THE KING'S BUSINESS
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fit us for the field of service which He has chosen; it is for us to leave it to Him to choose the gift and to impart to us the gift which He has chosen. Here it is that a multitude of earnest men and women go astray, they have lost sight of the truth which our Lord so clearly teaches here, the truth of the Sovereignty of the Spirit; they choose some gift for themselves, and then cry earnestly to God to impart to them this gift which they themselves in their ignorance have chosen (and they wonder why God doesn’t answer their prayer, though He has told them plainly in this verse that He will not answer such a prayer) they choose for themselves some field of service, and then cry to God to fit them for this field which they themselves have chosen (and they wonder why God does not answer their prayer, though He has told them plainly that He will not answer such a prayer). No, “the wind bloweth where it will,” the Holy Spirit divideth “to each one severally even as He will” : let them, therefore, put themselves absolutely at the disposal of the Holy Spirit for Him to choose whatsoever gift He in His infinite, wisdom will, and to impart to them the gift which He Himself has chosen: for Him to choose for them the field of service, and to fit them for the field which He Himself has chosen for them. While we cannot dictate to the wind, and while the wind will not obey our behests if we attempt to; nevertheless we can learn the laws according to which the wind acts, and can so build our windmill that the wind will grind our corn whichever way the wind blows from. Just so we can learn the laws according to which the Holy Spirit operates, and so bring ourselves into harmony with those laws that He will work through us and do( the work which He alone, in His almighty power, can do. What
not whence it cdmeth, and whither it goeth.” It is often said that our Lord never quoted from the book of Ecclesiastes, but He certainly refers to it here. (3). Because the Holy Spirit like the wind is Sovereign, “bloweth where it (or He) will.” There is no use trying to dictate to the wind: it blows when it will, and where it will. When the wind is blowing a gale, it will effect nothing for you to go out and bid it to blow more gently, or to cease blowing altogether. The wind will keep right on blowing hard. On the other hand, if there is not a breath of air stirring and you long for a refreshing breeze you may call upon the wind to blow, but it will not blow one particle more for all your calling. If the wind is blowing from the North and you long for it to blow from the South, you may command it never so sternly to blow from the South, but it will not obey you: it will keep right on blowing from the' North—“the wind bloweth where it will.” Just so is it with the Holy Spirit, no one can dictate to Him, He is Sovereign (because He is Divine), “He bloweth where He will,” He divideth “to every man severally as He will” (1 Cor. 12: 11). There is no truth about the Holy Spirit that it is of greater practical importance for us to learn than this. If we are to get into right relations with Him,- we must learn this first of all, that He is absolutely Sovereign and that we must submit to His will and not seek to get Him to submit to ours. It is not for us to choose some field of service and then look to the Holy Spirit to fit us for our self-chosen field of service; it is not for us to choose some gift and then to look to the Holy Spirit to impart to us this self-chosen gift. It is, rather, for us to recognize His Sovereignty, and to look to' Him in His Divine wisdom to select for us the field of service and
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