But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light
that makes everything visible. This is why it is said:
“Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
Ephesians 5:13,14
The Cave’s Delusions
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
John 8:32
Plato… compares men who have never tried to face the truth to prisoners
in a deep underground cavern, who have been so chained… that they cannot
turn their heads. In front of them is the rocky wall of their prison-house.
Behind them and above them is a causeway , on which fires are burning, and
along this causeway pass wayfarers singing and conversing and bearing burdens,
whose shadows are thrown by the firelight on the cavern wall, and whose voices
are reflected back from it.
The imprisoned denizens of the dark cave, seeing
only these flickering shadows, take them for substances and realities; and
hearing only these vague echoes, take them for songs and voices….
“Imprisoned in self-chosen darkness, steeped in emptinesses, how few among
living men even care for that wisdom which consists in seeing the things that
are, and seeing them as they are!
Let a man but once catch a glimpse of the
true light and he learns utterly to despise the dim rush-light of this world’s
tinselled stage. Let one ray out of eternity shine down upon him, and for him
the world and the things of the world shrivel into insignificance.”
From Streams In The Desert Volume 2 August 23rd by Mrs.Charles E. Cowman
With My Last Breath
And though I groan and writhe beneath my crosses.
I yet shall see through my severest losses
The greater gain.
“I will not doubt. Well anchored is this faith,
Like some staunch ship, my soul braves every gale;
So strong its courage that it will not quail To breast
the mighty unknown sea of death. Oh, may I cry, though
body parts with spirit,’I do not doubt,’ so listening
worlds may hear it, With my last breath.”
“In fierce storms,” said an old seaman,”we must do one
thing; there is only one way: we must put the ship in a
certain position and keep her there.”
This, Christian, is what you must do. Sometimes, like
Paul, you can see neither sun nor stars, and no small
tempest lies on you; and then you can do but one thing;
there is only one way.
Reason cannot help you; past experiences give you no light.
Even prayer fetches no consolation. Only a single course is
left. You must put your soul in one position and keep it there.
You must stay upon the Lord; and come what may-winds, waves,
cross-seas, thunder, lightning, frowning rocks, roaring breakers-no
matter what, you must lash yourself to the helm, and hold fast your
confidence in God’s faithfulness, His covenant engagement, His
everlasting love in Christ Jesus.
-Richard Fuller (1804-1876)
From Streams In The Desert Volume 1 Page 102 by Mrs.Charles E. Cowman
Like People Without Eyes
So justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us.
We look for light, but all is darkness; for brightness, but we
walk in deep shadows. Like the blind we grope along the wall,
feeling our way like men without eyes. At midday we stumble
as if it were twilight; among the strong, we are like the dead.
We all growl like bears;
we moan mournfully like doves.
We look
for justice, but find none; for deliverance, but it is far away.
Isaiah 59: 9-11
The Duty
When on January 16,1956, the party of missionary volunteers, Quichua Indians,
Ecuadorian soldiers, and American airmen who had gone to search for the five
missing men returned to tell us that they were all dead, there was little sense
of drama for me. The history of missions had repeated itself. I could see that,
for I read stories of missionaries, from the Benedictine monks who crossed the
Alps into Germany and were murdered by savage tribesmen, to nineteenth-century
Englishmen who went to the South Sea Islands and were clubbed to death. The
crusading spirit, the thrill of reaching an unreached tribe, the passion for
souls which is supposed to motivate some -all these faded out completely. I
knew that if life was to go on, it must go on meaningfully. I was forced back
to the real reasons for missionary work – indeed, the real reason for living at
all. My husband Jim and the four men who had gone into Auca territory had one reason:
they believed it was what God wanted them to do. They took quite literally the words
“The world passeth away and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God
abideth forever.” It is only in obeying God that we may know Him. Obedience, if it
is a good reason for dying, is just as good a reason for living. I knew that there was
no other answer for me. The “whys” that screamed themselves at me day and night could
not be silenced, but I could live with them if I simply went on and did the next thing.
p.13 & 14
Note:(Below is an explanation of Elisabeth Elliot’s struggle with God in prayer about
returning into the jungle to the savage Auca Indians with her 3 year old daughter
after the murder of the 5 missionaries including her husband Jim Elliot
and the subsequent decision to do so.)
It was clear to me that the central issue was not one of methods. Something could go
wrong with the very best plan. Some unexpected factor could throw off the wisest
calculations. I simply asked the Lord to do what He wanted to do about it. For once
in my life I had no suggestions to make to Him about how He was to do it. I placed
myself in His hands, saying that if He wanted to give me a part in reaching the Aucas,
I was ready. I had noticed throughout the Bible that, when God asked a man to do something,
methods, means, materials, and specific directions were always provided. The man had one
thing to do: obey. p.15
The few who knew of this contemplated step wrote to immediately warn
and question me. Some told me point-blank that I must be mistaken.
To disregard completely what one called the “most elementary rules of
prudence” would be folly. I certainly needed no stronger proof of the
nature of the people I proposed to visit than their treatment of my
husband. I knew that my position was quite indefensible. But I knew,
too, that it was the duty which lay before me. That duty I took to be
the will of God. I had heard no voices, seen no visions. But it seemed
to me that the Bible, which I regard as a book of principles by which
we are to live if we want to know what real freedom is, was daily presenting
to me fresh confirmation of the fact that I had not mistaken God’s design,
and so I went ahead. One morning my Bible reading fell at the story of Queen
Esther. Esther was well acquainted with the law which required that anyone
entering the king’s presence without being called should be killed. She knew,
also, that it was her duty to go in to entreat the king’s favor on behalf of
her people. This illustrated again the principle: if a duty is clear, the
dangers surrounding it are irrelevant. p.42,45
The Savage My Kinsman Published by Regal Books 1961,1989
Elisabeth Elliot (1926-2015)