The Christian who is seeking better things and who has to his consternation found himself in a state of complete self-despair need not be discouraged.
Despair with self, where it is accompanied by faith, is a good friend, for it destroys one of the heart’s most potent enemies and prepares the soul for the ministration of the Comforter.
A sense of utter emptiness, of disappointment and darkness can (if we are alert and wise to what is going on) be the shadow in the valley of shadows that leads on to those fruitful fields that lie further in.
If we misunderstand it and resist this visitation of God we may miss entirely every benefit a kind heavenly Father has in mind for us.
If we cooperate with God He will take away the natural comforts that have served us as mother and nurse for so long and put us where we can receive no help except from the Comforter Himself.
He will tear away that false thing the Chinese call “face” and show us how painfully small we really are. When He is finished with us we will know what our Lord meant when He said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.”
Prayer
Tear away every false thing in our lives, Holy Spirit, and show us how painfully small we really are!
Scripture
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, / I will fear no evil, / for you are with me.
—Psalm 23:4
Despair with self, where it is accompanied by faith, is a good friend, for it destroys one of the heart’s most potent enemies and prepares the soul for the ministration of the Comforter.
A sense of utter emptiness, of disappointment and darkness can (if we are alert and wise to what is going on) be the shadow in the valley of shadows that leads on to those fruitful fields that lie further in.
If we misunderstand it and resist this visitation of God we may miss entirely every benefit a kind heavenly Father has in mind for us.
If we cooperate with God He will take away the natural comforts that have served us as mother and nurse for so long and put us where we can receive no help except from the Comforter Himself.
He will tear away that false thing the Chinese call “face” and show us how painfully small we really are. When He is finished with us we will know what our Lord meant when He said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.”
Prayer
Tear away every false thing in our lives, Holy Spirit, and show us how painfully small we really are!
Scripture
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, / I will fear no evil, / for you are with me.
—Psalm 23:4
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