_PREPARING HIS SERVANTS_
JOHN i. 35-51.
Our Lord does not stumble upon His disciples by accident. His discoveries
are not surprises. He knows where His nuggets lie. Before He calls to
service He has been secretly preparing the servant. "I girded thee, though
thou hast not known Me."
He knew all about Simon. "_Thou art Simon_"--just a _listener_, not yet a
strong, bold doer: a man of many opinions not yet consolidated into the
truth of experimental convictions. "_Thou shalt be called Peter._" Simon
become Peter! Loose gravel become hard rock! Hear-says become the
"verilies" of unshakable experience! The Lord proclaims our glorious
possibilities.
And He knew all about Nathanael. "_When thou wast under the fig-tree I saw
thee._" "In that secret meditation of thine, when thy wishes and desires
were being born, 'I saw thee!'" "When others saw nothing, I had fellowship
with thee in the secret place."
And He knows all about thee and me. "I know My sheep." We do not take Him
by surprise. He does not come in late, and find the performance half over!
He is in at our beginnings, when grave issues are being born. "I am
Alpha."