The Compulsion of the Spirit

So the Spirit lifted me up, and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the Lord was strong upon me.” — Ezek. iii. 14.

will of my spirit; I go in bitterness in obedience to the pressure of a mightier Hand. How often do I say “a sense ot duty compels me.” It is a wonderful confession that there is something in me which is higher than myself, something which uses me as an instrument, which commands me as a servant. How many places have I visited as a sacrifice just because I ought to go; and how many times have I reaped from the sacrifice an unlooked-for harvest! I went in bitterness, in the heat of the spirit, in enforced submission to the call of right, and I found in the scene of my expected torment the turning-point of my destiny; under the dust-heap was gold.

Spirit of Christ, I thank Thee that Thy love constraineth me. I thank Thee that in the great labyrinth of life Thou waitest not for my consent to lead me. I thank Thee that Thou leadest me by a way which I know not, by a way which is above the level of my poor understanding. I thank Thee that Thou art not repelled by my bitterness, that Thou art not turned aside by the heat of my spirit. There is no force in this universe so glorious as the force of Thy love; it compels me to come in. It binds me with golden fetters, it draws me with silver cords. O divine servitude, O slavery that makes me free, O love that imprisons me only to set my feet in a larger room, enclose me more and more within thy folds. Shut me in against myself — against my own bitterness, against the heat of my spirit. Protect me from the impetuous desires of my nature — desires as short-lived as they are impetuous. Ask me not where I would like to go; tell me where to go; lead me in Thine own way; hold me in Thine own light. I may goin the bitterness of my soul, I may journey in the heat of my spirit, but I shall reach the paths of pleasantness if the hand of my God be upon me.