BELOVED IN THE LORD: In these days in which we live, there is great need that we be more quiet before the Lord. Just to enter into, and abide in such sweet communion with Him that we may at all times feast on that fruit of the Spirit which is Love, Joy, Peace, etc. (Galatians 5:22,23)¹. These verses are just a picture of what our Lord Jesus Christ is, and what He wants to be, to every one of His dear ones. This is very precious to the heart that has tasted that the Lord is Good. O, that we might enter more into the mind of God, about the One whose infinite loveliness is His daily delight, who always pleased Him, who rejoiced always before Him (Matthew 17:5; Proverbs 8:30)².

When we are rejoicing in His love do we ever stop to think whether He is happy? We sing, “That will be glory for me.” How much more blessed to sing, “That will be glory for Him.” O, that we might get so completely away from self and from seeking our own welfare as to be able to live before Him just to minister to the needs of His own loving heart, just to make Him happy. No one was ever happy who was seeking happiness. Only those taste of real joy who are seeking to give joy to the heart of another. We come to Him many times to have our own needs met. Do we ever come just to satisfy the longings of His own heart of love?

He is seeking worshippers, those who will speak His real worth, His beauty, His glory. Has He found them in us? Have we been seeking to give Him the joy that was before Him when He endured the cross, when He paid the awful price of our redemption? Will our only joy in the glory be that we are saved and made like Him? Will not the joy of knowing that He is satisfied, that He has been made to rejoice, far transcend all this? Ah, beloved, we are so prone to look at everything from our own standpoint, from the effect it will have on us instead of its relation to Him. We have wept with Him over old stony hearts. Have we ever rejoiced with Him just because He found His sheep? We are often made to rejoice by the joy of those dear to our hearts. Are we ever happy for no other reason than that we know He is happy? How often we sell our ointment—that which should have been poured out upon Him—under pretense of giving something to the poor (John 12:1-11)³. How often we deny Him the time that His loving heart craves under pretense of being too busy with service. Dr. C. I. Scofield says, “I grow very weary of the constant spurring of God’s people to service, service, as if any father ever did care so much to have his children toiling for him as loving and trusting him.”

O, that we might ask ourselves under every circumstance, “Will this bring joy to His loving heart?” We may be doing many things that are not positively evil, but do they contribute to His joy? How much we need to get better acquainted with Him. To know Him aright will lessen our care to know anything else, for He is the fullness of God. In Him is comprehended all that God has for us from the moment we are saved to the countless ages of eternity.

Yet a little while and we shall be forever with Him. Will we regret then that we spent much time alone with Him while in this wilderness scene? My heart longs for that time when I shall never again grieve Him. How patient, how gentle He has been with every one of us. How the lack of appreciation on the part of friends has grieved us. How we have wept when having exhausted our efforts in some act of kindness, it is received with utter disregard. What, then, must it mean to Him who gave us everything to purchase us from eternal death, to have us show no concern about His happiness, about His glory, to have us occupied with everything but Himself?

¹ “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law” (Galatians 5:22,23 KJV).

² “While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him” (Matthew 17:5).

“Then I was by Him, as one brought up with Him: and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him” (Proverbs 8:30).

³ “Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom He raised from the dead. There they made Him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with Him. Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment. Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, which should betray Him, Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor? This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein. Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this. For the poor always ye have with you; but Me ye have not always. Much people of the Jews therefore knew that He was there: and they came not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom he had raised from the dead. But the chief priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death; because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away, and believed on Jesus” (John 12:1-11).