The Spirit Seeking the Valleys

“© As a beast. goeth down into the valley, the Spirit of the Lord caused him to rest.” — ISA, lxiii. 14,

[Revised Version. ‘‘As the cattle that go down into the valley, the Spirit of the Lord caused them to rest.”

ei ye Spirit gives us rest by abasing our oS ‘y animal nature, “as a beast goeth down e863 into the valley.” The process by which the cattle go down into the valley is not restful; it is the descent ofa steep. Their rest is reached by unrest — by movement downward. Even so is it with thy spiritual rest. It is only in the valley of humiliation that thou canst find it. By nature thou art on the mountains. Thou art standing on the hilltop of vanity; thou seest nothing above thee; thou art a law unto thyself. And that is the secret of thine unrest. Thou art too near to thyself, too much in communion with thine own shadow. Thou hast come to view thyself as the centre of the universe; therefore thou art spiritually sick. Thou art fretted by every breeze that does not regale thee, thou art disturbed by every sunbeam that does not cheer. But hast thou forgotten that thou art but one of a vast family every one of whom must be ministered unto even as thou? Hast thou forgotten that joy comes only by self-forgetfulness, that he who loveth his life shall lose it? Thou art in need of humility, thou art in want of the valley, O my soul. God’s Spirit must lead thee down as the cattle are led down. Thou must be brought into a lowly place where thy pride shall die. Thou must be crucified together with Christ that thou mayest live; thou must be buried in the shadows of evening that there may be light. O glorious shadows that hide me from my own shadow, O gentle valley that divides me from the mountain of my pride, O wondrous evening that shelters me from the burden and heat of my selfish care, O rest of love that means the awakening of all that is noble, it is worth while to be brought down that I may repose in thee.

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