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‘He knoweth the way that I take.’
Job_23:10
If I had to test a person’s state, I would ask him this question, ‘Are you glad, or are you sorry, at this moment, that God is Omniscient? As a daily criterion, then, of your state, and as a daily resting-place, carry the thought with you wherever you go—‘He knoweth the way that I take.’
I. Knowledge, in its true and complete sense, belongs to God only.—There is nothing in the whole world of which any living being could say, if he were asked about it, ‘I know it.’ There are twenty questions about any letter of the alphabet which no philosopher could answer. Hence the truth, the stress, and the force of the pronoun—‘He knoweth.’ Every smallest event was ordained by Him from all eternity. Its past, present, and its future, for ever and ever, are all the same to Him.
Oh! how He must know me! And this God of all knowledge is mine. He is my Creator, He is my Friend, He is my Father. Observe the beautiful individuality, the ‘He’ and the ‘I.’ ‘He knoweth the way that I take.’ How close the ‘He’ and the ‘I’ stand together!
II. And notice, too, the present tense.—‘He knoweth the way that I take’; which I am taking; not which I did take, or which I may take by and by, but that I am actually taking now, whether it suits my present strength, my present joy, my present knowledge, my present duty, my present grace; and He knows the exact meaning of that word ‘I take.’
III. It well becomes us that every one should settle with himself what ‘way’ he intends to take; what old ‘way’ he will leave, what new ‘way’ he will adopt; where it is to start, whither it leads; its difficulties and its aims, its motives and its supplies. For the settling of this important question let me advise you to lay down three first principles.
(a) Christ Himself has distinctly said, ‘I am the Way.’ Therefore, no ‘way’ can be right of which, I do not say Christ is part, Christ is not the whole. With Him it must begin, with Him it must end. Leave Christ out, and in the true and higher sense, as He says, ‘It is no life till I am the life.’
(b) To enable you to discern which is your ‘way’ and to keep in it, we have the distinct promise of the Holy Ghost, ‘Thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.’ Listen, listen very attentively every step for these ‘still small voices.’
And (c) the Father—‘He knoweth the way that I take.’ With all a father’s watching, loving care ‘He knoweth the way that I take.’
This is the first principle of all, that in everything—our life being one with Him—its true character must be to follow Him, to tread in His steps, and to be in mystic union with Him.
Now, if I had to select the three chief characteristics of Christ’s own life, I should say they were humility, unselfishness, and singleness of aim. These, then, must be the directing posts, the sign-marks of ‘the way’ we take this year.
It may seem to you to-day, looking forward, a long and steep ascent. It is; but the longest journey is made up of single steps. One by one; one to-day; another to-morrow; another the next day. The sooner you take the first step, the sooner you will reach the top, and then you will glorify Him for ever. And Oh! the comfort as we step out into the dark unknown; what a comfort it is to feel, ‘My Father, my Father knows it all.’ Me, and my future.
—
Rev. James Vaughan.