Going Forward

r OD never brings His people into positions from which retreat is necessary, or advance impossible. That they bring themselves into such positions is true. But it is not by God’s leading that they come there. And yet God’s children are often Divinely led into circumstances of peculiar difficulty.

It was so with Israel when they “encamped in Etham, in the edge of the wilderness.” The waters of the Red Sea were before them. How could they hope to escape in that direction? Pharaoh and his hosts were behind them. The situation was perilous.

But since it was the Lord Himself who had brought them there, they could with confidence rely on His intervention for deliverance.

It was a time of special trial, it was therefore a time for special faith.

Their faith was to show itself first, in their restfulness. “Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand stilly and see the salvation of the Lord.” We gain nothing in times of perplexity by restless unbelief and anxious efforts. To stand still and to wait on the Lord in such circumstances is the first, but not the easiest, lesson we have to learn. “The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.”

Again, their faith was to show itself in their activity. Prayer alone was not enough.” Wherefore criest thou unto Me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go foi-ward.^^ This seemed impossible; yet this was God’s command. The rest of faith was only the preliminary condition to the activity and obedi-Ex. xiv. I3.

Ex. xiv. 14.

Ex. xiv. 15
2 Chron.
xiv. II.

ence of faith. True activity is that which springs out of, and is ever accompanied by, rest. It is only as we know what it is to be “still,” that we are ready to “go forward.” “We rest on Thee, and in Thy name we go.”

Progress lies in the path which God Himself opens for us. When no way is clear before us, when every door seems closed against us, then it is we are tempted to devise openings for ourselves. The great thing is never to lose the thread of the Lord’s leading. It is only in that path that we can “go forward.”

But progress cannot be without difficulty; for progress always means the growth and strengthening of faith. And this of necessity involves the trial of faith. Difficulties are no real hindrances to growth in grace. Every difficulty that meets us in the path of God’s will may become a means of grace a factor in our spiritual advancement.

Difficulties are of various kinds.

L

There are those that arise from the objections of carnal reason. Israel had to pass through that trial. It was among their first experiences. The command came to them from the Lord, through Moses, to slay the Passover lamb. This was to follow a direction for which no reason is assigned, no explanation given. They were to do it simply because it was commanded of God. It was not necessary that they should understand the reason in order to obey.

It was clearly not a difficult thing to do — not impossible, but perfectly easy — and it involved no peril. But the temptation, or trial, came from another side. There was the temptation to regard it as a useless, powerless, superfluous, or reasonless form. So far as human reason could see, there was no essential connection between the menns and the end — the cause and the effect

To obey that command, human reason must submit to Divine wisdom.

Then there are difficulties that arise from the objections of self-will. There can be no progress without obedience, and no obedience without the submission of the will. Taking Christ’s yoke is the secret of all liberty and joy in the path of obedience. And what does this mean but identity of will — union and fellowship with Christ in the daily walk? What the child of God is often tempted to think is, that that will is something so dark and terrible, that he dare not yield himself to it. Often if he gave expression to the language of his heart, he would say, “I am afraid of trusting myself wholly to God’s will. What will it involve? Will He not call me out to bear a heavy cross? Will He not require me to suffer? Will He not lead me into paths of hardships and self-denial from which I must shrink.^” But such thoughts betray ignorance of that infinite love which God has towards all His children, of that love which He has already manifested in the gift of His Son.

Let us accept it as a fact, let us grasp it as a truth, at the very beginning of our life of service, that nowhere shall we know the fulness of joy but in the path of God’s will, that it is only in the full abandonment of the soul to His leading that complete and abiding rest can be found.

Once more, there are difficulties that arise from the objections of unbelief. In the first class of difficulties considered, the objection finds its expression in some such words as these: “I cannot see why — why I am required to do this or that.” In the second, the objection assumes the form of disinclination — “I do not 7vant, or I do not like — to follow this or that leading.” But in the third it is, “I cannot see how — how the deliverance is to be wrought, or how the blessing is to come.”

The command is given: “Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward.” And in the command the promise of

Psa. lxxviii.
41.

Rom. iv.
20, 21,

Heb. xi. 8. safety or well-being is virtually included. For “God’s biddings are God’s enablings.”

But unbelief hesitates. It asks, “How can it be done? “Unbelief limits God. It “sets a mark,” as the word in the original signifies- — puts a limit to His power: “They limited the Holy One of Israel.”

So unbelief questions whether God is really able to do what He promises. Of Abraham it is said, that “he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief.” When a promise seems too good to be true, then we are tempted to “stagger” at it. But Abraham “was strong in faith, giving glory to God; and being fully persuaded that, what He had promised, He was able also to perform.”

This condition of trust is the root of all practical godliness. It was because of his faith that Abraham “obeyed.” When God says, “Go forward,” faith steps out on the unseen and unknown; it steps out on the Divine warrant. It is not neces-I J39

sary that faith should understand how — it leaves that with God. No barrier can possibly stand in God’s way. He who gave the command to “go forward” had marked out the route, had determined the path, and was ready, step by step, to open the way and supply all their needs.

Another point must not be omitted: Obedience to God’s command secures the assurance of God’s Presence. The pillar of cloud and of fire accompanied them. “He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.”

God was with them, and that was enough. To go forward at God’s word was to have every blessing secured to them. They need not be in doubt as to the issue. God was their defence. He stood between them and their enemies. So He would go with them through the waters. They were sure of reaching the further shore in safety. There was no fear of being; overwhelmed. That

Ex. xiii. 22.

Isa. i. 19.

God who had brought them in, would bring them through. He who stood between them and their enemies would stand between them and their circumstances. Jehovah was also the Fountain of Supply. His Presence was Salvation. He could provide bread for them in the desert. He could make the waters flow from the stony rock. They had but to hearken and to obey. Obedience to the command to “go forward” secured all these blessings. So is it with the children of God to-day. “If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land.”