How can we be ever on the watch for the evil which is so near us? We
cannot; but one is with us, is in us, who can and will, if we will let
him.
Men found this out in the old time, and have felt it and known it
ever since. Three thousand years ago this truth dawned upon the old
Psalmist, and struck him with awe. He struggled with it; he tried to
escape from it, but in vain. “Whither shall I go,” he says “from thy
Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into
heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold thou art
there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost
parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right
hand shall hold me.”
Is any of us stronger or wiser than the Psalmist? Is there any place
for us to flee to, which was not open to him? My brethren, had we
not better make up our minds to accept and acknowledge the truth, to
which our own consciences bear witness, that not only in heaven, and
in hell, and in the uttermost parts of sea and earth, He is present,
but that in the inmost recesses of our own hearts there is no escape
from his Spirit—that He is there also, sustaining us, pleading with us,
punishing us.
We know it by the regret we feel for time wasted and opportunities
neglected; by the loathing coming back to us, time after time, for our
every untrue, or mean thought, word, or deed; by every longing after
truth, and righteousness, and purity, which stirs our sluggish souls.
By all these things, and in a thousand other ways, we feel it, we know
it.
Let us, then, own this and give ourselves up to his guidance. At first
it will be hard work; our will and spirits will be like a lump of ice
in a man’s hand, which yields but slowly to the warm pressure. But do
not despair; throw yourselves on his guidance, and he will guide you,
he will hide you under his wings, you shall be safe under his feathers,
his faithfulness and truth shall be your shield and buckler.
The ice will melt into water, and the water will lie there in the
hollow of the hand, moving at the slightest motion, obeying every
impulse which is given to it.
My brethren, the Spirit of God which is in every one of us—the spirit
of truth and love unchangeable—will take possession of our spirits,
if we will but let him, and turn our whole lives into the lives of
children of God, and joint-heirs of heaven with his Son.