_NEVERTHELESS!_
LUKE v. 1-11.
Here is obedience in spite of the night of failure. "_Nevertheless, at Thy
word I will let down the net._" That word "nevertheless" has always made
history. It has been spoken after scourgings, after "bonds and
imprisonments." Ten thousand times has it been heard in the chamber of
bereavement, the first sound to break the awful silence. "At evening my
wife died.... In the morning I did as God commanded me." And may it be
true of me! May my "nevertheless" of willing obedience rise like a lark
above the storm.
And because there was obedience there came vision. In the wonderful answer
to his faith Peter beheld the glory of his Lord. And so I never know where
the unenticing road of obedience will lead me. At the end of the dull road
there will be some gracious surprise! It is the rugged path which leads to
the summit! The panorama comes as the reward of the toilsome climb!
Always, in the realm of the Spirit, the dogged "nevertheless" will lead to
the "shining tableland to which our God Himself is moon and sun."