Perhaps YOU Have DISOBEYED Some CLEAR Command

Sometimes a soul comes to its spiritual adviser, speaking thus:

"I have no conscious joy, and have had but little for years."

"Did you once have it?" 

"Yes, for some time after my conversion to God." 

"Are you conscious of having refused obedience to some distinct command, which came into your life, but from which you shrank?"

Then the face is cast down, and the eyes film with tears, and the answer comes with difficulty:

"Yes, years ago I used to think that God required a certain thing of me; but I felt I could not do what He wished, was uneasy for some time about it, but after a while it seemed to fade from my mind, and now it does not often trouble me."

"Ah, soul, that is where you went wrong, and you will never get right till you go right back through the weary years to the point where you did drop the thread of obedience, and perform that one thing which God demanded of you so long ago, but on account of which you did leave the narrow track of implicit obedience."

Is not this the cause of depression to thousands of Christian people?

They are God's children, but they are disobedient children.

The Bible rings with one long demand for obedience.

The key-word of the Book of Deuteronomy is, Observe and Do.

The burden of Christ's Farewell Discourse is, If ye love me, keep My commandments.

We must not question or reply or excuse ourselves.

We must not pick and choose our way.

We must not take some commands and reject others.

We must not think that obedience in other directions will compensate for disobedience in some one particular.

God gives one command at a time, borne in upon us, not in one way only, but in many; by this He tests us.

If we obey in this, He will flood our soul with blessing, and lead us forward into new paths and pastures.

But if we refuse in this we shall remain stagnant and waterlogged, make no progress in Christian experience, and lack both power and joy.

~Andrew Murray~