“When He was alone the
twelve … asked of Him …”
His Solitude with Us. When God gets us alone by affliction, heartbreak, or temptation, by disappointment, sickness, or by thwarted affection, by a broken friendship, or by a new friendship - when He gets us absolutely alone, and we are dumbfounded, and cannot ask one question, then He begins to expound. Watch Jesus Christ's training of the twelve. It was the disciples, not the crowd outside, who were perplexed. They constantly asked Him questions, and He constantly expounded things to them; but they only understood after they had received the Holy Spirit (see John 14:26).
If you are going on with God, the only thing that is clear to you, and the only thing God intends to be clear, is the way He deals with your own soul. Your brother's sorrows and perplexities are an absolute confusion to you. We imagine we understand where the other person is, until God gives us a dose of the plague of our own hearts. There are whole tracts of stubbornness and ignorance to be revealed by the Holy Spirit in each one of us, and it can only be done when Jesus gets us alone. Are we alone with Him now, or are we taken up with little fussy notions, fussy comradeships in God's service, fussy ideas about our bodies? Jesus can expound nothing until we get through all the noisy questions of the head and are alone with Him.
From My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers
7 comments:
I don't know about you guys but this one seems to be a bit on the pessimistic side.
We all have faults and because of original sin are corrupted beings. We have to place our lives completely in His hands in order to be embraced by His love and grow as much as we can before our time is up.
I sorta put it in the that refining of silver devotional we had several month ago. Because we are generally so pig-headed, we seem to need to be brought to the edge in order for us to truly be transformed. I don't think that is always the case, but I certainly kknow I am stuborn and that old habits and thought processes are very, very hard to break. -
' She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time.
The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.
The woman was silent for a moment.. Then she asked the silversmith, 'How do you know when the silver is fully refined?'
He smiled at her and answered, 'Oh, that's easy -- when I see my image in it.'
Blessings,
cas
I for one haven't been spending enough time with God period, not even mentioning alone time.
Lord I ask forgiveness for not putting you number 1 in my life. I ask forgiveness for my selfishness. I pray that you would give me a sense of urgency when it comes to being with you & reading your word. God I pray that you give strength to resist temptation, to focus more time on my wife and kids, to make me a better husband and father.
In Jesus Name,
Amen
Amen to that ldb!
cas
"the only thing God intends to be clear, is the way He deals with your own soul." I really like this line from today's lesson. The seemingly judgemental nature of some churches kept me from even desiring to know Jesus one on one for a very long time. The notion of having a truly one on one relationship with God through his son and spirit was truly something I had nevered considered. I know I do not take advantage of it now, but now at least I know it is simply there for the taking.
being alone with God - there is something profound in that statement - whether it be times of trouble or blessings - just being able to sit there and refelct and talk and listen to God is an amazing thing - i dont do this enough - but my vision of it is something so special and pure. maybe that is the word that hits me most - purity - maybe also the words "real" and "communion" and "harmony".
Nice to see everyone's comments. I often wonder if I'm being effective for God. God uses me more when I'm plugged into Him more during the quiet/alone times.
I echo your prayer LB
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