November 13
Near the Church But Far From Christ
In the Hour of Silence"Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity."—Luke 13:12.
WHY is it that spirits bound with infirmity—human hearts whom Satan compels to look downward to the earth rather than upward to the skies—are not loosened and enfranchised much more frequently in our churches on the Sabbath day?
It may be the preacher's fault. He does not believe, and therefore speak. He has not seen for himself the intolerable terrors of the Lord, and the ineffable grace of the Saviour. He is not moved with throbbing compassion for the sheep that have no shepherd. He does not burn and thrill and glow with the inward fires of the Holy Spirit. How can God put His living waters into this unprepared and uncleansed vessel? How can He wield this sword, which is without edge or point—dull, rusted, blunt, worthless?
But it may be the hearer's fault—the Christian hearer's. He is not worshipping in deepest reality and truth. He is not pleading that the Power from on high may accompany all that is said and done. He is lowering the spiritual atmosphere by his coldness, his worldliness, his formality. Many a true minister of the gospel has been chilled, in his delivery of God's message, by the wintry and depressing air which he has felt blowing about him in the holy house.
Whether I am preacher or hearer, let me see that nothing in me hinders the Lord Jesus Christ from performing His ancient miracles of majesty and mercy. Though His arm is not shortened that it cannot save, sometimes—oh searching and saddening thought!—He can do no mighty work because of my unbelief.