Ah! the heart was wrong, and
therefore everything was wrong!
(Alexander Smellie, "The Secret Place" 1907)
not have much soil. It sprang up quickly,
because the soil was shallow. But when
the sun came up, the plants were scorched,
and they withered because they had no root!"
Mark 4:5-6
Much is said about these stony-ground
hearers of the Word, which is attractive and
hopeful. I anticipate a true life, a brave witness,
an abundant harvest. But suddenly comes
the check, the change, the fall. And what was
the problem?Ah! the heart was wrong, and
therefore everything was wrong!
1. The heart was unbroken.
The rock had never been penetrated
at all, and the seed died soon on its
hard and impervious surface.
I wonder whether the stubbornness and
the stolidity of my heart have been shattered.
Have I been melted . . .
into practical concern of soul,
into the sense of spiritual neediness,
into godly sorrow,
into contrite prayer?
There can be no new birth and
no vital growth, until then!
After an eruption of Mount Vesuvius,
the lava covered the fields with an
apparently invincible crust; but
the peasants bored holes in it,
and pierced to the ground below,
and planted their vines--
and in due season gathered the grapes.
Has the lava-crust of my heart been
divinely pierced and overcome?
2. And the heart was shallow and superficial.
It had no depth. Immediately beneath
the thin layer of top-soil, was that
rebellious and intractable adamant;
the seed had not a sufficient resting-
place and home.
This is the fatal fault of very many.
They do not stop to think about unseen,
eternal, heavenly things. They do not
take time to consider their own
miserable state of soul, and the grace
of JESUS CHRIST. They nod, and
glance, and bustle by.
Again I ought to examine myself.
I can be eager enough, and resolute
enough, about earthly matters. But have
I ever roused my very soul, have I ever
set my face like a flint, to seek and find
the LORD my SAVIOR, my Righteousness,
my Strength? There is no possibility
of salvation for the superficial heart!
3. And the heart was dry.
It had none of the moistening, subduing,
fructifying influences of the HOLY SPIRIT.
If the showers descend upon the rocky
soil, there is no loam to retain them
and to derive a benefit from them.
Just so, does everything depend
on the SPIRIT'S presence and work
within me!
Apart from HIS dews and gentle rains,
I am helpless, hopeless, dead, damned.
For until HIS almightiness renews me,
until HIS waters slake and vivify my
parched and thirsty being, until I receive
the outpouring of the grace of GOD--
I have no spiritual life.
Is it not a miserable heart,
this heart of stone?
spirit in you; I will remove from you your
heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh!"
Ezekiel 36:26
~ ~ ~ ~
No comments:
Post a Comment