p. 6 | WHERE HE BIDS US by Ida M. Poch

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Dec 12, 1895

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 21, No. 49.

WHERE HE BIDS US.

By Ida M. Poch

BY IDA M. POCH.

CHRIST our example. How little most of us appreciate the meaning of those simple words! When one is called to leave home and friends to bear “glad tidings of great joy” to those far away, we feel that they are truly following in the footsteps of the Master—and we too long to follow. Truly with great joy they go, but may it not be the greater sacrifice to step aside and let another fill the place we perhaps hoped to fill? The servants of the Master are not all “Marthas,” there are some “Marys.” “They also serve who only stand and wait,” is true when the Lord has commanded to “stand still.”

It is not that we must do something great and wonderful, but only the being ready, the willingness to stand still even, patiently waiting for the next order, and if the word comes, “Forward,” do not hesitate, and if it is, “Be still,” patiently trust and wait.

Christ is our example. Think of those long, patient years he spent at home, with Mary and Joseph, working at his carpentering, in little Nazareth. Those years he listened to the voice of God and lived the life he afterward taught. “They were the years of a sinless childhood, a sinless boyhood, a sinless youth, a sinless manhood, spent in that humility, toil, obscurity, submission, contentment, prayer, to make them an eternal example to all our race.”

Only a few of us can imitate him in the exercise of his ministry, but God has placed most of us amid the commonplace little duties of uneventful routine, very like those first thirty years of our Saviour’s life. It is during those years when “he began to do,” before “he began to teach,” that his life is an example for most of us.

And let not one of us undervalue his humble lot. Surely it calls for much exercise of the divine graces, faith, hope, and charity, to be the gentle influence that soothes like the shining of the sunlight and breathes around it an unspeakable calm. That loving, gentle spirit “. . . droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the earth beneath.”

And for those who have this spirit, “the cup of loving service” will surely be filled to overflowing, to extend to our needy brethren and sisters—“in His name.”

The battle of life is on for each of us always. It may be that noiseless conflict that leaves no trace behind except the chastened spirit and calm courage of the conqueror. In this silent battle, as well as in that in which the clash of weapons is heard, we follow our Leader and develop characters that shall add to his glory.

If we are but sure we listen to the Voice, and are truly willing to follow orders as they come, let us be content to do our humble little, trusting God for all the rest, knowing that his love passeth knowledge.