Comment By Torchlight

The Bible

Within this ample volume lies

The mystery of mysteries.

Happiest they of human race

To whom their God hath given grace

To read, to fear, to hope, to pray,

To lift the latch, to force the way:

But better had they ne'er been born

That read to doubt or read to scorn."

(Sir Walter Scott)

Knowing God

When a young believer, fifty or 50 years ago, certain books I read made a lasting impression on my thinking. Among these was a small volume entitled, The Knowledge of God, Its Meaning and its Power, by A.T. Schofield, M.D., a Harley Street physician (not to be confused with C.I. Schofield of The Schofield Bible fame). The writer sounded a note which still has a relevance for those who long after God in the spirit of the psalmist,

"As the hart panteth after the water brooks,

So panteth my soul after Thee, 0 God.

My soul thirsteth for God, for the livinq God"

(Psa. 42:1,2).

In his Introduction Dr Schofield comments on the half-hearted faith of many Christians who appear to be orthodox in doctrine but lack the warmth of the liberty of the Holy Spirit. He explains that he is speaking in broad terms only, and concedes that there are many notable exceptions. But his assessment of the average Christian life 60 years ago could well have been written in 1975.

We give the following excerpt:

"The average Christian life often fails to commend Christianity.... You see in the world the gambler absorbed in bridge, the sportsman in shooting, the golfer in the links, the racing man in the turf, the society woman in fashion, honestly and wholeheartedly: but where is the Christian who is absorbed in Christianity? - to whom the fact of God is the greatest fact, the truth of the Scriptures the greatest truth, and the love of the Divine the all-absorbing passion?

And yet the Christian faith in its noble simplicity, in its divine magnificence, deserves a far different treatment and is worthy of a different following.

A whole-hearted belief in God and the Bible would not only result in a worthy testimony to the Christian faith, but would bring untold joy to the hearts and lives of believers themselves. Lukewarm water, half-hearted faith, hedging and trimming, sitting on the fence, are one and all descriptions of conditions and policies that bring neither credit nor pleasure to their followers, nor eve~ possess the safety for which they are adopted."

In which category am I? the half-hearted or the whole-hearted? And what does God really mean to me? These are sobering questions. The fact is, God means but little if I can think of Him without adoring wonder. We could use the words of Faber's hymn as a valid test of our experience of God:

Only to sit and think of God Oh! what joy it is!

To think the thought, to breathe the Name Earth has no higher bliss.

There's not a craving in the mind Thou dost not meet and still

There's not a wish the heart could have Which Thou dost not fulfil.

We all need a deeper experience of God if our Christian profession is to ring true. We live in an age where openness and sincerity are scarce commodities. Deceit and pretence are more or less the norm in human relations. None of us is immune from such tendencies. In churches of God our standard should be that set by the apostle Paul in his letter to the Ephesians, "... speak ye truth each one with his neighbour: for we are members one of another" (4:25).

We hope to return to the theme "Knowing God" on a future occasion, God willing.

unknown | Nov 1975
Comment By Torchlight