_A condition of complete dependence may be quite consistent with a great
vocation--the call, that is, to a great work_.
I suppose that there is nothing known to man so absolutely dependent upon
the help of others as a little child! Life itself begins in total
dependence upon another life, and is only preserved in still greater
dependence on powers outside itself--for air, for light, for heat, for
food, for clothes, for comfort--indeed, for every needed thing. This is
especially the case with the child. The young lions and sheep, the tiny
flies and the small fishes--these are all able to do something for their
own support; but the new-born babe presents a picture of complete
dependence. And this Babe was no exception. What a service of imperishable
worth to all the world was rendered by His mother in her loving care of
Him!
And yet we know something of the stupendous task to which He came! That
little Child was to become the greatest Example, the greatest Teacher, the
greatest, the only Saviour, the greatest Healer of the sorrows of men, the
greatest Benefactor, the greatest Ruler and King. Upon Him and upon His
word, who lies there in His Virgin mother's arms, dependent on her breast
for life and warmth, unnumbered multitudes were to rest their all for this
life and the next--tens of thousands, in the face of inexpressible
agonies, were to trust to Him their every hope, and for His sake were to
die a thousand deaths.
Let not, then, your heart be troubled because you also are so dependent on
others--so hedged in by your circumstances, so limited by sickness and
pain, so incompetent through inexperience and ignorance, or that you are
so compelled to stand and wait when you would fain rush on and do or dare
for your Lord. All this may be even so, and yet you may be called to share
in the same high vocation as your Saviour.
I read lately of an old saint chained for weary years to a dungeon-wall,
unable even to feed himself, whose testimony for Jesus was powerful to the
deliverance of many of his persecutors. He was killed at last, lest, one
by one, he should convert the jailers also who were employed to supply him
with food.
Are you "bound" in some way? Are you chained fast to some strange trial?
Are you appointed to serve in what seems like a den of beasts? Are you
under the compulsion of some injustice? Are you made to feel helpless and
useless without the support of those around you? Ah, well, do not repine.
Do not forget that God's call comes often--Oh, so often--to just such as
you--to witness for Him in spite of "these bonds," to declare the truth,
to dare to reprove sin. Above all, _do not doubt your God. You may be
very dependent to-day, but you may be more than victorious to-morrow_.