June 25 / Springs in the Valley

June 25

I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me. (Neh. 2:18)

Is the work God’s work? Has He called you to do it, and equipped you for it? Be sure on these points. Take time to consider and pray and find what the will of the Lord is. Then, when the difficulties have been considered and the needs fairly measured, and the clear conviction remains that God calls you to rise and build, then, put your hand to the plow and never look back.

Power to endure to the end—patience to outlast all discouragements—zeal that will not die out, and that will enkindle the zeal of others—all these are given and secured to him who knows that the work and call are from God.

For every worker and every work in the kingdom of God the principles are the same. The only way to avoid being repelled and discouraged in the work, so as to give it up in irritation, disgust or despair, is to get the work put upon the right lines from the very start. These must begin in the secret place of the Most High—the Holy of Holies—alone with God. They must proceed to the Holy Place, for the light and strength contained therein—the guidance and equipment needed. Then, and not till then can they safely come out, their success secure and their permanence established, because they are thus truly “wrought in God.”
HUBERT BROOKE

While the yoke of the Lord Jesus is easy and His burden light, nevertheless the furrow that He calls us to undertake is not always by any means easy plowing. There is no yoke that fits so smoothly and handily as His, but there is no work that requires more steady trudging and persistent faithfulness than His. Three stages of that work are strikingly set forth by Hudson Taylor when he says: “Commonly there are three stages in work for God:

Impossible, Difficult, Done!” 

Said General William Booth, “God loves with a special love the man who has a passion for the impossible.” Are you confronting today the impossible in work for God? Praise Him for that, because you are in a way to discover the blessing of finding that work difficult, and then to experience the deep joy of finding it done, by the same Lord who started you on the furrow.

Am I Thy friend? 

And canst Thou count on me, 

Lord, to be true to Thee? 

Canst Thou depend 

On sympathy and help of mine, 

In purpose, aim, 

Or work of Thine, 

And trust me with the honor of Thy name?

Cowman, L. B. E.. Springs in the Valley (pp. 189-190). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.