"The weak hands,"--"the feeble knees,"--"them that are of a fearful
heart." Timidity has paralysed them. After a desolating war the
nation might thus lose heart. A timid woman who sees insuperable
difficulty always in the way. A man in a storm at sea lies lamenting
that he ventured on the waters. Some characters shrink from every
touch. They are well-intentioned, but their faint hearts bar every
effort; and they pass through life purposing and projecting, but
never accomplishing anything (H. E. I. 2053, 2054).
This timid and feeble disposition may be manifested in spiritual as
well as in other things. For instance--1. _In relation to Christian
experience._ It is the privilege of believers in Christ to know their
salvation. But many fail to attain it. They do not doubt His
sufficiency, but their own interest in it. They fear their sins are
not forgiven, their spiritual experience not genuine. Sometimes this
is the result of a tendency to view every subject in its darker
aspects. Sometimes it is the result of disease. Sometimes of
unwatchfulness, negligence, and sin. Sometimes of defective
conceptions of the Gospel. Sometimes of a microscopic self-scrutiny
which exposes failings and defects with severe faithfulness. The
victim of such fears is like one who wishes to reach the city but is
never sure that he is in the right way. 2. _In relation to Christian
enterprise._ Christians are not converted merely for their own
safety. There is a work to do. Sinful habits, dispositions, tempers
to be overcome. The dark mass of humanity to be brightened. The
Gospel is to be carried to the destitute. This work requires the
gifts and opportunities in the hands of Christians. But the weak and
faint-hearted tremble at every undertaking. To them the missionary
enterprise is a hopeless expenditure of money and life. The time for
useful labour in the Church never arrives. If it is commenced, it is
abandoned when difficulties present themselves. These weak brethren
do nothing themselves and repress the plans and efforts of bolder and
more enterprising Christians (H. E. I. 2057, 2058). Among your fears
let there be the fear lest by your fears you should hinder the cause
of Christ!