The Surrendered Life: Exposed to the Circumstances of His Choice

"And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose."
— Romans 8:28

Let me ask you this question: Are you pressed beyond measure? Are you pressed above strength? Have you come to the place in your life where you say, “It’s all right for other people, but somehow it won’t work in my case…What’s the use of me talking about a holy life?…What’s the use of me talking about full surrender?…What’s the use of me talking about the dedicated life of the ministry of Jesus Christ? I am in a particular situation for which there is no way out; there’s no way back; there’s no way through. I can’t find the answer!” The answer is, to trust God just where you are:

Pressed out of measure and pressed to all length;
Pressed so intensely it seems beyond strength:
Pressed in the body, pressed in the soul,
Pressed in the mind till the dark surges roll;
Pressure by foe and pressure from friends,
Pressure on pressure till life nearly ends.

Is that it? Then listen. If you are pressed out, you are pressed in.

Pressed into knowing no helper but God,
Pressed into loving the staff and the rod,
Pressed into liberty where nothing clings,
Pressed into faith for impossible things,
Pressed into living a life in the Lord,
Pressed into living a Christ-life outpoured.

The reason why you are in that place today is simply in order that you might trust God. Do not pull strings. Do not hold committee meetings. Do not wangle things. Do not manipulate. Do not scheme, and do not plan. Sit still and trust God, and He will deliver you from your self-despair, from the sentence of death. Then the second thing is that we must be willing to accept the circumstances of the hour, and believe that all things work together for good to them that are called of God. We must be prepared to accept our circumstances as they are. I believe that quite a lot of people grieve the Spirit of God just at this particular place. They are not prepared to accept the circumstances of their lives, as God has given them, and allowed them to come.

I remember meeting a lady during the war, and I said, “How are you getting on?”
“Well,” she said, “I am very well under the circumstances.”
And I asked, “How is your husband?”
“Well,” she said, “He is in the armed forces, and under the circumstances he’s all right.”
Next I asked, “And how’s your daughter?”
“Well,” she said, “She’s in the [army], and what can you expect under the circumstances?”

This dear lady had the whole family “under the circumstances!” And circumstances are like a feather bed: if you are on top you are comfortable, but if you are underneath, you are smothered.

I have in my vestry some words which were written by Samuel Rutherford, which, apart from the Scriptures, mean more to me than any other words. The words are simply these: “Expose yourself to the circumstances of His choice.” What does that mean? It means that when you and I present ourselves to God in the morning, and present the day to Him, nothing can come into that day that is not allowed by the permissive will of God. Everything has its place, and everything has its purpose. Such things may come in as cut right across our own little plans; such things as might disturb, as might change: but if we have committed our way to God, everything that comes into that day is allowed by His permissive will.

We do not rebel against it, because that only embitters the soul, and loses the very blessing that God wants to give us; but we expose ourselves to it. We say, “O God, I accept this, and I accept it cheerfully; in fact, I rejoice in it, because there is some lesson that You want to teach me. And I believe that the greatest lesson of all that You want to teach me, is just to trust You when I can’t see You.” Accept the circumstances, then, as they are.