PERFECT TRUST
BY ANNA W. PROSSER
Trust in the Lord with all
thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding – Prov. iii:5.
There is a
partial trust and an entire trust, and there may be a partial surrender and
unconditional surrender. From the time that the sinner feels his lost
condition, and turns to the Lord in true penitence, asking that for Christ’s
sake he may be forgiven and accepted, he has some trust in Him, some love for
Him, some glimpse of His power to save. He receives the witness of the Spirit
that his sins are forgiven, that he is adopted into the family of God. He
experiences much joy, and, at times, great peace. He tells on the right hand
and on the left that he has met with a change of heart, and that he has “passed
from darkness unto light,” and exhorts his family and his friends to come to
Christ. He begins to work zealously for the Master, and shows by his earnest
life that he is a changed man, that he has new impulses and desires. His
countenance is full of life and joy, and we rejoice with him in his new-found
happiness.
He proceeds
along the Christian path a few brief months, manfully facing the enemy, praying
and struggling to overcome the many temptations which meet him on either hand.
But, lo! presently we see him coming into our midst with a clouded and downcast
face. When questioned as to the cause, he is constrained to admit that his
peace has flown, that in spite of his struggles, his prayers, and his tears, he
finds it impossible to conquer the adversary as he should. He is astonished to
find that he has yielded to his suggestions and fallen into the very sin
against which he fancied himself most strongly fortified. He tells us that he
as mourned and wept over it before the Lord, and started anew with fresh vigor
and resolution to run the race set before him, only to find himself again
defeated. And thus he has gone on, striving and failing, sinning and repenting,
until he is forced to cry out, in the anguish of his soul: “When I would do good, evils is present with me.
For that which I do, I will allow not; for what I would, that do I not; but
what I hate, that do I. I delight in
the law of God after the inward man, but I see another law in my members
warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law
of sin which is in my members. O, wretched
man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?”-(Rom. vii.)
“Is this all,” he cries, “That Christianity offers? Is there no liberty, no freedom from sin in this life? I long for
something higher than this. Is there no greater deliverance than I have found?
I am disheartened and weary of this continued warfare in my soul, weary of this
captivity. I long for a full salvation. Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?”
The words come to his mind: “Commit thy way unto the Lord. Trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass!” “Yes,” says this
troubled soul, “but have I not trusted in Him from the first?” “Trust in the
Lord with all thine heart,” the
Spirit replies, “and lean not unto thine own understanding.” The blessed light
breaks in! He sees that he has fought many times in his own strength, that he has dishonored God by a very feeble
and fluctuation trust. He has trusted in Jesus for the forgiveness of his sins,
but he has been afraid to trust Him to keep him steadfast unto the end! He has
asked Him daily to keep him from evil, but has only half believed that He
should! He has trusted largely to his own persistent efforts, leaned many times
into his own understanding. He has not ventured all upon Jesus, given Him all
his heart; and he has not trusted him
to “save to the uttermost,” and so it has been unto him according to his trust.
See him now, Coming with “a broken and contrite heart,” to the feet of the
Lord. He is worn and scarred with repeated battles with the enemy, and crushed
by many a defeat. He comes with a sense of his own nothingness, and cries, out
of a full heart: “O Lord Jesus, I come to Thee! I can do nothing at all! I see
it all now. I see that I have only half
trusted Thee, but have trusted in my own works and struggles many times, rather
than in Thy cleansing blood! I have leaned unto my own understanding, and have
thus frustrated Thy grace in my heart. ‘Thy grace is sufficient’ for me! I see
that it is. My precious Saviour, I do now
trust Thee fully. I here dedicate
myself to Thee, and trust Thee to save my perfectly, and to cleanse me day by
day from all sin; ‘for Thine is the power, and glory, forever. Amen.’”
Beloved reader,
does this touch a responsive chord in your heart? Have you felt such longings
for full liberty in Christ? Are you frequently, in your Christian experience,
brought to realize your need for a deeper trust? Then may the Holy Spirit “take
of the things of Christ and show them unto you” and “guide you into all truth,” by revealing to your
hungering soul that He is worthy of all our trust, and that He cannot, He will
not, “abide” in a doubting, divided heart. All that the believer has to do is to
trust in Jesus. It is His providence to save, to cleanse, and to keep. “For the Lord shall be thy confidence,
and shall keep thy foot from being taken.”-Prov. iii:26.
CONSECRATION AND FAITH PLEDGE
CONSECRATION PLEDGE.
Dear
Lord; I present myself unreservedly to Thee.
My
time.
My
talents.
My
tongue.
My
will.
My
property.
My
reputation.
My
entire being.
To
be, and to do, anything that Thou requires of me.
PLEDGE OF FAITH.
Now
as I have given myself away, I am no longer my own, but all the Lord’s.
I
believe Thou dost accept the offering I bring.
I
trust Thee to work in me all the good pleasure of Thy will.
“Wherefore
come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and I will
receive you.”
As
I do give myself to Thee, I believe Thou dost receive me now.
