Have You Ever Been Alone With God?
When they were alone, He expounded all things to His disciples. -
Mark 4:34
Our Solitude with Him. Jesus does not take us alone and expound things to us
all the time; He expounds things to us as we can understand them. Other
lives
are parables. God is making us spell out our own souls. It is slow work, so
slow that it takes God all time and eternity to make a man and woman after
His own purpose. The only way we can be of use to God is to let Him take us
through the crooks and crannies of our own characters. It is astounding how
ignorant we are about ourselves! We do not know envy when we see it, or
laziness, or pride. Jesus reveals to us all that this body has been
harbouring
before His grace began to work. How many of us have learned to look in with
courage?
We have to get rid of the idea that we understand ourselves, it is the last
conceit to go. The only One Who understands us is God. The greatest curse in
spiritual life is conceit. If we have ever had a glimpse of what we are like
in the sight of God, we shall never say - "Oh, I am so unworthy," because
we shall know we are, beyond the possibility of stating it. As long as we
are not quite sure that we are unworthy, God will keep narrowing us in until
He gets us alone. Wherever there is any element of pride or of conceit,
Jesus cannot expound a thing. He will take us through the disappointment of
a wounded
pride of intellect, through disappointment of heart. He will reveal
inordinate affection - things over which we never thought He would have to
get us alone.
We listen to many things in classes, but they are not an exposition to us
yet. They will be when God gets us alone over them.
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Victoria E Gilkerson
