466 The Spiritual Man
with all his strength, hoping to sustain his joy and never again fail as
before.
Yet strange as it may seem, despite all his faithfulness, the Lord
shortly afterwards leaves the saint once more. His transport of delight
has altogether taken flight. He again slumps into anguish, blackness,
and barrenness.
If we examine the biography of many Christians we discover that
this type of experience is shared by many after they have been
delivered from sin and encounter God as a Person. Initially the Lord
causes them to sense His love, His presence, His joy. But soon such
feeling disappears. It subsequently comes back, rendering them
extremely happy; not long afterwards, though, it vanishes a second
time. At least several times the Christian undergoes these come and
go occurrences. Such phenomena will not happen while he is still
fleshly, before he learns to love the Lord; only after he has made
some progress spiritually and begun to love the Lord will he meet
with this kind of situation.
The Meaning of This ExperienceAccording to the believer’s interpretation, he is at his spiritual
peak when in possession of the wonderful feeling: he is at his lowest
when deprived of it. He often characterizes his walk as full of ups
and downs. By this he means that while he is feeling joyful, loving
the Lord and sensing His presence he is at his spiritual best; but if his
inward sensation is marked by dryness and pain he must be at his
spiritual worst. In other words, he is spiritual so long as the warm fire
of love is burning in his heart but soulish if his heart turns icy cold.
Such is the common notion among Christians. Is it accurate? It is
totally inaccurate. Unless we understand how it is wrong we shall
suffer defeat to the very end.