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TOPIC: Gordon, Samuel Dickey - Quiet Talks on Personal Problems (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 36. Living in the Essentials.
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Living in the Essentials.
There is always a simplicity about God and His movements. His glory is overwhelming to human eyes and senses. The chosen leaders of the new Hebrew nation could not bear the awful glory of His presence. Yet this but tells of the contrast between His glory and purity, and sinful man. "Clouds and darkness are round about Him." Yet this reveals the tenderness that protects our weak eyes from the dazzling sight of His presence.
When He speaks in creation it is in simplest language. He walks in Eden in closest intimacy of fellowship with man with a simplicity very winsome. (The revelation of Himself there suggests the simplicity of greatness. Greatness is simple. And man is very great for he is in the image of God. As he allows the image to be reproduced in him he increases in his simplicity. The spirit of self-mastery is always simple.
Sin tangles things up. It makes life complex in a confused way. It blurs and dulls our understanding, and weakens our grasp, and so things that are great but really simple seem confused to us. We get confused and tangled up. True life is simple. That word has been having new currency of late, and has been misunderstood some. It does not mean crude, nor immature, nor lacking in culture as some have thoughtlessly seemed to think. It means clear understanding of essentials and direct action. It sifts through the mix-up of our common life, and seizes upon the things that are essential, and grasps them firmly, and is controlled accordingly.
A huge piece of machinery seems very intricate and complex to one not experienced in Its make-up and workings. But to the engineer its law of action is simple. A sense of dread sometimes fills the mind at the sight of giant wheels and beams in motion; a dread of the immense power, and of what might happen. But while conscious of the enormous power there, the engineer moves calmly in and out with his oil can, and touches the central wheels quietly. It is all simple to him, for he understands.
Being with God gives one understanding. It clears his eyes. He comes more and more to see things through God's eyes. So he comes into the simplicity of God, and of the self-poise and self-mastery that are his birthright. He becomes simple in thinking of himself. While recognizing and reverencing the great powers within himself, he knows that these are a gift to him. He has nothing that he hasn't received from Another. And these powers and talents can come to their full growth only under the constant influence and presence of their Giver.
Man needs an atmosphere if he is to reveal his greatness. The tree must have its atmosphere of sunlight and air and water and food, else it cannot live. God -is the atmosphere of man. Only in the presence of God, in closest intimacy with Him, under the warm touch of His breath, does he come into his growth. And getting clear in his relation to God simplifies a man's contact with his fellows, and simplifies all of his thinking of life. Simplicity is seeing clearly what is essential and what is detail—non-essential, and being controlled accordingly. So man rises up into the full mastery of himself through his utter dependence upon God.
But simple does not mean crude nor rude, not immature nor lacking in culture. It means being controlled by the essentials, which themselves are always few and simple.
Here are found great traits of self-mastery. It is quiet, and rhythmic; it is unhurried, and simple.