Healthy Aspiration - Abiding in What Can Only Be Given

From "My Utmost for His Highest," November 24:

DIRECTION OF ASPIRATION
"Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters . . . so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God." Psalm 123:2

This verse is a description of entire reliance upon God. Just as the eyes of the servant are riveted on his master, so our eyes are up unto God and our knowledge of His countenance is gained (cf. Isaiah 53:1. R.V). Spiritual leakage begins when we cease to lift up our eyes unto Him. The leakage comes not so much through trouble on the outside as in the imagination; when we begin to say - "I expect I have been stretching myself a bit too much, standing on tiptoe and trying to look like God in stead of being an ordinary humble person." We have to realize that no effort can be too high.

For instance, you came to a crisis when you made a stand for God and had the witness of the Spirit that all was right, but the weeks have gone by, and the years maybe, and you are slowly coming to the conclusion - 'Well, after all, was I not a bit too pretentious? Was I not taking a stand a bit too high?' Your rational friends come and say - Don't be a fool, we knew when you talked about this spiritual awakening, that it was a passing impulse, you can't keep up the strain, God does not expect you to. And you say - Well, I suppose I was expecting too much. It sounds humble to say it, but it means that reliance on God has gone and reliance on worldly opinion has come in. The danger is lest no longer relying on God you ignore the lifting up of your eyes to Him. Only when God brings you to a sudden halt, will you realize how you have been losing out. Whenever there is a leakage, remedy it immediately. Recognize that something has been coming between you and God, and get it readjusted at once.

There is a subtle distinction in the writing above between striving to attain the Goal and seeing and knowing the Goal. If you read O.C.'s writing, you'll find a very strong emphasis against striving to achieve any great thing on our own or for ourselves (which is actually a Bible Truth--no doubt the Truth O.C. is trying to convey)--though it may seem so, he is not condoning this striving in the passage above. The above addresses the goal and the life of continual full reliance on God, producing an awareness of His presence that overflows in us to the point that others might notice and errantly say "it was a passing impulse." If we can keep this in mind as not a contradiction, but instead as clarity on the life of delighting in the Lord, desiring Him above all else and even being very aware of Him versus striving to attain any self-righteousness by our own efforts, then we can see this not as a contradiction but instead as a more detailed clarification. Jesus is the Way and the Destination. While united with Him, we do have the experience O.C. describes. Let us never give it up willingly in the name of false humility, knowing also that we could never gain it on our own apart from Him and He is available to all.