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what to do, that was the rub. Then he smiled and said, "I remembered, and I said, 'Jesus you'll have to come along and help me get by, I never can by myself.'" And then in his simple, illiterate way he said, " and He came — and we went by, and we've been going by ever since." ^
2. The joy of the Lord is our strength for service. — No man can do his work well unless his heart is in it ; and for a man to put heart into it he must enjoy it ; and to enjoy it he must feel that it is congenial — that is to say, the three essential elements of successful service are fitness, enjoyment, enthusiasm. Now, God has a work for all that is in harmony with the best powers of each ; a work about which we can say, " I delight to do thy will, 0 my God " ; and a work, therefore, which we can do " with all our might." That work is God's work, the service which engages the energies of the blessed God, which angels rejoice over, and for the joy of completing which the Kedeemer endured the cross and despised the shame — the work of rescuing men from sin and making them happy in God's love.
If Observe the profound wisdom of Nehemiah's injunction. The distress of the people was not unnatural, neither was it excessive. It might, however, through indulgence in it, have become excessive and unreal. The surest test by which to dis- tinguish between true penitence and spasmodic emotion is to set a man about the common duties of life. If, amid the distractions of these things, he loses his contrition, it is evident that he never was earnestly cont-rite ; that his was mere excited sensibility and not inward feeling. And even a true emotion requires to be directed into wholesome channels. There was hard work for these Jews to do ; the whole task of religious reformation lay before them. Their penitence needed to be husbanded for future motive, not wasted in floods of tears and the ecstasy of a common weeping. It may seem strange to us that a cold external commandment should have been the consideration by which they were bidden to self-restraint. But when people have lost their self-control it is only by an external influence that they can be recovered. If we have to do with hysterical persons, it is not along the line of their feeling that we restore them, but by definitely setting ourselves against it ; not by sympathizing with their emotion and by words of tenderness, but by the quick sharp rebuke, " Enough of this ; you must not give way." We recover the widowed mother to ^ S. D. Gordon, Q%iiet Talks on Service, 81.
526 THE STRENGTH OF JOY
composure by bidding her, not indeed forget her dead husband, but remember her living children. We bring back stricken mourners to hope and usefulness by reminding them of imperative and healing duty.^
^ There is, no doubt, an element of truth in George Eliot's words, " Many a good piece of work is done with a sad heart," and the lines of Matthew Arnold embody a similar lesson : —
Tasks in hours of insight willed May be in hours of gloom fulfilled.
Still, as a general rule, it will be found that there is nothing more unfavourable to efficient or successful work than despondency or sadness. A joyless workman is seldom a good workman ; he does not work vigorously, he has no pleasure in his work, and consequently he is very likely to tire of it. Joy is the source of strength. Gladness is the secret of efficiency. Light-heartedness makes work easy. If our spirits begin to flag, we shall not conquer difficulties. If we lose heart, we shall win no victories. " If the arm is to smite with vigour," says Dr. Maclaren, " it must smite at the bidding of a calm and light heart."
Now with no care or fear,
Because I feel Thee near. Because my hands were not reached out in vain,
I may from out my calm
Eeach humbly out some balm, Some peace, some light to others in their pain.
3. The joy of the Lord is our strength for endurance,. — We are too weak to endure the discipline of life unless we have the present earnest of the future reward. Sorrows make us strong by break- ing us away from the enervating influences of the world's life ; but stronger for endurance is this joy which springs out of sorrow. It was this joy that shone out in the martyr ages, and filled the martyrs' souls with the peace of God, and it is the earnest and foretaste now of the blessedness of those who, being faithful to the end, shall fuUy " enter into the joy of their Lord."
^ Learn to live with the contentment of those who have already found their portion, who see their way now through eternity. And at each step of your way, when things are very dark with you and the light has died off from all you took pleasure
' A. Mackcuual.
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in, when men are wondering how they can speak a word of comfort to you, you can still say, " The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places ; yea, I have a goodly heritage ! " You are deter- mined to read all God's dealings with you in the light of His prime gift; and you know well enough that the want of some things is a part of the "all things" that God bestows. You can, each one of you, go to God now and say with a confidence no creature can challenge, " Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory." ^