In the Common Ways

If we would see the face of the Master when He comes and walks among us, we must look for Him in the common ways.

In one of his poems, Lowell tells the story of an ancient prophet who made a pilgrimage into the wilderness, until he came to Mount Sinai. God’s presence had deserted him, and he thought that at Sinai, if anywhere in the world, he would find it again. As he engaged in prayer on the holy mount, expecting some strange and startling answer, the moss at his feet unfolded, and a little violet appeared. That was the answer to his prayer. He had found God again. Then he remembered that just before he left his home his little daughter had come running to him, offering him a bouquet of these very flowers. They grew at his own door. He saw them every day. He had traveled all that long, weary distance to receive a message which had been near to him all the time.

People want some startling revelation, some unusual manifestation. But God often comes to us in the simplest ways, in the giving of our daily bread, in the love of our friends, in the sweet affections of our homes, in the beauty and simplicity of the little children.

Even yet some people read the gospels and wonder…

if God loves them,
if He sympathizes with them in their sorrows,
if He cares when they have troubles,
if He hears and answers prayers,
if He is really gentle, patient, kind, easily approached,
if He is indeed merciful, gracious and longsuffering.

They ask, “Where has God manifested His love?”

Jesus says to us, “Your Father sends His love to you.” We ask with weary heart, “Where is it? Where is His love?” while there, right before our eyes, is Jesus, with His blessed life, full of its divine revealings, and His cross with all its glory of love. In the face of the Master is all the glory of God. We look up into the skies, wondering why we cannot see God, not knowing that He is near to us continually (Acts 17:27).

The way to find Christ is to look for Him in the common ways. This is the way to find our duty, too. Many people are always thinking of their mission in the world as something grandiose and dazzling. They do not suppose that anything so common as life’s ordinary tasks could be the very thing that God wants them to do—the thing they were sent into this world to do. When they think of being of use in the world, they expect to have the opportunity of doing some great thing, something out of the ordinary routine. But, as a rule, we find our best work, the things we are meant to do, our opportunities for being useful to others, in the line of our common duty. “Seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not.”* (Jeremiah 45:5)

Do the duty that comes next to your hand, and you will find yourself near to heaven. Do not wander everywhere, looking for the Christ. He is not far off. You do not need to climb mountains or cross seas to see Him. Look for Him in the midst of the tasks of the common days. He was made known at Emmaus, not in some splendid transfiguration, but in the breaking of bread at the common meal (Luke 24:30-31). Do your duty in the lowly ways, and you will see the blessed Face beaming in love upon you.