It, most assuredly, is not our province, nor is it within the range of our capacity, to dictate to the Almighty Workman, the exact mode in which He is to do His work. He may, in some cases, carry on His new creation, so softly, so gently, so silently, that those who are standing by may be wholly unconscious of the mighty work. In other cases, He may see fit to conduct the soul through such deep exercises as to evoke the most heartrending cries and groans.
Are we competent to account for the contrast? Are we called upon to do so? Surely not. Look, for example, at the contrast between Lydia and the jailer, in Acts 16. Of the former, we read,
“Whose heart the Lord opened that she attended to the things which were spoken of Paul.” The latter, on the other hand,
“Sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas.”
Now, it would be as unwarrantable to object to the excitement connected with the jailer’s conversion, as to question the reality of Lydia’s case, because all was done so quietly. Neither the excitement nor the quietness had anything to do with the salvation of the soul. The one was struck down; the other was not; both were saved by Christ.
See, also, the striking contrast between the quiet conversion of the Ethiopian Eunuch, in Acts 8, and the overwhelming conversion of Saul of Tarsus, in Acts 9. The one was as real as the other, though the attendant circumstances were so widely different.
A person may be converted without ever moving from his seat, as in the case of the Eunuch; or he may fall to the earth, like Saul. He may be lead into instant joy and peace, in believing, or he may remain stunned and prostrate for three days; the circumstances, in no wise, affect the genuineness of the conversion. It is the Christ I reach, and not the way I reach Him, that saves my soul. To question the truth of a conversion because of certain exciting circumstances attendant thereon, would be as unwarrantable as to make such circumstances at all essential.
Regeneration is a divine work. The Agent in that work is the Holy Ghost. The instrument is the Word of God. And, as to the mode, it is as completely above and beyond us, as either the instrument or the Agent. God is sovereign. He giveth not account of any of His matters; and if we presume to set up our own judgment as a rule of what ought to be, in any given case, we shall find ourselves wholly astray.
The mysteries and marvels of God’s new creation will baffle and confound the most sagacious and deep thinking. Circumstances will be continually occurring which the poor human mind cannot account for, and concerning which we have only to say, It is the finger of God.