| Things to Live For |
Chapter 15 |
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When duty calls we have nothing whatever to do with hindrances and difficulties. It is ours only to obey, even though obedience seems impossible. “I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me.” God waits to come to us with divine help. He will not come while we sit still in weakness and fear; but the moment we begin to try to obey his voice, his power begins to flow into our heart. Then, as we go on, he works in us and with us. He prepares the way for us. The obstacle gives way to the pressure of our feet. The gate opens when we put the key of faith into the lock. The river sinks away as we tread the edge of its waters. The mountains are leveled as we move on. We pass to the radiant heights that beckon us, and possess our land flowing with milk and honey, in whose hills are rich treasures.
The secret of the failure, or the poor, meagre attainment, of so many lives lies in the want of bold faith. Men stand on the edge of great possibilities, glorious lands of promise, and wait for God to open the door for them. They wonder why they are shut out of the wide fields into which they see others entering so triumphantly. They even say that the ways of God are not equal, that life is harder for them than it is for others. They pray that they may get on, and then they wait.
But little comes of their life. They achieve only small results, win only few victories, grow into only feeble strength, accomplish only meagre things for God and their fellows, dying at last with little to show that they have lived. Yet all the while God was waiting for them to go on. There was not a river before them all the years that would not have dwindled into a tiny brooklet if they had gone forward in the venture of heroic faith. There was not an obstacle in all their course which seemed to make progress impossible for them that would not have yielded, if they had gone on quietly and firmly as if there were no obstacle.
We do not know how often we are missing the richest blessings of the divine love because of our over waiting for God. These blessings are within our reach – God is waiting and longing to give them to us; but, misunderstanding our duty, thinking that the way is not yet open for us, we continue waiting, when we ought to press forward in bold confidence to take what is ours.
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