p. 164 | MIGHTY THROUGH GOD

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Mar 17, 1887

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 13, No. 11.

MIGHTY THROUGH GOD.

GOD has his own benevolent designs to accomplish; and in every age of the world he has selected his own agencies and instrumentalities for the accomplishment of his gracious purposes. His thoughts are not as our thoughts, nor his ways as our ways. The instrumentalities which human wisdom would approve are not generally such as God selects. He chooses the weak things of the world to confound the mighty. Such has usually been his method. Joseph was taken from prison and made governor of Egypt; Gideon was called from the threshing-floor to be the leader and deliverer of his people; Elisha was taken from the plow to be a prophet unto Israel; and David was called from the sheepfold and placed upon the throne of the kingdom.

Christ selected his disciples from the humbler walks of life. We see him by the sea-side calling the fishermen; and at the receipt of custom calling a publican. These men did not occupy the front rank in society, yet they were, no doubt, men of good common sense, and of good character in the various positions they occupied. In addition to this, they were men of industrious habits, and they actively engaged in lowly but honorable pursuits. But when a special messenger is to be sent to the Gentiles, we see Saul of Tarsus, an educated man, and a rigid Pharisee, in the midst of his persecuting rage, arrested by the power of Christ on the highway, and constrained to exclaim, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” The lion is changed into a lamb; the proud Pharisee is a humble learner at the feet of Jesus; and the “chief of sinners” becomes “a chosen vessel” to declare the name of the Lord to “the people and the Gentiles.”

All this is different from the method that human wisdom would adopt. But it is God’s plan of saving the world. Feeble instruments, and those most unlikely to be successful, are often chosen, that the excellency of the power may appear to be of God and not of men. God would stain the pride of human wisdom and power, and teach the world that it is not to be saved by the wisdom of men but by the power of God. Men are nothing, means are nothing, only as God condescends to use them.

This is a truth that we should have deeply impressed upon our minds, and ever keep in view. Paul declares that he preached not the gospel “with wisdom of words, lest the cross

of Christ should be made of none effect.” And he declares again, “My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power; that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.”

Paul was a learned and able man, but he knew that the most learned and profound sermons that he could preach would accomplish nothing unless accompanied by the power of the divine Spirit. What we need to learn is not to trust in men, however great their ability, but to trust in God. The greatest and best of men, left to themselves, are feeble, and it is only through God that they become mighty in pulling down the strongholds of wickedness. We should not, then, trust in the means, but in him in whose hand any means may become powerful for the accomplishment of his purpose. Let us, according to Christ’s admonition, “have faith in God.”—Methodist Recorder.