Let me note that it is when under the deepest and most
solemn consciousness of his covenant engagement—"Your vows are upon me, O
God"—he anticipates the possibility of his feet stumbling. In the hour of
elation and victory he contemplates the certainty of fresh encounters with
spiritual foes. The past deliverance and the present vow are no guarantees
against the seductive wiles of temptation. At the very moment when he has
that votive resolution on his lips, and the hymn of praise on his
tongue—when his bark is on placid waters and no cloud disturbs his sky, he
dreads and forecasts the storm. He would be forearmed as well as forewarned;
and looking to the God who had put his vow on record, he cries—'Lord! in
this very hour of my strength, I feel the reality of my weakness! You have
delivered my soul from death—(that is my present rapturous theme).
But the future—that unknown and often treacherous deceitful
future!—will You not—who has promised "as your days, so shall your strength
be"—will You not help me in it?' "Will YOU not deliver my feet from
failing?" Communions and Sacraments cannot keep me. The most sacred vows may
be broken like airy spider webs. But hold You me up and I shall be
safe. With Your voice behind me saying, 'This is the way,' I may, in the
expressive words of Israel's singer—"walk before God in the light of the
living!"
And what is this, but the lesson and resolution of 'new
obedience'? What a befitting season, by God's grace, to adopt fresh
resolves, and to aspire after a higher standard of life and duty! Not to
mystify so solemn a subject with figure—If, in looking back on past months,
or past years, I am conscious of the dominating influence of some evil
temper, some ungodly passion—some flaw in Christian consistency—some neglect
or omission of well-known duty, either regarding myself or with respect to
others—what an appropriate season is this to initiate and inaugurate a new
and better life—to turn over, as the common saying is, a new leaf—to make
this renewed votive service today, a fresh starting-point for eternity as
expressed in the words just quoted—"I will walk before God!" What a
sure preservative against sin, to walk with the consciousness of His pure
eye upon me! Seeking to go only where He leads—to love only what He
loves—His paths my paths—my longing aspiration and aim the coinciding of my
will with His! This is obedience. No "snare for the falling feet"
successful then. "Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird"
(Prov. 1:17). Rising on the wings of faith, and prayer, and love, and new
obedience—these wings bathed in the light of God and heaven—they will be
kept from being soiled by the degrading contacts of earth—"I can do all
things through Christ who strengthens me."