(The Inability of Self and the Necessity of Dependence)
June 6th brings the believer into one of the most important discoveries in spiritual life: the problem is not that we do not know what is right, but that the self lacks the power to produce the life God desires. And this realization leads not to despair, but to the humility that has marked every true servant of God.
Knowing the Good Yet Lacking the Power
Chambers writes:
“Your will agrees with God, but in your flesh there is a nature that renders you powerless to do what you know you ought to do.”
(My Utmost for His Highest)
Chambers is describing a painful but necessary discovery.
There comes a point where the believer sincerely desires the will of God. The issue is no longer ignorance. The heart agrees with what God requires.
Yet agreement alone proves insufficient.
The life discovers an opposing principle within itself.
The problem is not the absence of desire. The problem is the inadequacy of the self.
The flesh cannot produce the life of the Son.
It may imitate, attempt, promise, and strive, but it cannot generate what proceeds from God. This discovery is often one of God’s greatest mercies because it removes confidence in self-effort.
The believer finally learns:
Knowing the Father’s will and performing the Father’s will are not the same thing.
The life of sonship must come from another source.
The Confession of Those Who Truly Saw Themselves
Spurgeon writes:
“If Job, and Isaiah, and Paul were all obliged to say ‘I am vile,’ oh, poor sinner, wilt thou be ashamed to join in the same confession?”
(Morning and Evening)
Spurgeon points to a common pattern among those who came nearest to God.
Job, Isaiah, and Paul were not men distinguished by spiritual indifference. They were men who had encountered God deeply.
And what was the result?
Humility.
The closer they came to God’s reality, the less confidence they possessed in themselves.
This is not self-hatred.
It is honesty.
They no longer maintained illusions about the ability of human nature to produce divine life.
Their confidence shifted.
Away from themselves. Toward God.
This confession is not the end of spiritual life.
It is the doorway into genuine dependence.
Where the Two Meet: The Failure of Self and the Beginning of Sonship
These truths meet at a crucial point.
Chambers shows the believer the inability of the flesh. Spurgeon shows the response of those who truly recognized that inability.
Both truths remove self-confidence.
The believer discovers that the problem is deeper than weak determination or inconsistent effort. The issue lies in the source from which the life is attempting to operate.
The flesh cannot accomplish what belongs to the life of God.
And once that becomes clear, humility begins to replace self-reliance.
One truth exposes inability. The other produces dependence.
This is not defeat.
It is the beginning of learning to live from the life of the Son rather than from the resources of the self.
Pastoral Orientation
June 6th calls for honesty and dependence.
Do not be surprised when self-effort repeatedly proves insufficient. The life of God cannot be produced by the flesh.
Do not resist the humbling discoveries God brings. They are teaching you where true strength is found.
As you continue walking “after the spirit,” you will find that spiritual maturity is not increasing confidence in yourself, but increasing confidence in the life God has provided through the Son.
Acknowledge the weakness of the self. Depend upon the life of Christ.
And you will discover a life that no longer trusts its own ability to please God,
but rests increasingly in the power, life, and faithfulness of the Son.