With Love, from the Editress

My dear Sisters,

I feel that God wants me to use this space in this issue to reprint a portion of The Hidden Life. I trust it is blessing to you and that we will all take to heart the truth that is in these words:

How delightful to walk with those whom we love! How blessed is the companionship of true and faithful friends! As our hearts commune together, we grow deeper into each other’s love. The husband and wife grow so deeply into each other’s affections that they seem to live in each other. They are of one heart and soul and life, and so much like each other are they that to meet one is to meet both. God is man’s true friend. Never was there a love for man like God’s love. Oh! the wide, deep, and infathomable love of God. It encircles the universe. It reaches to the most insignificant of his creatures. You may have other friends of His creatures. You may have other friends and those who love you, but He is the truest friend, and no love is as His love. How sweet must it be to walk with Him! How blessed must be the companionship of such a true and faithful friend! How glorious to commune with Him as heart talks to heart and to feel oneself growing deeper in His love! To live in Him and to have our being in Him and to have Him dwell in us is to have heaven in us and to be in heaven.

In giving the biography of some men, whole volumes have been written. The three-hundred-years’ history of one man is told in these few words: “[He] walked with God.”* (Genesis 5:24) Men have conquered nations, discovered continents, built cities, founded empires; and volumes are required to tell of all they have done. But Enoch did more—he “walked with God.” What a history! Whole volumes have said less than this.

But this privilege did not belong to Enoch alone; it is yours, reader, and it is mine. We have the blessed privilege of engraving this epitaph upon the hearts and the minds of men: “He walked with God.”

It is not said that God walked with Enoch, but that Enoch walked with God. Some heart might sighingly say, “Oh, that God would walk with me!” Let the sighings of thy heart be changed to saying, “Oh, let me walk with God!” There are many who would be pleased to have God walk with them, but who will not walk with Him. God’s course was marked out before man was created. From this course He never turns. If you desire His companionship, you must walk in His way. Some seek the honor of walking with men of renown, but no higher honor can be given man than the privilege of walking with God. Others may delight to sit in the court of kings and desire to walk in the way with lords and noblemen; but my heart craves naught else than a walk with God.

God will condescend to walk with those who walk with Him; but if you would walk with Him, you must go in the ways in which He leads. Suppose you and another man took a ride through the country. He owned the horse and carriage, and did the driving. He went the way he desired. You went along for the sake of companionship. You do not say that the man rode with you, but that you rode with him. When you see a little child walking by the side of its father with its hand in his, you say that the child is walking with its father. It goes where its father leads. But you could not say that the child was walking with the father if the father was being led aside by the child in its chase after the gay butterfly. To walk with the Lord, you must put your hand in His and go where He leads.

“But take diligent heed… to love the LORD your God and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave unto him, and to serve him with all your heart and all your soul.”* (Joshua 22:5) You will not fail to notice, I trust, that you are here commanded to be diligent to walk in all His ways. The ways in which you are to walk, if you walk with God, are all to be His ways. None are to be yours. Let me here speak to you very feelingly. The simple reason why you do not have a satisfactory walk with God is because you have not left all your own ways. Here is a very precious secret not found by everyone. You would walk with God in a great many of His ways and would leave many of your ways; but there is one little way you are loath to leave. Whenever the way of God begins to lead you from that way, you feel a little uneasy and almost ready to murmur. You have had many pleasant hours along that way of yours. The lust of the eye has been so often gratified there that, indeed, it seems like plucking out the eye to leave that way. Oh, how difficult to turn away from it! So many fond recollections are clustering along that way. Some dear friend is walking there, with whom you are loath to part company. It may be a father or a mother, a husband or a wife, or children. It may be houses or lands. But all these must be forsaken to walk with Jesus.

One young man asked, “Must I forsake my mother to walk with God?”

The reply was, “Yes, you must forsake your mother—you must forsake all.”

But here is the explanation: this is not meant in the literal sense. You need not leave her home, but you cannot walk in her ways if she walks in sin. If she will forsake her ways to walk in God’s ways then you and she will walk in the same way; but you cannot walk in the Spirit with anyone who does not walk with God. When their associations would interfere with your walk with God, you must forsake even that. To walk with Jesus means for you to forsake everything that would hinder your walk with Him. Herein lies the precious secret of a safe, prosperous, and happy Christian life.

A walk with God is a satisfactory walk. He who walks with God is delighted all the way. Alas! many who are hoping that they are Christians and that they will reach the fair climes of heaven and there delight themselves in God are quite dissatisfied with their walk here. A dissatisfied walk on earth never ends in heaven. Wherever God is, there is heaven, and wherever heaven is, there the soul is satisfied; consequently, to walk with God satisfies the soul. It is only when man chooses his own way and walks apart from God that life becomes dissatisfactory. Those who choose their own way will meet with disappointment and with difficulties that they will not be able to overcome. In God’s ways there are no disappointments. When our wills are submitted to Him and we humbly and submissively walk where He leads us, we meet with no disappointments.

A trusting saint said in a recent conversation: “I can be satisfied only when I know I am in the way with Jesus; only when I know my hand is in His and He is leading me. I would not take one little way without Him. One step without His leading may be fatal. I can walk through darkness in safety when He leads. I would rather walk through the furnace flame with Jesus than through the fields of roses without Him. Amid the flowers there may be a thorn to prick me, but the furnace flame cannot kindle upon me when Christ is by my side.”

