The Value of the Reserve
Longfellow.
Life is full of crises. They lie hidden along the way, and we come upon them suddenly and unexpectedly. We have no time then to make adequate and fitting preparation for meeting them; and if we have no reserve from which to draw for these emergencies, which require so much more than ordinary resources, we shall fail in them.
This principle has illustration in all departments of life. A man who carries no reserve of physical vitality is likely to succumb to a slight illness, while one with stores of health
in his constitution passes safely through a much severer sickness. The annals of war afford many examples of the same law. A commander who has all his forces in action, and has no reserve to bring upon the field to turn the scale when a crisis comes and the battle trembles in the balance, loses the day. On the other hand, the commander who has a reserve force to call up at the critical moment, when decision is wavering, wins the field.
In moral and spiritual life it is the same. It is the reserve power that counts for most in all final tests. It is the man who is ready for emergencies that succeeds. It is not enough to be barely prepared for ordinary events. The ship that is built only for calm days and quiet seas glides on safely enough while the sky is blue and the waters are smooth; but what will it do in the storms and tempests which are sure to come.^ The life that is prepared only for easy experiences, for happy days, for friendly influences and favoring circumstances, gets on well enough while its way runs along amid gardens and fountains, where all is beauty and ease; but what will it do when the path bends suddenly into a dark chasm of sorrow, or into the midst of fierce enmities and antagonisms? If it has no reserve strength in readiness for such a time of stress and need, it can only sink down in defeat. A ship to be prepared for safe passage over tempest-swept seas must have built into its keel power to resist the angriest storm that may strike it. It is not sufficient that it be strong enough merely to glide along in smooth waters. A life to be assuredly victorious in every possible emergency must be ready not only for the quiet days of happiness and joy, but must be prepared with stores of reserve strength for any possible trial or conflict that may arise in the future.
No career is a dead level from cradle to grave. The days are not all bright, the course is not all smooth, the experiences are not all pleasant and agreeable. We all come to steep pinches, where ordinary strength is not adequate. We pass into gloomy places, in which we shall be left in darkness if we have no night-lamps by us. We must all be assailed
I/O THE HIDDEN LIFE.
by temptations and by spiritual foes, when victory can be gained only if we have reserves of strength for resistance to call into action. We must stand before tasks which will altogether baffle our ability, if we have been working up to our best in the common duties of the common days, and have capacity in us for nothing better.” If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?
It is not enough, however, to forecast trials and emergencies; we must consider how we may provide against them, how we may meet them without being overmastered by them. The shipbuilder calculates the force of wind and wave, and puts into his vessel, which he builds in the quiet sunshine, strength enough to withstand the wildest fury of the ocean. He does this by storing iron, steel, and wood in the keel until it is staunch and strong, and ready to outride any gale.
THE VALUE OF THE RESERVE, I /I
It is easy enough to do this in the building of a ship. But how can we store in our character the reserve that shall enable us to meet the stern emergencies of life, and be victorious in them? Our Lord’s parable of the lamps and the oil helps us to an answer. The foolish virgins were left in darkness at the moment of need because they had but their little lampful of oil — enough to burn only an hour, with no vessel of oil in reserve from which to refill the little cup. We must have something besides human nature, even at its best, if we would be ready for all that lies before us. We must get our little lives attached to God’s great life in such a way that we can draw from his fulness in every time of need. Our own lamps will burn only for an hour, and if we have but our own heartful of life we shall be left in darkness at the midnight hour. But if we have the divine Spirit to renew our exhausted strength at the moment of need, the light will never go out, even in the darkest and longest of earth’s nights.
There are special ways, also, in which we can build into our character the reserve needed for life’s crises. One way is, by the constant reading and pondering of God’s word. One who knows the Scriptures, who has the sacred words hidden in his heart, is ready for trial and temptation. It may not seem worth while to store away in heart and memory the words of God for trouble and danger, when there is neither trouble nor danger impending; but there is no other way of providing for these experiences.
A train was sweeping along in the bright sunshine, when an attendant passed through the cars and lighted the lamps. The passengers wondered why this should be done at midday; but while they were talking about it, asking what it meant, the train plunged into a long, dark tunnel. Then all understood why the lamps had been lighted back there in the sunshine. This providing of light in advance prepared for the gloom in the tunnel’s deep night. This illustrates what God’s words stored in the heart do for us when our path suddenly bends into the darkness of sorrow. He who in the sunny days has not made the divine promises his own, when trouble comes has no comforts to sustain him. But he who has pondered the holy word, and laid up in memory its precious truths and assurances, when called to pass through affliction has light in his dwelling.
It is the same in temptation. Our Lord, when he was tempted, repelled Satan’s assaults with sword-words of Scripture. **It is written,’* was his answer in each temptation. But he did not there and then have to take out his Bible, and look up the texts he wanted, and read them to the tempter. He had them in his memory; he had hidden the holy words in his heart in the quiet days at Nazareth, and now had only to recall them at his hour of need.
We must all meet temptation; and usually it comes suddenly, so that if we cannot instantly repel it, we shall be foiled. There is nothing like texts of Scripture to drive away the tempter; and if we have our quiver full of these piercing darts, ready to draw out on a moment’s notice to hurl at our enemy, we need never fail. To have such reserve ready for the crises of sorrow and temptation, we need to begin in our earliest days to store away in heart and memory the words of God.
Another way of preparing reserve for life’s emergencies is by prayer. Those who daily commune with God, breathe his life into their soul, become strong with that secret, hidden strength which preserves them from falling in the days of trial. Prayer gathers God’s own strength into the soul, and builds divinity itself into the character.
Then, holy habits of living also store away reserves of strength which make one secure from the pressure of life’s trials. One whose daily life is careless, is always weak; but one who habitually serves God and walks in the paths of uprightness and obedience, grows strong in the fountains of his being. Exercise develops all the powers of life. Self-discipline knits thews like iron cords. Doing good continually adds to one’s capacity for doing good. Victory in temptation puts new fibre into the victor’s arm. Thus he who forms habits of well-doing is continually piling away in his soul reserves of strength by which he will be ready to meet the sudden shocks of danger or trial, or the unexpected demands of duty.
From all this we learn the importance of beginning in childhood and youth to prepare for the life that is to be victorious and noble. Wasted early years leave life depleted of its power for resisting evil, and for accomplishing anything worthy in the days of its prime. Early years, lived near to God, fed upon God’s word, nourished by prayer, and passed in holy living, make a life ready for any emergency, and for victory in any conflict. Every to-day’s worthy living prepares us for a nobler to-morrow,
“Never a day is given
But it tones the after years,
And it carries up to heaven
Its sunshine or its tears; While the to-morrows stand and wait — The silent mutes by the outer gate.”