By:
William John Hocking, Editor
MY DEAR YOUNG FRIENDS, — It is the mark of a comely and pious spirit to own the will of the Lord in all your purposes and plans. As surely as you belong to Him, so surely ought you to obey Him. “Ye are my friends,” He says, “if ye do whatsoever I command you” (John 15:1414Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. (John 15:14)). And I am sure you are anxious to be obedient to all that the Lord has spoken. This is a simple matter where the Lord has definitely expressed His command; but in other cases you need to wait directly upon Him for His guidance. To illustrate my meaning, I may refer to the breaking of bread. “This do in remembrance of me,” is a distinct and unmistakeable expression of the Lord’s will on that particular point; and you may have it on your heart to obey His word in eating His supper next Lord’s day. Illness, however, may intervene to prevent you carrying out your intention. In that case you would not doubt that the will of the Lord would be done, even though you were unable to conform to His written command.
In view of this possibility it becomes you to say, “If the Lord will, I mean to break bread next. Lord’s day.” And James shows that exactly the same principle applies in business affairs (James 4:13-1513Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: 14Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. 15For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. (James 4:13‑15)). You make a plan of where you will go and what you will do, which may not at all correspond with what the Lord’s will is concerning you. As He looks down upon you, He knows what is the best place for you to visit, and what is the best thing for you to do. And what is more, He will guide you aright, if only, when you see your plan is wrong, you are prepared to abandon it. Now when you qualify your intentions by the phrase, “If the Lord will,” you practically express your readiness to do so.
I draw attention to this very simple point because I fear that we sometimes mean, “If I can,” when we say “If the Lord will.” This is a different spirit, and not at all a proper one. Let us examine it and see. You tell me, or anyone else, “I want to learn to play chess, if I can.” This means that if you have time and opportunity, and if you also find you have the ability to master the intricacies of the game, you will do so. If you fail, well—many others have done the same before you. Observe that in this case there is no reference whatever to the will of the Lord on such a question; you consider it entirely from your own point of view. If you can do it, you will. But supposing you had said, and meant,” If the Lord will, I want to learn to play chess,” how different the significance would be. This implies that whatever your desires may be, and even though you know you are quite competent to become, with practice, a skillful player, directly you see that such a pursuit is not consonant with your heavenly calling, and that there are many far more useful occupations to engage your time and attention, you will forsake the idea at once. Your desire to please the Lord far surpasses any desire you have to learn the game of chess.
The expression we are now considering is a beautiful one, and you would find it a profitable, exercise to study its occurrences in scripture. But I do desire for you that you should not fall into a slovenly habit of using this phrase in a canting way. By “canting” I mean using words of sacred meaning without bearing in mind their solemn significance. If the Israelite was commanded not to take the name of Jehovah his God in vain, you may be sure that the Christian ought not to be less reverent than he.
Do, my dear young friends, habitually commit all your ways to the Lord. Remember the word of promise, “In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths” (Prov. 3:66In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. (Proverbs 3:6)).
I am, Yours faithfully, “Yod.”