View source for 32. I will run the way of Your commandments

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<strong>32. </strong><em><strong>I will run the way of Your commandments, when You shall enlarge my heart.</strong></em><br><br>
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A glowing picture of the Christian's delight in the ways of God! If we <em>&quot;have chosen the way of God's commandments,&quot;</em> and have been able to <em>&quot;stick to&quot;</em> this way, surely we shall wish to <em>&quot;run in it&quot;</em> with constancy and cheerfulness. We shall want to mend our pace. If we walk, we shall long to <em>&quot;run.&quot;</em> There is always the same reason for progress, that there was for setting out. Necessity, advantage, enjoyment, spur us on to the end. Whatever progress we have made, we shall desire to make more; we shall go on praying and walking, and praying that we may walk with a swifter motion; we shall be dissatisfied, yet not discouraged, &quot;faint, yet pursuing.&quot; Now this is as it should be. This is after the pattern of the holy Apostle:, &quot;Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do; forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.&quot; But the secret as well as the pattern of Christian progress is—looking beyond the Apostle, and the &quot;so great cloud of witnesses, with which we are encompassed&quot;—and &quot;looking unto Jesus.&quot; Faith is the principle of life, and supplies the daily motion of life;—directing our eye to Him as &quot;the Author,&quot; until He &quot;becomes the Finisher,&quot; of our faith. This is at once our duty, our privilege, our happiness, and our strength. This is the point, at which we begin to run; and we &quot;so run, that we may obtain.&quot;<br><br>
But let us more distinctly mark the medium through which this spiritual energy flows—<em>an enlarged heart.</em> Without this influence how could we run this <em>way of God's commandments?</em> Such is the extent and latitude of the course, that a straitened heart is utterly inadequate to carry us through. There must be large treasures of knowledge, in order that from a rich &quot;treasure-house the good things&quot; may pour out abundantly. For indeed spiritual &quot;knowledge&quot; is the principle of &quot;multiplied grace.&quot; Scriptural truths, divinely fixed in the understanding, powerfully influence the heart. Christian privilege also greatly advances this important end. In seasons of depression we are &quot;so troubled, that we cannot speak.&quot; We cannot pour out our hearts, as at other times, with a large measure of spirit and life. But when &quot;we joy in God, having received the atonement,&quot; the spirit is invigorated, as with oil on the wheels, or as &quot;with wings to mount&quot; on high in the service of praise.<br><br>
Very different, however, is this <em>enlargement of heart</em> from enlargement of gifts. Fluency of utterance is too often fearfully separated from the spiritual life, and utterly unconnected with delight in <em>the way of God's commandments.</em> It is expression, not feeling—counterfeit grace—public, not secret or personal, religion. The yoke of sin is not broken, and the self-deceiver will be found at last among the deluded throng of gifted hypocrites, &quot;punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord.&quot;<br><br>
Indeed the spiritual principle is far too little realized. At the commencement of the course, conscious guilt straitens the approach to the throne of grace. Unbelief imprisons the soul. And even when the deliverer is known, who &quot;sets at liberty them that are bruised,&quot; still the body of death with all its clogging burden and confinement presses down the soul. Unbelief also continues to work, to narrow the conceptions of the gospel, and by the painful recollections of the past, to bring in distrust, distance, and bondage. And most painful is this restraint. For the soul, which is but beginning to see how desirable is the favor of God, feels also an earnest desire to honor Him. And to him who—having fully &quot;tasted that the Lord is gracious&quot;—asks, &quot;What shall I render unto the Lord?&quot; this remaining influence of &quot;the spirit of bondage&quot; is more afflicting, than perhaps was a greater measure of it in a less enlightened stage of his way. Still, however, this legal spirit pursues him. His comforts, ebbing and flowing, according as he is dissatisfied or satisfied with his Christian progress, clearly evince a secret &quot;confidence in the flesh,&quot; greatly hindering that &quot;rejoicing in Christ Jesus,&quot; which so <em>enlarges the heart.</em><br><br>
Thus by the shackles of sin, unbelief, and self-righteousness, we are indeed 'sore let and hindered in running the race set before us.' (Collect for Advent.) The light is obscured. Faith loses sight of its object. What otherwise would be a delight becomes a weariness. Obedience is irksome; self-denial intolerable; the cross heavy. The heart is, as it were, &quot;shut up, and it cannot get forth.&quot; Faith is so low: desires are so faint; hopes so narrow, that it seems impossible to make progress. Frequent defeats induce despondency. The world is resorted to. Sin ensnares and captivates. Thus &quot;we did run well; but we have been hindered.&quot;<br><br>
This sad evil naturally leads us to inquire for the remedy. The case is backsliding, not apostasy. The remedy therefore is in that<em>engagement,</em> which embraces a wider expanse of light, and a more full confidence of love. We find that we have not been &quot;straitened&quot; in God, but &quot;in our own affections.&quot; If then the rich fool thought of enlarging his barns, when his stores had increased upon him, much more should we &quot;enlarge the place of our tent,&quot; that we may make more room for God, encourage larger expectations, if we would have more full manifestations of Him. Let not the vessels fail, before the oil stays. Continually let the petition be sent up, &quot;Oh that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast!&quot; Whatever cause we have to cry out, &quot;My leanness, my leanness!&quot;—still let us, in the exercise of faith and prayer, be waiting for a more cheerful ability to love, serve, and praise. Let us be restless, until the prison-doors are again opened, and the command is issued to the prisoners, &quot;Go forth: and to them that are in darkness—Show yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places.&quot; Who knows but the Lord will once more shine upon us; once more unloose our fetters, and renew our strength?<br><br>
But again and again must we be reminded that every motion must begin with God. <em>I will run</em>—but how? not in my own strength, but by &quot;the good hand of my God upon me,&quot; delivering and <em>enlarging my heart.</em> He does not say—I will make no efforts, unless You work for me; but if <em>You will enlarge—I will run.</em> Weakness is not the plea for indolence, but for quickening grace. &quot;Draw me&quot;—says the Church, &quot;we will run after You.&quot; Effectual calling will issue in <em>running.</em>&quot; Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.&quot; The secret of Christian energy and success is a <em>heart enlarged</em> in the love of God.<br><br>
Let me then begin betimes—make haste—keep straight on—fix my eye on the mark, &quot;endure unto the end.&quot; I may yet expect in the joy of blessed surprise to exclaim, &quot;Or ever I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of Ammi-nadib.&quot; Godly sorrow had made me serious. Now let holy joy make me active. &quot;The joy of the Lord is my strength;&quot; and I am ready, under the power of constraining love, to work and to toil—to run without weariness—to &quot;march onward&quot; without fainting; not measuring my pace by my own strength, but looking to Him who &quot;strengthens with all might by His Spirit in the inner man.&quot;<br><br>
Happy fruit of wrestling prayer and diligent waiting on God! Joy in God, and strength to walk with Him, with increasing knowledge of Him, increasing communion with Him, and increasing confidence in Him.
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