unspiritual state of soul and heart, God-ward and Christ ward, can be remedied only by the Holy Ghost giving fresh working in the soul and fresh unfoldings of Jesus in His attractiveness to the heart: and when communion gets interrupted there must be confession, and under the gracious action of the heavenly advocacy with the Father it will be restored. The chief thing is to give over trying to get it ourselves. Confess the evil state, the weakness, the lifelessness, want of spiritual spring and joy in the Lord, and lay ourselves down before Him in all our unhappiness, but in the acknowledged recognition and confession of our real condition, and leave Him to deal with us as He sees best. If all be cast on God in the confidence of faith and real dependence, Scripture warrants us in saying that He will graciously give us clearance, and fill us with the light and joy of His own presence. If led to act thus of God the change may be instantaneous. The Lord may be working to bring us to our knees, because He means to give us fresh blessing in the Spirit.
But this may go on for a time before the blessing of the Lord-which emancipates, brightens and deepens the divine work in the soul-be imparted. But when we are in despair of ourselves and have our faith more fixed on the Lord to whom we begin to turn and appeal in our felt helplessness, we may encourage ourselves in Him that even this is an installment of the blessing, for to be able to pray and long after fresh power of fellowship with God is surely of the Spirit. And even if there be delay, let us wait only upon God; the blessing will come in due time. We have a notable example of delay in the case of Daniel. " In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three full weeks. I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all till the whole three weeks were fulfilled." Then the vision of a glorious one is given him, and he " alone saw the vision.” “I was left alone," he says, "and saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me." He heard " the voice of his words," with his face towards the ground. A hand touched him and set him upon his knees and the palms of his hands. " And he said unto me, O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak unto thee, and stand upright; for unto thee am I now sent. And when he had spoken this word unto me, I stood trembling. Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel; for (now mark this) from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words:" The exercise went on for " three whole weeks," but now he is told his words were heard " from the first day." And I am come for thy words." " Words' that he felt had been unavailing! But now, when the answer comes, he has no strength left to receive it, and it is only when freshly touched and strengthened that he could say, “Let my Lord speak; for Thou Nast strengthened me." And when he speaks, what does he say—" I will show thee that which is noted in the Scripture of truth." It is for this he has had to wait and pass through such a prolonged experience and exercise of soul. I have referred to this remarkable experience of Daniel to show that our "words " may be heard " from the first day," and yet the exercise of soul that crushes us to the ground, and takes away every bit of strength from us, may go on, and the answer come only after " three whole weeks," that when it comes it may be given us, and fresh strength to receive it, and consist in " that which is noted in the Scripture of truth," read in the light of the heavenly enlightener, and realized in this fresh strength which He has imparted.
Let us not say this is Jewish experience, and such trying soul-exercise is not to be expected now that the Holy Ghost has come and abides in the saints of God: for we read of a Christian apostle that he passed through a similar exercise, and experienced similar delay. " He was caught up into Paradise and heard unspeakable words." Yet he tells us, “Lest I should be exalted above measure, through the abundance of the revelations there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me." He does not say whether, like Daniel, this extended over " three whole weeks; " but "thrice" tells of continuance of supplication, and delay as to the answer. And when it came it was not the removal of the thorn, but sufficient grace to bear it. " And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake: for when I am weak then am I strong."
Paul received a much better thing than he had asked for; for the heightening of the power of Christ to bear the thorn, and, when consciously weak, to be strong in Christ's power, were surely higher blessings than the removal of the source of his weakness. The thorn was such as led him to pray the Lord about it; the delay gave spiritual exercise of soul, and necessitated repeated prayer; and when the Lord's voice is heard it conveys such an unlooked-for assurance that Paul glories in his weaknesses that the power of Christ may rest upon him. But whether it is " Daniel the prophet," or " Paul the apostle," the lesson is the same—that we are cast entirely upon the Lord as to divine dealing, spiritual exercise, and spiritual deliverance. We ourselves must be reduced to nothing ("though I be nothing," says Paul), that we should have " the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead." This is stated in a more detailed way farther on in the same epistle: "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not from us; every way afflicted, but not straitened; seeing no apparent issue, but our way not entirely shut up; persecuted, but not abandoned; cast down, but not destroyed; always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus; that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our body; for we who live are al ways delivered unto death on account of Jesus that the life, also, of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh; so that death works in us." This tells us of “the sentence of death in ourselves,” and trust in God who raiseth the dead. This was the experience of the apostle in connection with the gospel of the glory of Christ and the ministry of the same. The “vessel " containing the light of the knowledge of the glory of God-the treasure of a glorified Christ-was broken in pieces that the light might shine out; and because He believed He spoke: "Knowing that he who raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise us up also through Jesus." His hopes were all in resurrection. " Wherefore we faint not; but if indeed our outward man is consumed, yet the inward is renewed day by day." The more weight and pressure on the outward man, the more the life of Jesus was manifested; the more the vessel was broken, the more the testimony of Christ shone out; and the more the weakness of man was felt, the more the power of God was experienced. All free spiritual living is the consequence of the sentence of death in ourselves and trust in God, for it is in proportion as we bear about in our body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus is manifested in our body. The Christian life was with Paul a very serious thing. “For me to live —Christ." The Christian life with him was Christ—he was living a life of faith and communion, and he expressed the traits of Christ in his daily life. Our life, motive, power, object, and end is Christ. In Phil. 2 and 3. we have the grace of Christ in being obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, and the energy of Christ in going through everything to gain Mtn. When we have an epistle of true Christian experience, as we have in Philippians, we have nothing at all about sin, but we have Christ before us as our Object and our Prize, and our joy is in Him. " Rejoice in the Lord alway, and again I say rejoice." —and the man who said so was at that time in prison! He showed such superiority to circumstances, in the divine energy which actuated him, that the prison was nothing to him. Christ was all; and his crying is to know Him-to win Christ! To reach the goal in glory, and have Him there as gain.