As remarked before, to walk with God one must follow where He leads. The command is, “Be ye… followers of God as dear children.”* (Ephesians 5:1) A friend remarked, “Oh! if I only knew where He would lead me, or if I could only see to the end of the way.” Thou foolish child! Such a faint heart cannot walk with God.

One night during a very heavy rain a father and child were compelled to walk a mile to a neighbor’s through water up to the child’s waist. When their wet clothes were exchanged for dry, the neighbor said to the boy, “Were you not much afraid while walking through the deep water?”

“No, sir,” said the boy, “Papa was with me.”

Though our walk with God may lead us through deep water, we need not fear; for God hath said, “they shall not overflow thee.”* ()

A vessel at one time was in an angry storm at sea. Among the many passengers on board was a skeptic, a Christian lady, and her little boy. During the storm the skeptic was in great alarm, but he could not help noticing the calmness and restfulness of the lady and her boy. After the storm was over, he talked with the boy.

“My child,” he began, “were you not afraid during the storm?”

“No, sir,” replied the boy.

“And why were you not afraid?” inquired the skeptic.

“Because my mama was with me,” answered the lad.

Turning to the mother, the skeptic said, “Lady, were you not afraid during such a storm?”

“No, sir,” replied the woman.

“And why were you not afraid?” he asked.

“Because,” said she, “my Father was with me.”

Sometimes the way in which God leads you may be through the storm and through the dark, but you need not fear nor falter. Only listen, and you will hear Him saying, “Fear thou not; for I am with thee.”* (Isaiah 41:10) He may lead you over some stony places, but He is only bringing you to the green pastures and the still waters just beyond. He may need to lead you close by a dark and dangerous precipice in order to bring you into the land of flowers in the valley. One time there was something I very greatly desired. I sought for a time, at the advice of my friends to seek for it in my way, but I found it not. At that time I felt the Lord calling me in a way I had not walked before. The way led through some privation and suffering, and it seemed to lead directly away from that which I had been seeking. Nevertheless I decided to follow where Jesus led me, be that where it might. After I had passed through some suffering and tests, behold, He brought me to the very thing I was desiring. Blessed be His name!

Jesus knows best. If you could see down your future way, your eye would rest only upon the dangerous precipice or on the stony place, and you would fail to see the green pastures, the still waters, and the flowery fields lying beyond.

Abraham started with his only son, Isaac, whom he loved, to go into the land of Moriah, there to offer him upon one of the mountains as a burnt offering. The journey required three days. As they walked on their way, the happy, innocent boy said to Abraham, “My father… Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”* (Genesis 22:7) The father replied, “My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering.”* (Genesis 22:8) The child went happily on his way, never thinking he was that lamb. Had the father told his son that he (Isaac) was to be slain and burnt upon the altar, in fear he would have seen the glare of the knife and have heard the crackling of the flames, and he would have failed to see the angel’s delivering hand.

Behind every cross there is a crown; beyond every shadow there is sunshine; below the rapids is the still water. If you were to see the cross in the distance, you might shrink back and consequently never wear the crown: if you saw the deepening shadow, you might never enjoy the sunshine; if you hear the rapids roar, you might never sail your bark on the tranquil waters. Not until the cross is reached will God give grace to bear the cross. Put your hand in God’s and trust Him every step of the way—

Do not seek to know the future,
Do not stop to question why;
Follow where the Savior leads you,
Trust Him, trust Him all the way.

Never fear. He will be with you in the shadow. He will be with you when the waves are dashing your little bark about on life’s sea. Listen, and in His own time you will hear Him say, “Peace, be still.”

…

Daniel’s walk with God led him through the den of lions, but it gave him victory over his enemies and brought him into greater favor with the king. The three young Hebrews that walked with God were led through the fiery furnace, but their promotion in the king’s court lay just beyond. Peter’s walk with God led him through the dungeon, but an angel’s visit was awaiting him. Paul’s walk led him through the perils of the sea, through hunger and fastings, through weariness and painfulness, through cold and nakedness, through perils of robbers and perils in the wilderness, through stoning and beating and whippings. Imagine this old man with his back bared and bowed beneath the lash. Hear the heavy strokes as they fall; see the blood flowing from the wounds; listen—what is that we hear him saying? Is he saying, “The way is too hard; the Lord has treated me too cruelly, and I will walk no more with Him”? Listen more closely. Ah! he is saying, “None of these things move me. Nothing shall separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus, my Lord. I reach forth to those things before; I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Henceforth a crown of righteousness is laid up for me” (Acts 20:24; Romans 8:39; Philippians 3:13-14; 2 Timothy 4:8).

[Charles E. Orr; The Hidden Life, “Walking with God”]

Dear sisters, may you always press for a closer walk with our dear Savior.

In His love,
Abigail Spinks

Editress of Maidens of Virtue and Honor, formerly Dear Princess Magazine. Dear Princess was merged into a new family publication, Foundation Truth in the Fall/Winter of 1999/2000. Maidens of Virtue and Honor is a condensed version of the old Dear Princess Magazine. We welcome your letters, testimonies and articles as the Lord leads you to write.