“Have you answered the question, Ruth, dear?”
“Whose question?”
“The Holy Spirit’s—Wherefore, do ye? That is what he asks. Do you understand why we try to satisfy our souls on husks, instead of wheat?”
“Well,” Ruth said, thoughtfully, “things have to be done.”
“Of course; but why should we stop among the things expecting satisfaction, or allow them to take other than the subordinate place they were meant to occupy? Ruth, I think the trouble with you is, you do not read the whole verse. You feel that you have proved the truth of the first part of it, in your own experience Why don’t you try the rest?”
“Just what do you mean?”
“Why, listen; ‘Hearken unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.’ Don’t you see what an assurance that is, that the feast is spread? There is prepared that which will satisfy; why not hearken to the voice of the Master of the feast?”
Ruth lifted to her sister’s face earnest eyes, that filled with tears.
“I have tried to ‘hearken,’” she said, in a voice that was husky with feeling. “I have heard his voice and have tried to follow him and, at times, as I have told you before, he has seemed very near, but the feeling does not stay. I am up on the Mount one day, more than satisfied, and the next day I have dropped down and lost my comfort.”
“Yes, I know that story in all its details. I have lived it. In my own case it was because I ceased ‘hearkening’ for his voice. I placed other things first. I thought first of what I was going to do, or have, or be, instead of putting Christ first.”