Conversation yesterday brought this to mind…
Others May, You Cannot
If God has called you to be really like Jesus, He will draw you to a life of crucifixion and humility, and put upon you such demands of obedience, that you will not be able to follow other people, or measure yourself by other Christians, and in many ways He will seem to let other good people do things which He will not let you do.
Other Christians and ministers who seem very religious and useful may push themselves, pull wires, and work schemes to carry out their plans, but you cannot do it; and if you attempt it, you will meet with such failure and rebuke from the Lord as to make you sorely penitent.
Others may boast of themselves, of their work, of their success, of their writings, but the Holy Spirit will not allow you to do any such thing, and if you begin it, He will lead you into some deep mortification that will make you despise yourself and all your good works.
Others may be allowed to succeed in making money, or may have a legacy left to them, but it is likely God will keep you poor, because He wants you to have something far better than gold, namely, a helpless dependence on Him, that He may have the privilege of supplying your needs day by day out of an unseen treasury.
The Lord may let others be honored and put forward, and keep you hidden in obscurity, because He wants you to produce some choice, fragrant fruit for His coming glory, which can only be produced in the shade. He may let others be great, but keep you small. He may let others do a work for Him and get the credit of it, but He will make you work and toil on without knowing how much you are doing; and then to make your work still more precious, He may let others get the credit for the work which you have done, and thus make your reward ten times greater when Jesus comes.
The Holy Spirit will put a strict watch over you, with a jealous love, and will rebuke you for little words and feelings, or for wasting your time, which other Christians never seem distressed over. So make up your mind that God is an infinite Sovereign, and has a right to do as He pleases with His own.
He may not explain to you a thousand things which puzzle your reason in His dealings with you. But if you absolutely sell yourself to be His…slave, He will wrap you up in a jealous love, and bestow upon you many blessings which come only to those who are in the inner circle.
Settle it forever, then, that you are to deal directly with the Holy Spirit, and that He is to have the privilege of tying your tongue, or chaining your hand, or closing your eyes, in ways that He does not seem to use with others. Now when you are so possessed with the living God that you are, in your secret heart, pleased and delighted over this peculiar, personal, private, jealous guardianship and management of the Holy Spirit over your life, you will have found the vestibule of Heaven.
G.D. Watson, 1845-1924
{How today can you delight in God’s special guardianship over your life and the promise of fragrant fruit which can only be produced in the shade? Happy Monday and thank you, friends, for reading.}
6 thoughts on “When You Feel That Others May While You Cannot”
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Thank you so much for posting this. My husband and I both struggle with these things, but still lean into the Spirit’s leading in our lives. This is a wonderful and encouraging perspective.
Praise the Lord that this can be encouraging. It always is such a beautiful reminder. Blessings on you, Cara!
o sweet joy that He alone is our reward. o sweet joy the lesson of lessening and to find REAL joy in the process. O sweet joy, O JesusJesusJesus, come Lord Jesus……soon?
I KNEW you would love this, Debra. I see this in YOU, always willing to walk whatever road He leads you on because He’s on it with you. Thanks for making me feel normal yesterday. 🙂
I have been so blessed by this. It has been a journey of healing and and a process of knowing Him more that I find myself in the narrowing of what is allowable. And though others may, I can not by His permission be governed the same. Not legalism, but a different perspective of what he has called me to. Where in the past some things were allowable for me, as He has grown me and changed my heart, I have new governing rules, different Spiritual disciplines. This is what it is to be a disciple of Him. thanks for sharing this.
Yes, friend. This devotional always brings me back to Corvallis days, I still remember reading this for the first time and about falling out of my chair. SO right now. And it continues to encourage me. Oh I miss you! Pray you are blessed today with all that special attention from Him. 🙂