WERE it possible for our forefathers to arise from their graves and appear a second time on the earth, one thing would be very apparent to them, that the present day is one of rapid motion, especially in traveling and the conveyance of information.
But although we move almost in everything much quicker than the generation now in their graves, there is no faster way to heaven than the old beaten path trod by godly ancestors.
Hurry and haste is not commonly attendant upon godliness, but rather a gracious stillness, for saith the wise man, “The race is not to the swift.”
Conversing with a friend a short time ago, a remark dropped from her lips suggesting to us three aspects of stillness: Sit still; Stand still; Be still. Each of them being a Bible command, we purpose considering them in the order already named in three separate articles.
The first injunction, and the subject of this article, is, “Sit still;” which is opposed to the haste which many in the present day practice to make themselves Christians, by putting on a profession of religion.
The prophet Jeremiah had as clear a call as is possible for anyone to have, for the word of the Lord came to him, as recorded in the first chapter, telling him that from even before his birth God had set him apart (that is, in His purpose) to be a prophet to the nations.
This same prophet declares: “It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. He sitteth alone and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him. He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope.” In substance, this position is one of a convert who has become as a little child that he might enter the kingdom of Heaven.
The prophet Isaiah pronounces a “Woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take counsel, but not of Me: and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin. That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth: to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt.” Assuming his word is not heeded, the prophet declares that the Egyptians shall not profit them, and concludes his warning: “For the Egyptians shall help in vain, and to no purpose: therefore have I cried concerning this, Their strength is to sit still.”
The prophecy continues, and what was further written the Lord instructed the prophet to write on a table and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come forever and ever, that the people to whom he prophesied were a rebellious people, lying children, that will not hear the law of the Lord; “which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits: get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.”
But the prophet shows the judgments which must follow in the path of this rebellion, and again takes up the same ground of strength in sitting still, by saying, “Thus saith the Lord, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength.”
But No, is yet the language of the people. “We will flee upon horses, we will ride upon the swift.” “Therefore shall they that pursue be swift, till ye are left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and as an ensign on a hill.”
But then follows a most gracious declaration: “And therefore will the Lord wait, that He may be gracious unto you, and therefore will He be exalted, that He may have mercy upon you: for the Lord is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.”
In Ruth the Moabitish damsel, we have a type of one who, being called out from her people, seeks rest with the children of God. She goes forth to glean in the fields of Boaz, and finds favor in his eyes, and by Naomi’s counsel she approaches him in the threshing floor, which in her case was neither unlawful nor immodest. Having met with encouragement, she was further encouraged by her mother-in-law as follows: “Sit still, my daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall: for the man will not be in rest, until he have finished the thing this day.” And she, like all real seekers and patient waiters for Jesus Christ, became the bride of Boaz who typified Him.
To sit still does not imply doing nothing. It is an anxious active grace of waiting at the Lord’s feet, attended with prayer and watchfulness, waiting for the Lord to speak by His word, in the ministry, or any other means of grace.
This posture before God will be attended with fear and trembling, especially if the time of waiting be long; but the longer a soul sits still for God, the more readily will he move towards Him when the cheering news comes: “Arise, he calleth thee.”
“Blessed is the man,
O That patient waits for Thee;
Who waits for thy salvation,
Lord, Shall Thy salvation see.”
New Cross.
S. B.