and in
Him is no darkness at all" (1 John i. 5). And any leading that is not
perfectly clear is not from Him. That is, if our wills are absolutely
surrendered to Him. Of course, the obscurity may arise from an
unsurrendered will. But if our wills are absolutely surrendered to God, we
have the right as God's children to be sure that any guidance is from Him
before we obey it. We have a right to go to our Father and say, "Heavenly
Father, here I am. I desire above all things to do Thy will. Now make it
clear to me, Thy child. If this thing that I have a leading to do is Thy
will, I will do it, but make it clear as day if it be Thy will." If it is
His will, the heavenly Father will make it as clear as day. And you need
not, and ought not to do that thing until He does make it clear, and you
need not and ought not to condemn yourself because you did not do it. God
does not want His children to be in a state of condemnation before Him. He
wishes us to be free from all care, worry, anxiety and self-condemnation.
Any earthly parent would make the way clear to his child that asked to
know it and much more will our heavenly Father make it clear to us, and
until He does make it clear, we need have no fears that in not doing it,
we are disobeying God. We have no right to dictate to God _how_ He shall
give His guidance--as, for example, by asking Him to shut up every way, or
by asking Him to give a sign, or by guiding us in putting our finger on a
text, or in any other way. It is ours to seek and to expect wisdom but it
is not ours to dictate how it shall be given. The Holy Spirit divides to
"each man severally _as He will_" (1 Cor. xii. 11).

Two things are evident from what has been said about the work of the Holy
Spirit. First, how utterly dependent we are upon the work of the Holy
Spirit at every turn of Christian life and service. Second, how perfect is
the provision for life and service that God has made. How wonderful is the
fullness of privilege that is open to the humblest believer through the
Holy Spirit's work. It is not so much what we are by nature, either
intellectually, morally, physically, or even spiritually, that is
important. The important matter is, what the Holy Spirit can do for us and
what we will let Him do. Not infrequently, the Holy Spirit takes the one
who seems to give the least natural promise and uses him far beyond those
who give the greatest natural promise. Christian life is not to be lived
in the r