What Does God Want?

That we should be happy Christians; and this we can only be if we are holy Christians. We shall never, of course, be altogether free from sin on this earth; not that until we are taken home. But we must aim after being holy children; we must not go on in what we know is contrary to the divine will. And if we are really out-and-out Christians, and are really holding on to the eternal living God, the result will be that we shall be happy Christians, and shall be bearing testimony to those “that are without.”
And the result of this will be to stir them up to seek after the Lord; and so a thousand Christians will be a thousand witnesses for the living God. Therefore, my beloved brethren and sisters, let us lay it to heart to be out-and-out Christians, so that we may lay hold of this word—the living God is thy refuge.
I am a weak erring sinner, yet I have the living God on my side, the eternal God as my refuge. Oh, the blessedness of having such a refuge as this. What are all earthly honors in comparison with this? What the highest dignities? What the greatest earthly crown as compared with the blessedness which we possess in having the living eternal God on our side, and of being permitted to make Him our refuge?
And this is the position of the child of God; above everything that man can conceive, “underneath are the everlasting arms,” with the power of the almighty God for our helper. What a comfort in our helplessness, to know that although you and I are weak, erring, and feeble naturally, and can do nothing if left to ourselves; yet we have these everlasting arms underneath us to support us. Though we are helpless, here is an almighty arm to lean upon, and even to lie upon. It is an arm that can carry us through the difficulties which lie before us, and through the trials which await us; can bear us safely through, can carry us in all our helplessness. Oh, the blessedness of the figure used here “The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms!”