The Relation of Temporal to Spiritual Blessings
“Thou gavest also Thy good Spirit to instruct them, and withheldest not Thy manna from their mouth, and gavest them water for their thirst.” — NEH. ix. 20.
HIS strikes me as a rather peculiar order
in which to arrange the mercies of God. When we recount the Divine benefits we usually begin with the external and end with the spiritual — on the principle that the best should be kept to the last. We thank God for the beauty of the earth, for the glory of sea and sky, for the blessings of daily sustenance and the supply of hourly need; and then we praise Him for the richer gifts of mind — for reason, imagination, faith, hope, love. But here there is a reversal of the order; Nehemiah begins by praising God for the gift of the Spirit, and ends by acknowledging His provision for human hunger and thirst. Why is this? We should expect Israel to be an external nation — fond of temporal riches, eager for earthly joy; why reverse her natural character by putting the spirit before the flesh! I answer, She has not reversed it; it is for the sake of temporal joy that she has put the spirit before the flesh. In her experience she has made a discovery. She has found that no outward thing will delight the soul unless the soul is disposed to be delighted — that it is vain to say, “Let there be light,” “Let there be a firmament,” “Let there be herb and plant and tree,” unless the Spirit has begun to move on the face of the waters. We greatly mistake the source of that value which the Bible puts on the soul. We think it lies in the disparagement of earthly objects. It consists in the reverse — the appreciation of earthly objects. It is because the Bible wants man to enjoy earth more that it bids him begin by cultivating the spirit. Is it not a fact of experience that nearly all the pleasures we attribute to the flesh are pleasures of the spirit. Will the trees of Eden charm the troubled heart; will the fruits of Eden tempt the fretted soul! Is digestion helped by downcastness; is the bird’s carol heard by care! Society palls upon the sad. Music jars upon the miserable. Walking fatigues the mentally weary. Beauty repels the inwardly burdened. The grapes of Eschol are only luscious to the glad. Of the things of earth as much as the things of heaven might Paul have said, “God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit.”
Lord, there are words of Thine on which I have often pondered and pondered wrongly — “What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul!” I have understood Thee to say, “What shall it profit thee to enjoy earth and lose heaven!” Nay, my Father, not such is Thy meaning. Rather Thy words are these: “What joy on earth canst thou have if thou hast lost thy soul — yea, even shouldst thou gain the whole world! If earth were poured into thy bosom, it would be meaningless without thy soul. What would the fields be without thy refined feeling, the woods without thine inward wealth, the grass without thy spirit’s greeting!” That is Thy message, O Lord, and it is a message for earth. I often say, “Send me Thy Spirit to prepare me for the world above!” But I need it likewise to prepare me for the world in which I dwell. Therefore in future I shall also say, “Prepare me for this present scene, O Lord!” Send me Thy Spirit to make me ripe for the world of daily life! Fill me with grace that I may enjoy the passing hour! Gladden me within that I ‘may revel in the sunshine! Light my heart that the flowers may be luminous! Increase my faith so that trifles may not fright me; burnish my hope so that tempests may not blight me; intensify my love so that clouds may not benight me! Put eternity in my heart so that I step bravely through the courts of time! I shall be ripe for earth when I am ready for heaven.