Covenanter Witness Vol. 54 - Rparchives.org

now!"
past."
experiences,"
sacrifice,"
LESSON HELPS FOR THE WEEK OF MAY 8, 1955
THE FIELD IS THE WORLD,
TX 5EO IS THE WORD Of GOD
*
VOLUME LIV WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 1955 NUMBER 16
"From till!
by Edwin Raymond Anderson
Past"
It had been a wonderful and overwhelming ex
perience of the very
presence of the blessed Lord
Himself. Heaven seemed to pour itself out in blessed
fragrance. There was the consciousness of that mov
ing and moulding power of the Holy Spirit, draw
ing him clear out from himself and into the very
heart of the Almighty.
A. wonderful experience of communion and fel
. . .
lowship and such as, had simply to be written
down on paper, kept as a sacred souvenir of the
session. Whenever one would visit, there would be
while,"
the invitation to "come apart for a little
and sit on the back-porch overlooking the bend of
the creek, while the experience was read slowly,
carefully, lovingly, word for word. It did not seem
to matter that the experience itself had taken place
over twenty years ago
Then came the day when Jim called, and quick
ly came the invitation to sit on that back porch.
Jim settled in the chair waiting for the other to
return with the paper and its heavenly tidings. A
moment or so passed. Then there was the return
with the holding high of the precious missive. Then
it happened!
As he started to seat himself beside Jim, a
sharp gust of quick wind caught the paper clear
out of his hand, whipped it across and over the
porch railing and down upon the watery breast of
the creek below!
For a moment he sat, stiff with stunned sur
prise. His face turned white, the lips began to trem
ble. Then with voice nigh onto breaking he cried
out, "There goes my blessed experience with the
Lord! It's . . . it's ... all gone forever,
Perhaps you smile at the story. Or perhaps the
account leaves you rather uncomfortable. Perhaps
days,
this old man with his bit of paper relating the vision
of the day long died away in the forever yester
appears too sharply to be a picture of your
self, of your own spiritual situation. There are too
many saints who are living in the past, with a yearn
ing for yesterdays which quickly become a paralysis
for the present and. the harbinger of failure for the
future. There is no present spiritual satisfaction
in the experiences of days which have long died
away. Every entreaty of the Word, every prompting
of the Holy Spirit is towards the pivot of possess
ing the fresh, renewed, "up-to-date," communion of
present relationship of power, of fruitage, of bless
ing with the ever living Lord. We are to be "filled
with the Spirit," as the everlasting exercise of the
soul for this present pilgrim passage. We are to,
"present ourselves as the living
in daily
doxology, for the right meeting of today's tasks.
Of course, the Blessed Lord Jesus is "the same
yesterday, today and forever," but surely He would
not have us trade the doings of today for the dreams
of yesterday. Beloved, we surely need to keep in
step with the Lord. Like Enoch of the early day, we
" God,"
must ever learn to, walk with one step at
a time, and in time.
But there is another side to this problem of
the past, and we are in danger of overlooking it.
We are not to live IN the past . . . but on the other
hand, we are to live FROM the past. The days and
activities of yesteryear have living truths which
are to be acted upon for today's testimonies. Recall
that suggestive word from Deuteronomy "Ask now
of the days that are (Deut. 4:32); that is
a definite command from the Lord. We are to learn
from their lines. But ... do ... we
Have there been defeats yesterday Well, have
we learned the root of that defeat so there will be
victory and triumph for today What about the
of the former times
"mountain-top
(Continued on page 247)