A BOTTLE IN THE SMOKE

"For I am become like a bottle in the smoke; yet do I not forget thy statutes" (Zech 4:10)

The Psalms afford us the opportunity of seeing life through the eyes of faith. There, every spiritual experience is expressed in language that is both truthful and honoring to God. We find such an articulation in this text.

David felt like he had been, so to speak, hung out to dry–like a bottle, or wineskin, in hot smoke. In that circumstance, the wineskin becomes dry and brittle. The moisture is taken from it during the prolonged exposure to the devitalizing smoke.

How descriptive this is of a category of trials that so weaken the soul that, were it not for the Lord, one would surely despair of life. The moisture of joy is wrenched from the soul in such affliction. Freshness and spiritual vigor seem to dry up as "sorrow upon sorrow" flow over us (Phil 2:27; Psa 38:17). Such times are described as God's "waves" and "billows" going over us in uninterrupted succession (Psa 42:7). These times are "deep waters" for the soul (Psa 69:2,14). Whatever strength we may have thought we had seems to quickly dissipate, and we are soon reduced to the state of confessed helplessness.

"Why," asks the untrained soul, "must such times come upon me?" Would it not be better to be perceptibly strong at all times, always rejoicing, and never feeling a moment of inadequacy? Ah, flesh would have us imagine that such a condition is the best for us. However, the One who has plotted our course knows this is not true.

Whatever sufficiency we have is "not of ourselves," but is "of God" (2 Cor 3:5). Even in Jesus, we do not grow strong enough to sustain ourselves. We remain in a frail tent, and are influenced by a carnal nature. Lest we forget this during times of relative ease and enjoyment, our minds are abruptly brought to think more realistically in times of trial. The excellency of God's power is revealed in the dissipation of our power in such testing.

As we hang, as it were, in the smoke of affliction, flesh becomes weak, while the inner man is actually made strong. It is "out of weakness" that we are "made strong" (Heb 11:34). It is "in trouble" that we experience the marvelous effects of Divine comfort (2 Cor 1:4).

When we feel like a "bottle in the smoke," it is our lower nature that is being deprived of strength. In the trial it is again confirmed that we are what we are by the grace of God (1 Cor 15:10). It is a blessed truth that is confirmed to our hearts again and again. In learning it, we are weaned from this world, and joined more fully to the Lord.

PRAYER POINT: Father, I thank You in Jesus' name for so ordering my life, that my personal inadequacy, and the sufficiency of Your grace, become more evident.

--MONDAY: DIRECT ACCESS TO THE WATER OF LIFE --