“It is high time to awake out of sleep” (Rom. xiii. 11).
One of the greatest enemies to faith is indolence. It is much easier to
lie and suffer than to rise and overcome; much easier to go to sleep on a
snowbank and never wake again, than to rouse one’s self and shake off the
lethargy and overcome the stupor. Faith is an energetic art; prayer is
intense labor; the effectual working prayer of the righteous man availeth
much.
Satan tries to put us to sleep, as he did the disciples in the garden; but
let us not sleep as do others, but let us wake and be sober, continuing in
prayer and watching therein with all perseverance, stirring up ourselves
to take hold of His strength, “not slothful, but followers of them, who,
through patience, inherit the promise.” It is the wind that carries the
ship across the waves; but the wind is powerless unless the hand of the
boatman is held firmly upon the rudder, and that rudder is set hard
against the wind. In like manner we hold the rudder, God fills the sails.
It is not the rudder that carries the ship; but it is the rudder which
catches the wind that carries the ship, so God keeps us in perfect peace
while we are stayed upon Him.