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"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?"
- The Oswald Chambers Publications
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