June 4 / Springs in the Valley by L.B. Cowman

June 4

The hand of the LORD was there upon him. (Ezek. 1:3)

Bones cannot be quickened into life by manipulation. Only the touch of God can give them life.

Some of us must be taught this by bitter experiences of failure. So writes Dr. A. C. Dixon.

“While I was pastor of the Baptist Church in Chapel Hill, the university town of North Carolina, I was made to realize that, as a preacher, I was a dismal failure. Parents all over the state wrote me and requested that I look after the spiritual welfare of their sons in the university. I prepared sermons with the students in mind, and was glad to see that they showed their appreciation by attending our Sunday services in large numbers. We appointed a week of prayer and preaching with the single purpose of winning them to Christ, and they attended the evening meetings.

“About the middle of the week their interest seemed to turn into opposition; the spirit of mischief possessed them—one night they tried to put out the lights. As I walked through the grove around the university buildings, I sometimes heard my voice coming from behind a tree: a bright student had caught a part of my sermon the night before, and he was giving it in thought and tone for the benefit of his fellow students, who showed their appreciation by applause and laughter. As I walked before an open window I heard my voice in prayer floating out. I felt I was defeated and was seriously considering resigning the pastorate. Not one had been saved.

“After a restless night I took my Bible and went into the grove and remained there until three o’clock in the afternoon. As I read I asked God to show me what was the matter, and the Word of God searched me through and through giving me a deep sense of sin and helplessness, such as I had never had before.

“That evening the students listened reverently, and at the close two pews were filled with those who had responded to the invitation. The revival continued day after day until more than seventy of the students had confessed Christ.

“Now the practical question is what did it? Certainly not I; I fear it was the I that kept God from doing it for a long time. There came to me out of the day’s experience a clear-cut distinction between influence and power. Influence is made up of many things: intellect, education, money, social position, personality, organization—all of which ought to be used for Christ. Power is God Himself at work unhindered by our unbelief and other sins.

 “The word influence occurs but once in the Bible, and that in Job where Jehovah speaks to the old patriarch of the sweet influences of the Pleiades—a good text for a young minister to preach on in the springtime, but not sufficient in dealing with a group of mocking university students.

“The New Testament word power holds the secret, and the power from on high was no other than God the Holy Spirit touching the soul through the living word, and giving it a birth from above.

 “I had been trusting and testing many other good things, only to fail; the touch of God did in a minute what my best efforts could not do.”

Cowman, L. B. E.. Springs in the Valley (pp. 169-170). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.