The Stages of Spiritual Rest
“And Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked and behold the face of the ground was dry. And in the second month, on the seven a fid twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried. And God spake unto Noah, saying, Go forth of the ark, thou and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons’ wives with thee.” — Gen. viii. j 3-1 6.
Theke are three kinds of spiritual rest in this world — the rest of outlook, the rest of experience, and the rest of action. They are progressive in their order. First of all there comes to me a time when the covering of my ark is removed, and I am permitted to look out upon the waters. The flood has not ceased, but the face of the ground is dry. It is as yet only a rest of outlook, a prophetic rest, a promise of rest to come, yet even as such it is beautiful. Faith sees in advance of experience, and tells that Ararat is at hand. Then there comes to me a second rest — the rest of experience itself; the earth itself is dried, and my ark reposes in the very midst of the world. It is a wondrous advance on the rest of outlook; I was then tossing even amid the vision of hope, I am now calm in experience of dry land. Yet one stage is wanted to make me perfect; I am still within my ark, and therefore still separate from the world. I must be able to rest outside of my ark, I must be able to be calm in the midst of that very world which once constituted my flood; my triumph is complete when God says to my soul, “Go forth of the ark.”
0 Thou who art the true Ararat, the true rest of my spirit, perfect Thy rest in me. Give me the outlook of faith whereby I shall anticipate the coming glory, and see the dayspriog ere yet it is dawn. Give me the calm of experience whereby I shall repose within my ark, even though the voices of the world are around me, the power to keep amid change Thy peace that passeth understanding. Give me yet one more boon, and that the highest of all — the power to go forth from the ark itself and to rest in the very work of the world. My rest is not complete until it is rest in action, my peace is not perfect until it is Thy peace — the peace that could endure under the shadow of a cross. Give me Thy Divine power to sleep amid the storm, to be calm amid the turmoil, to be restful where the world finds unrest. Then shall I be able to dispense with my ark of seclusion. I shall go out to meet the flood, and its waters shall not overwhelm me. I shall have liberty to mingle in the scenes that once would have been my destruction. I shall have strength to meet the pleasures that once would have drowned my soul. My life of faith shall be my life of perfect freedom in that hour when Thou shalt say to my spirit, “Go forth of the ark.”