I started journaling. Again. I’ve started several times. They start out as a daily part of my devotions. What inevitably happens is I miss a day and decide, “I’d switch to weekly entries.” Then I’d miss a week and decide to make the entries monthly. You can see where this is going. When I look through my journals I notice gaps of sometimes a whole year from one page to the next. Even though they’re not consistent, I do still appreciate that I can look back at snapshots of things I have prayed about or read in my devotions.
One such snapshot was from April of this year. I was reading that day’s passage from Chambers’ My Utmost for His Highest. On a good day, I can grasp half of what Oswald says. April 20th the passage was titled, “Can a Saint Slander God?” Chambers explains that the parable of the talents (Matthew 25) warns us that it is possible for us to misjudge our spiritual capacity. Meaning that, sometimes we let our circumstances affect our ability to trust God. When the servants were given talents from their master, the first two invested and received double the original portion. The third servant buried his talent out of fear. When the master returned, and asked why this servant buried his talent his response was that he knew the master to be a ‘hard man’ reaping where he did not sow. This servant had justified his actions (or inaction) and believed that what his master asked of him was out of proportion to what was given to him. This servant was implying that his master set him up for failure. He was scared so he buried his talent.
Do you believe the promises of God or do you slander Him by your actions? It is easy to become overwhelmed. Things happen that we cannot anticipate all the time. The Holy Spirit equips us. When we lose ourselves to worry, we are implying that God is going to leave us hanging. 2 Corinthians 1:20-24 encourages us that “the promises of God find their Yes in him” and that “it is God who establishes us and He has put his seal on us and given us His Spirit as a guarantee.”
When it comes to trusting the Holy Spirit don’t stop because you’re scared. Don’t let the limitations of your natural ability interfere with what God can do through you. Our capacity in spiritual matters is measured by the promises of God. Is God able to fulfill His promises? Yes, if we allow Him to work through us.