God has provided a life in which it is possible to "rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks." The psalmist said, "I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth." No person can, by mere volition, bring himself into a frame of mind to bless the Lord at all times and have His praise continually in his mouth. The harassing trials and nagging disappointments incident to earthly life are too many and too severe to admit of the everlasting praise life without the grace of God within. And many with a measure of God's grace have not become acquainted with the secret of continual praise. Let us look at two statements, one in the Old Testament, and the other in the New Testament.
"All these things are against me" (Gen. 42:36).
"All things work together for good" (Rom. 8:28).
The first statement comes from Jacob; the second from the Apostle Paul. Paul said he had learned whatsoever state he was in, therewith to be content (Phil. 4:11). Jacob was looking at the mere external, and judging accordingly. What were the things that were against Jacob? "Me have ye bereaved of my children: Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away. All these things are against me." But Jacob, you are very much mistaken. The very things you say are against you, are all working together for your good. Joseph, right now is in Egypt, the governor of that land, and is not dead as you suppose. Simeon is all right under Joseph's watchful care, and Benjamin will be in the best of hands. Joseph went before, to be a loadstone to draw Simeon there, and Simeon is a loadstone to draw Benjamin there, and Benjamin will be a loadstone to draw you there and all the rest of the family to preserve you alive and to bring about God's wonderful plan and providence in the Hebrew nation. No; the trouble with Jacob was with his foresight; had that been half as good as his hindsight he never would have said what he did.
Perhaps Paul did not have so much to contend with in his day. Let us see. "In labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day have I been in the deep; in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Besides those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches" (2 Cor. 11:23-28). In spite of all these, hear his overcoming, victorious faith say: "All things work together for good."
There is probably no department in the Christian life which is more desired and for which more prayer is offered, than the victory department. There are so many trials, disappointments and annoyances from day to day, that if one allows them to overcome him he is constantly confronting failure and chagrin. But to know that one is from day to day and moment to moment living in the praise and overcoming life, gives him a joy and satisfaction that is simply glorious in the extreme.
There are many Christians who go through the world in a sort of up-and-down, to-and-fro, in-and-out, zigzag way that is certainly discouraging. To have victory today and defeat tomorrow, keeps one on edge all the time, not knowing which way the battle is going to turn. A lesson from the Book of Joshua is encouraging. When he began that wonderful series of conquests just after crossing the Jordan into Canaan, it was victory after victory. Here is a sample of the records: "And he did to the king of Makkedah as he did unto the king of Jericho." Then follows like statements in almost the identical language except that the cities are different, showing that he took the last city and conquered it and its king in precisely the same manner as he did the one before. God had previously promised him that he should have just that kind of victory in Canaan. "Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Hivites, and the Perizzites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Jebusites" (Joshua 3:10). Notice two things in this: It was to occur in Canaan, and there were to be seven nations conquered. Is not this typical of Holy Ghost victory in the sanctified life? Canaan is a type of holiness, and seven is the perfect number. God wants us to have perfect victory from day to day over all our foes, and He will supply that which will enable us to overcome.
So many so-called soldiers of the cross are living simply on the defensive with scarcely a thought of spiritual, aggressive warfare. Look at the great battles that have been won in the world's history. Were not most of them won by the aggressive side? Look at the whole armor of God as the inspired pen of Paul pictures it out in the sixth chapter of Ephesians; the helmet for the head, the breastplate for the vital organs of the body, the shield for the whole man, and a sword to do aggressive execution. We see the whole front of the man protected, but what about the back? There is no protection for that part of the body, for God's soldiers are not expected to turn their back to the foe. If they do, they are sure to be hit. When the writer was a boy, accompanied by other boys, he discovered an old Indian burying ground on the beach bluff near Santa Barbara, California. They had seen indications of such a place, and were diligently searching for the exact spot. Finally, they discovered some rib bones sticking out of the bank, where the constant washing of the waves had in time crumbled the bank down. With shovels in hand they went about the delightsome task of uncovering the dead, with the hopes of finding wampum, arrowheads, pottery or any other relics which might have been buried with their owner. Finally, a section of an Indian's backbone was unearthed, and upon examination it was found that an arrow head had pierced the vertebra, just missing the spinal cord, and was wedged in like a nail driven into a board. The question might be asked: "How did the arrow head get into that Indian's backbone?" Evidently, because the Indian was on the retreat, and his enemy shot him in the back.
Where is the victorious life, when life is spent simply in the humdrum of daily routine of selfish interests? No wonder people have an up-and-down experience. No wonder they never get anywhere outside of the treadmill of life. God wants us to branch out and bless the world and be conquerors. In the Garden of Eden we read about the wonderful river that flowed through it and watered it; but it was not self-centered nor self-contained; it branched out. So it is in sanctified human experience today; the Edenic stream of full salvation flows through the soul, but it does not stop there and center itself in the individual. The stream waters one's life and experience, but it flows out and on to bless others also. The Edenic stream started out as one stream, but the account tells us that it branched out into four streams and watered the world around. So it is with that soul who will let the Holy Ghost have His way with him. Out of his inmost being will flow rivers of living water. This fourfold Edenic stream went out in four directions, to the four quarters of the earth, so to speak. Four is the human number of the Bible, and when one gets the Holy Ghost, he is expected to branch out to the people everywhere and water the world with the precious water of life. Holiness is not self-centered. It consists of two elements—purity and power. If one has the thought of purity alone when he seeks the blessing, he has a one-sided idea of it. There is a power side which enables the possessor to conquer. Purity for the individual, and power for the world; or in other words, power for aggressive warfare.
Whoever became a conqueror that stayed always in one little, beaten path? The world is so big, the possibilities are so great, and the grace of God so boundless, that it looks as if we all ought to set our stakes for bigger results in the Christian life. One day we were passing along a street in a certain city and observed a gentleman constructing a very peculiar piece of frame work, and our curiosity was so aroused that we went over and asked him what he was building. He answered, "I am building a razzle-dazzle." He then explained what that was. He said that a razzle-dazzle was something like a merry-go-round, except that as it went round and round it also went up and down. We thought how many people in their so-called Christian life are riding the razzle-dazzle. They want to be going and moving, but they are going round and round, and not only that, they are going up and down, up and down, and never getting anywhere in their experience. Now, we never were much in favor of running off on tangents, but in this case we think it would be very advantageous to strike a tangent and take a bee-line for Canaan.