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by L B Cowman
Service of Waiting
March, 27
"After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithyma: but the Spirit suffered them not" (Acts 16:7).
What a strange prohibition! These men were going into Bithynia just to do
Christ's work, and the door is shut against them by Christ's own Spirit. I, too,
have experienced this in certain moments. I have sometimes found myself
interrupted in what seemed to me a career of usefulness. Opposition came and
forced me to go back, or sickness came and compelled me to retire into a desert
apart.
It was hard at such times to leave my work undone when I believed that work to
be the service of the Spirit. But I came to remember that the Spirit has not
only a service of work, but a service of waiting. I came to see that in the
Kingdom of Christ there are not only times for action, but times in which to
forbear acting. I came to learn that the desert place apart is often the most
useful spot in the varied life of man--more rich in harvest than the seasons in
which the corn and wine abounded. I have been taught to thank the blessed Spirit
that many a darling Bithynia had to be left unvisited by me.
And so, Thou Divine Spirit, would I still be led by Thee. Still there come to me
disappointed prospects of usefulness. Today the door seems to open into life and
work for Thee; tomorrow it closes before me just as I am about to enter.
Teach me to see another door in the very inaction of the hour. Help me to find
in the very prohibition thus to serve Thee, a new opening into Thy service.
Inspire me with the knowledge that a man may at times be called to do his duty
by doing nothing, to work by keeping still, to serve by waiting. When I remember
the power of the "still small voice," I shall not murmur that sometimes the
Spirit suffers me not to go. --George Matheson
"When I cannot understand my Father's leading,
And it seems to be but hard and cruel fate,
I Still I hear that gentle whisper ever
pleading,
God is working, God is faithful, ONLY WAIT."
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