Obedience

Let us mark, secondly, in these verses, how help meets men in the path of obedience. We are told that when the lepers cried to our Lord, He only replied, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” He did not touch them and command their disease to depart. He prescribed no medicine, no washing, no use of outward material means Yet healing power accompanied the words which He spoke. Relief met the afflicted company as soon as they obeyed His command. “It came to pass that as they went they were cleansed.” A fact like this is doubtless intended to teach us knowledge. It shows us the wisdom of simple, childlike obedience to every word which comes from the mouth of Christ. It does not become us to stand still, and reason, and doubt, when our Master’s commands are plain and unmistakeable. If the lepers had acted in this way, they would never have been healed. We must read the Scriptures diligently. We must try to pray. We must attend on the public means of grace. All these are duties Which Christ requires at our hands, and to which, if we love life, we must attend, without asking vain and captious questions. It is just in the path of unhesitating obedience that Christ will meet and bless us. “If any man will do His will he shall know of the doctrine.”

Verse 1

Dear Lord and Master mine,
Thy happy servant see;
My Conqueror, with what joy Divine
Thy captive clings to Thee!

Verse 2

I love Thy yoke to wear,
To feel Thy gracious bands;
Sweetly restrainèd by Thy care,
And happy in Thy hands.

Verse 3

No bar would I remove,
No bond would I unbind;
Within the limits of Thy love
Full liberty I find.

Verse 4

I would not walk alone,
But still with Thee, my God,
At every step my blindness own,
And ask of Thee the road.

Verse 5

The weakness I enjoy
That casts me on Thy breast;
The conflicts that Thy strength employ
Make me Divinely blest.

Verse 6

Dear Lord and Master mine,
Still keep Thy servant true;
My Guardian and my Guide Divine,
Bring, bring Thy pilgrim through.

Verse 7

My Conqueror and my King,
Still keep me in Thy train;
And with Thee Thy glad captive bring
When Thou return’st to reign.

Verse 1

Lord, it belongs not to my care
Whether I die or live;
To love and serve Thee is my share,
And this Thy grace must give.

Verse 2

If life be long, I will be glad
That I may long obey;
If short, yet why should I be sad
To end my toilsome day?

Verse 3

Christ leads me through no darker rooms
Than He went through before;
He that unto God’s kingdom comes
Must enter by this door.

Verse 4

Come, Lord, when grace hath made me meet
Thy blessed face to see;
For if Thy work on earth be sweet,
What will Thy glory be!

Verse 5

Then shall I end my sad complaints,
And weary, sinful days,
And join with the triumphant saints
To sing Jehovah’s praise.

Verse 6

My knowledge of that life is small,
The eye of faith is dim:
But it’s enough that Christ knows all,
And I shall be with Him.

Verse 1

Saviour, teach me, day by day,
Love’s sweet lesson,—to obey;
Sweeter lesson cannot be,
Loving Him who first loved me.

Verse 2

With a child’s glad heart of love,
At Thy bidding may I move;
Prompt to serve and follow Thee,
Loving Him who first loved me.

Verse 3

Teach me thus Thy steps to trace,
Strong to follow in Thy grace;
Learning how to love from Thee,
Loving Him who first loved me.

Verse 4

Love in loving finds employ,
In obedience all her joy;
Ever new that joy will be,
Loving Him who first loved me.

Verse 5

Though a foolish child and weak,
More than this I need not seek;
Singing, till Thy face I see,
Of His love who first loved me.

O Lord, our gracious and glorious Lord, who dwellest in the light inaccessible, and inhabitest the praises of Eternity, we would worship before Thee with the reverence and godly fear becoming us. Thou art holy, separated from all the limitations of Thy creatures, and far above our thoughts. But we bless Thee that Thou hast come near us, near us in Thy daily gracious providences, near us in the voice in our own hearts, near us best of all in Thy Son. And we thank Thee that, impassable for us as is the gulf between us and Thee, Thou hast bridged it over; and there is for us now a way into the Holiest of all, by which thoughts and love and trust and obedience can pass into Thy presence, and be united to Thee.

We bless Thee for all Thy great mercies to us. We draw near to Thee now, laden with benefits. Thou crownest our days with Thy goodness; and we believe, though it is sometimes hard to feel it and be sure of it, that all the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth to such as keep His covenant. Help us to keep it. Teach us to accept Thy commandments, to believe Thy promises, to live in the light of Thy Presence, and whether present or absent to labour that we may be well-pleasing to Thee; and then do Thou help us that we may ever be compassed about with Thy favour as with a shield, and may feel that in union with Thee all our need is greatened and purified and glorified.

When we come to Thee, O Lord, we are overwhelmed with the number of Thy mercies. They cannot be reckoned up in order unto Thee; they can only be reckoned up in order by Thee. And yet we pray that we may have a clear perception of, and a more adequate thankfulness for, and a more entire dependence upon, Thy loving heart and Thine innumerable mercies. Draw us, we beseech Thee, to Thyself by thoughts of Thee; and when there rise up in our consciences the sins that are more than the hairs of our heads, and we feel as if we durst not look up, may the thought of Thy greater mercies, more numerous still than these, strengthen and encourage us. What should we do if the measure of Thy forgiveness did not overlap and exist far beyond the measure of any man’s or of all men’s sin? We thank Thee that we can cast ourselves on Thee, and flee to Thee from ourselves; and we beseech Thee that Thy good Spirit, which Thou dost give to them that ask Thee, may indeed dwell in our hearts, and mould us by the power of thankfulness for Thy service. May it be true of us, too, that we delight to do Thy will, and that Thy law is within our hearts. We come to Thee empty-handed, sacrifice and offering Thou dost not require; Thou hast provided it. We come to Thee to receive, not to give; we come as those for whom the great offering has already been presented which makes all ours needless, except as thank-offerings. And we pray Thee to help us to render ourselves to Thee in entire surrender and devotion, as the token of our grateful acceptance of Thy greatest gift.

Set us free, O Lord, we beseech Thee, from the fetters of sin and earth, that we may indeed joyfully serve Thee, and labour on at Thy command. We would say, ‘O Lord! truly I am Thy servant; Thou hast loosed my bonds.’ Thou dost set us free that in Thy service we may find liberty. Thou dost honour us by letting us do Thy will. Thou dost incline our hearts, when we wait before Thee, to the joy of obedience and the blessedness of action for Thee. Thou dost draw us by mighty motives. Thou dost inspire us with power not our own. Grant, O Lord, that we, enriched by so many gifts of Thine hand, and enabled by so many inspirations of Thy grace, may indeed joyously wait upon God, in all holy obedience; and as the eyes of a servant are towards his master, so may ours be to Thee, O our God.