Letter to a soul seeking Jesus – No. VI
Go up, leaning on Jesus
Dear friend,
I have heard of you from ______, and have been praying for you, that your eye may rest on Jesus, and that your soul may lie in perfect peace under His blood shed for the sins of many. I have been thanking my Father, too, for dealing so bountifully with you. “He is the Father of mercies, and the God of all comforts.”
I will give you a sweet verse to meditate upon: “Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon the beloved?’” (Song viii. 5). Do you think this is your position? Truly this world is a wilderness if you have seen it rightly. It is a place of guilt and shame. Every natural heart is a wilderness—a dead place without a drop of living water; and then all natural hearts put together make up a wilderness world. The whole world lieth in wickedness.
There are few that know and love Jesus, and these few are panting to get more of the living water. But if you have truly fled to Jesus, you are coming up from the wilderness. Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. “The night is far spent, the day is at hand.”
Have you found Jesus truly? Do you feel willing to be all vile, all hell-deserving in yourself, and to let God’s dear Son be all your shield and righteousness? Oh, make sure of this.
Never mind what man thinks of you. I would not give a straw for the opinions of men, as to whether I was safe of no. It is not what man thinks of us that will cover us on the judgment day. Oh no! You must be in Jesus, sitting at His feet, allowing Him to wash your stains away, allowing Him to enwrap your guilty soul in divine righteousness.
If you were lying at the bottom of the sea, no eye could see your deformities; so when the infinite ocean of Immanuel’s righteousness flows over the soul, you are swallowed up as it were in Christ. Your blackness is never seen, only His fairness; and thus a God of truth can say, “Behold thou art fair; behold thou art fair, My love. Thou art all fair, My love; there is no spot in thee” (Song iv. 1-7).
Keep this always in memory; and when guilt comes on the conscience, as it will, lie down again beneath the righteousness of Jesus. Never lose sight of this. Jesus must be seen by the Father instead of our guilty soul. It is not change in our black soul that is to be our covering. You must leave self, and stand in your Elder Brother. Hide behind Him. Let the Father’s eye fall on Him, not on you. This is what Jesus wants. He died to be a shelter for such as you. This is what the Father wants; for He is not willing that any should perish. If you are seen by the Father a naked, guilty sinner, you must die; there is no help for it. But if Jesus appear for you—if you hide in His wounds like the dove in the clefts of the rock, and under His snowy raiment—then the Father Himself loveth you, and how you are coming up from the wilderness.
Every hour that strikes, that is an hour less between you and glory. Oh, do not grieve to part with the world if you are in Christ! And hour with Christ will make up for all your griefs and pains. Half and hour in the presence of our God will make us forget a lifetime of agony.
“Leaning on her beloved!” Is this the position of your soul? Do you feel empty, weak, and helpless? And do you see Him mighty to save, able to save to the uttermost? “His legs are like pillars of marble.” This is Christ’s glory, that He justifies sinners who have no righteousness, and sanctifies souls that have no inborn holiness. Let Jesus bear your whole weight.
Remember, He loves to be the only support of the soul. He is a jealous Saviour. He wants to be entirely trusted. There is nothing that you can possibly need but you will find it in Him. “All my springs are in Thee.” Do you want righteousness? He has the spirit of a weaned child to give you (Ps. cxxxi.). Do you want love? He is the fountain of love: all the promises of God in Him are yea and in Him amen.
I am sure, if you get a glimpse of Him, you would lay your head in His breast and die there. May the Spirit anoint your eyes to see Him more and more, and soften your heart to lean on Him. Those that have leaned on Him through the wilderness shall sit with Him on the throne (Rev. iii. 21).
Farewell, dear soul! The Lord feed you sweetly, as He feeds the flowers, by silent drops of dew.—Ever yours, etc.
Memoir and Remains, pp. 303-4.
