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No Room for Boasting, August 15
Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of
unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for
mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.
Isaiah 6:5
.
Those who experience the sanctification of the Bible will manifest a
spirit of humility. Like Moses, they have had a view of the awful majesty
of holiness, and they see their own unworthiness in contrast with the purity
and exalted perfection of the Infinite One.
The prophet Daniel was an example of true sanctification. His long life
was filled up with noble service for his Master. He was a man “greatly
beloved” (
Daniel 10:11
) of Heaven. Yet instead of claiming to be pure
and holy, this honored prophet identified himself with the really sinful
of Israel as he pleaded before God in behalf of his people: “We do not
present our supplications before thee for our righteousness, but for thy great
mercies.” “We have sinned, we have done wickedly.” He declares: “I was
speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people....
“(
Daniel 9:18, 15, 20
).
When Job heard the voice of the Lord out of the whirlwind, he ex-
claimed: “I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (
Job 42:6
). It was
when Isaiah saw the glory of the Lord, and heard the cherubim crying,
“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts,” that he cried out, “Woe is me!
for I am undone” (
Isaiah 6:3, 5
). Paul, after he was caught up into the
third heaven and heard things which it was not possible for a man to utter,
speaks of himself as “less than the least of all saints” (
2 Corinthians 12:2-4
,
margin;
Ephesians 3:8
). It was the beloved John, who leaned on Jesus’
breast and beheld His glory, that fell as one dead before the feet of the angel
(
Revelation 1:17
).
There can be no self-exaltation, no boastful claim to freedom from sin,
on the part of those who walk in the shadow of Calvary’s cross. They feel
that it was their sin which caused the agony that broke the heart of the Son
of God, and this thought will lead them to self-abasement. Those who live
nearest to Jesus discern most clearly the frailty and sinfulness of humanity,
and their only hope is in the merit of a crucified and risen Saviour.
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