Without Me, Ye Can Do Nothing

When a person becomes older, he frequently lives in the past. Wonderful memories then usually drift to the top. I recall one of my teachers saying, “A person can make the past sound as nice as he wants it to be, for there is no one who can verify if it is the truth.” Even in those days there was strife, and also then disputes tore apart the peace in the church.

Yet, all things considered, it was different in those days. Just recall with me the history of Gideon. At the oak in Ophra, he had a surprising meeting. The Angel of the LORD called him to a very responsible task. He was called to deliver Israel out of the hand of their enemies. Then we hear Gideon’s complaint. “How can the Lord say that He is with His people?” It is frequently so different. The Lord has departed from His people. Then Gideon recalls for us the past: “Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all His miracles which our fathers told us of?” Is it not as if this complaint is a picture of our days? It seems as if the past has been crossed off, and mankind no longer wishes to speak about it for they say, undoubtedly there were issues in those days as well. We are now living in a different age. Happily, there remains a people who still think back upon the good old days.

That is how it is frequently with me also upon the ancient and time-honored church pathway. Most of the time I sit there alone under the tree. Then I feel myself lonesome and forgotten. In my journey through this life, I still have one friend beside me. If I would also have to lose him, then I would have nothing left here below. Certainly, I know very well that a person has to die to everything here upon earth. Joseph had to be forgotten, and Jacob was left behind alone, and when the Lord comes in our lives to take something away from us, then He frequently takes that which we love the most; David even had to lose his Jonathan.

Happily, I still have Jonathan as my friend. From time to time he comes to visit me, and his comfort has more than once been a blessing for me. I can understand that Paul was lovingly comforted with the coming of Tychicus. It is in this manner that I sat mourning under the leafless tree on the old church path. Time and again I had to think along with Gideon about the past. I could no longer recognize the wonders of the past. “Oh, we will miss them so much.” Ah, how I miss those old people. I see so much confusion upon the path of the church—conversions which are not real, people speaking about things which they have not experienced. Even from the pulpit, at times, the doctrine of free grace is disparaged. Suddenly I saw Jonathan coming in the distance. He

Suddenly I saw Jonathan coming in the distance. He also frequently thinks of the past, and then he often is homesick for those days. When he came to sit next to me, he said, “Tell me again something about the past, about what you have experienced.” For a moment it was quiet. Sometimes everything is so mixed up that I cannot reach it any more either. But in a moment, I remembered that woman from one of my congregations. She was unmarried, and for as long as I knew her, she was bedridden and helped by a girlfriend.

Together they had to live from the profits of a small grocery store. They were content with their lot. The woman herself kept the books of the business while lying in her bed. If you could only see how she had to do that. Her fingers had grown crooked because of her arthritis. She suffered much pain, but as long as I visited her, she never complained. She did not even speak of her illness. As soon as I came there, from the first to the last the conversation was about her Beloved Surety in all of His beauty. I was privileged to often listen to her. She has been more to me than all of my teachers in school. She could speak of the matters in her life so simply. She had such a dependent life. She had to ask the Lord for the smallest token of His favor. She could not grasp the pencil in her hand if the Lord did not give her strength. She could not bring her glass of water to her mouth if the Lord did not help her. Rich were her exercises in “Without Me, ye can do nothing.”

With all of this she remained a poor person. I witnessed that when her end drew near. Oh, how poor she was and worn out. In her last days she stammered continuously about the depths wherein she lay. Oh, the fall in Adam was so deep. She herself lay so inexpressibly deep. It seemed as if all lights had been extinguished for her. As a Mary Magdalene she stood weeping at the grave.

Happily, that was not all; just before her departure she could relate how precious Christ had become to her as her Surety. He had to bow so deeply for her personally to bring her up out of those depths. He had become her Surety not only by His birth but much more even in His conception. Full of emotion I said my farewell. I still have in my possession the card announcing her death which she had written herself—no, not having departed after a long patient suffering but carried by the faithfulness of the Lord.

Jonathan sat next to me listening with rapt attention. He whispered, “One does not hear that so much anymore.” We do meet rich people upon the church path, but poor souls are rarely found.

It has become quiet; yet, the Prince lives always, He lives eternally.

I had to hasten to say goodbye to Jonathan. I had to promise him that I would send his greetings to all of you, a traveler upon the old church path. p

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