Fainting Fits
My witness is, that those Who are honored of
their Lord in public, have usually to endure a secret
chastening, or to carry a peculiar cross, lest by any means
they exalt themselves, and fall into the snare of the devil.
How constantly the Lord calls Ezekiel “Son of man”! Amid his
soarings into the superlative splendors, just when with eye
undimmed he is strengthened to gaze into the excellent
glory, the word “Son of man” falls on his ears, sobering the
heart which else might have been intoxicated with the honor
conferred upon it. Such humbling but salutary messages our
depressions whisper in our ears; they tell us in a manner
not to be mistaken that we are but men, frail, feeble, apt
to faint. By all the castings down of his servants God is
glorified, for they are led to magnify him when again he
sets them on their feet, and even while prostrate in the
dust their faith yields him praise. They speak all the more
sweetly of his faithfulness, and are the more firmly
established in his love. Such mature men as some elderly
preachers are, could scarcely have been produced if they had
not been emptied from vessel to vessel, and made to see
their own emptiness and the vanity of all things round about
them. Glory be to God for the furnace, the hammer, and the
file. Heaven shall be all the fuller of bliss because we
have been filled with anguish here below, and earth shall be
better tilled because of our training in the school of
adversity.
The lesson of wisdom is, be not dismayed by soul-trouble.
Count it no strange thing, but a part of ordinary
ministerial experience. Should the power of depression be
more than ordinary, think not that all is over with your
usefulness. Cast not away your confidence, for it hath great
recompense of reward. Even if the enemy’s foot be on your
neck, expect to rise and overthrow him. Cast the burden of
the present, along with the sin of the past and the fear of
the future, upon the Lord, who forsaketh not his saints.
Live by the day — ay, by the hour. Put no trust in frames
and feelings. Care more for a grain of faith than a ton of
excitement. Trust in God alone, and lean not on the reeds of
human help. Be not surprised when friends fail you: it is a
failing world. Never count upon immutability in man:
inconstancy you may reckon upon without fear of
disappointment. The disciples of Jesus forsook him; be not
amazed if your adherents wander away to other teachers: as
they were not your all when with you, all is not gone from
you with their departure. Serve God with all your might
while the candle is burning, and then when it goes out for a
season, you will have the less to regret.
Be content to be
nothing, for that is what you are. When your own
emptiness is painfully forced upon your consciousness, chide
yourself that you ever dreamed of being full, except in the
Lord. Set small store by present rewards; be grateful for
earnests by the way, but look for the recompensing joy
hereafter. Continue, with double earnestness to serve your
Lord when no visible result is before you. Any simpleton can
follow the narrow path in the light: faith’s rare wisdom
enables us to march on in the dark with infallible accuracy,
since she places her hand in that of her Great Guide.
Between this and heaven there may be rougher weather yet,
but it is all provided for by our covenant Head. In nothing
let us be turned aside from the path which the divine call
has urged us to pursue. Come fair or come foul, the pulpit
is our watch-tower, and the ministry our warfare; be it
ours, when we cannot see the face of our God, to trust UNDER
THE SHADOW OF HIS WINGS.
– C. H. Spurgeon, Lectures to my Students
