HAVE YOU EVER BEEN ALONE WITH GOD?

When they were alone, He expounded all things to His
disciples.

— Mark 4:34

Our Solitude with Him. Jesus does not take us alone and expound
things to us all the time; He expounds things to us as we can
understand them. Other lives are parables. God is making us spell out
our own souls. It is slow work, so slow that it takes God all time
and eternity to make a man and woman after His own purpose. The only
way we can be of use to God is to let Him take us through the crooks
and crannies of our own characters. It is astounding how ignorant we
are about ourselves! We do not know envy when we see it, or laziness,
or pride. Jesus reveals to us all that this body has been harbouring
before His grace began to work. How many of us have learned to look
in with courage?

We have to get rid of the idea that we understand ourselves, it is
the last conceit to go. The only One Who understands us is God. The
greatest curse in spiritual life is conceit. If we have ever had a
glimpse of what we are like in the sight of God, we shall never say –
“Oh, I am so unworthy,” because we shall know we are, beyond the
possibility of stating it. As long as we are not quite sure that we
are unworthy, God will keep narrowing us in until He gets us alone.
Wherever there is any element of pride or of conceit, Jesus cannot
expound a thing. He will take us through the disappointment of a
wounded pride of intellect, through disappointment of heart. He will
reveal inordinate affection – things over which we never thought He
would have to get us alone. We listen to many things in classes, but
they are not an exposition to us yet. They will be when God gets us
alone over them.

On this day…

• Rejoice Always In His Love – 2025
• Faith Gone Astray – 2025
• Daniel 11 – 2024
• Ezekiel 20 – 2024
• April 6, 2014 – 2014
• Grace comes one day at a time and only what you need for that day – 2012
• The doctrine of atonement by the blood of Jesus – 2012
• The Cross is the central event in time and eternity – 2012
• God will undoubtedly be faithful and generous in rewarding – 2012
• My father prayed for me every day of my life while he lived – 2012