The secret of the Lord is with those
who fear Him . . . —Psalm 25:14
What
is the sign of a friend? Is it that he tells you his secret sorrows? No, it is
that he tells you his secret joys. Many people will confide their secret sorrows
to you, but the final mark of intimacy is when they share their secret joys
with you. Have we ever let God tell us any of His joys? Or are we continually
telling God our secrets, leaving Him no time to talk to us? At the beginning of
our Christian life we are full of requests to God. But then we find that God
wants to get us into an intimate relationship with Himself— to get us in touch
with His purposes. Are we so intimately united to Jesus Christ’s idea of
prayer— “Your will be done” (Matthew 6:10)
— that we catch the secrets of God? What makes God so
dear to us is not so much His big blessings to us, but the tiny things, because
they show His amazing intimacy with us— He knows every detail of each of our
individual lives.
“Him
shall He teach in the way He chooses” (Psalm 25:12).
At first, we want the awareness of being guided by God. But then as we grow
spiritually, we live so fully aware of God that we do not even need to ask what
His will is, because the thought of choosing another way will never occur to
us. If we are saved and sanctified, God guides us by our everyday choices. And
if we are about to choose what He does not want, He will give us a sense of
doubt or restraint, which we must heed. Whenever there is doubt, stop at once.
Never try to reason it out, saying, “I wonder why I shouldn’t do this?” God
instructs us in what we choose; that is, He actually guides our common sense.
And when we yield to His teachings and guidance, we no longer hinder His Spirit
by continually asking, “Now, Lord, what is Your will?”
(Taken from Oswald Chambers – “My Utmost
for His Highest” June 3)