THE EXTERNAL GOAL

By Myself have I sworn, said the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, … that in blessing I will bless thee.… Genesis 22:15–19 . Abraham has reached the place where he is in touch with the very nature of God, he understands now the reality of God. ‘My goal is God Himself … At any cost, dear Lord, by any road.’ ‘At any cost, by any road’ means nothing self-chosen in the way God brings us to the goal. There is no possibility of questioning when God speaks if He speaks to His own nature in me; prompt obedience is the only result. When Jesus says—“Come,” I simply come; when He says—“Let go,” I let go; when he says—“Trust in God in this matter,” I do trust. The whole working out is the evidence that the nature of God is in me. God’s revelation of Himself to me is determined by my character, not by God’s character. ‘Tis because I am mean, Thy ways so oft look mean to me.’ By the discipline of obedience I get to the place where Abraham was, and I see Who God is. I never have a real God until I have come face to face with Him in Jesus Christ, then I know that “in all the world, my God, there is none but Thee, there is none but Thee.” The promises of God are of no value to us until by obedience we understand the nature of God. We read some things in the Bible three hundred and sixty-five times and they mean nothing to us; then all of a sudden we see what God means, because in some particular we have obeyed God, and instantly His nature is opened up. “All the promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him Amen.” The “yea” must be born of obedience; when by the obedience of our lives we say “Amen” to promise, then that promise is ours.