“Thy people shall be willing in the day of Thy power”.
(Psalm 110:3a)
What do we see in the day of God’s power? We behold the King in His beauty. We see Him as a Saviour, as Prophet, Priest and King. We now understand the man who sold all that he had, for the treasure he discovered in a field. We have then found the pearl of great price. Now we search God only and nothing beside Him. Now we know where it is and how it is. We now love the Lord and we trust in the Lord, in regard to temporal things as well as in regard to spiritual and eternal matters. Is not this a miracle? And all these things in one moment! It was not there. All there was, was condemnation and eternal damnation; everything had given way beneath our feet, and then at once: “Let there be light, and there was light” (Gen. 1:13). It is a day of light and in this light we behold the things that are necessary: the Lord and ourselves, the neighbour, Satan, what is true and what is false, so that in the end such a man can no longer be deceived.
It is a day of amazement. We go up and down our room, or we lay down, and we cry out: “Never have I thought of this, never thought!” We also confess that we had never asked for it, for we now see the difference between that which is called searching, and what is searching through faith. I have noticed that many people pass away, who seemingly had searched for it throughout many years, and did not succeed in obtaining it. All these things have not been clear to me immediately, although I learned to understand them in one moment. We must learn to distinguish between seeking and seeking, tears and tears, believing and believing, praying and praying and between repentance and repentance.
When in the day of God’s power we have seen the things described, we have received an open Bible and an open heart. In essence we understand these things, although a great many of unsteady steps have still to be taken.
(From: Meditations, 7 February. Sermon on Romans 8:1, 21 November 1954 in The Hague.)