Exodus 8:28

"Handfuls of Purpose"

For All Gleaners

"Only ye shall not go very far away." Exodus 8:28 .

This was a stipulation made by Pharaoh. He had been plagued into some concession. This is the language of compromise the common language of all time. Men are generous with a reservation. This was Pharaoh's policy. In many cases religion is to be respected, but is not to cost anything. Some people use this language when they are giving a kind of permission to faith; they say, "It may go so far, but no farther." It is not to go very far away from what can be seen and handled; it is to be as a tethered bird unable to fly beyond its check. Some people use the same language to the spirit of Consecration. It must not go very far away from the marketplace and from the common courses of society; it must never become a passion, a heroism, a burning sacrifice. People keep themselves very much within themselves, not knowing that self-control reaches its highest discipline in the absolute giving away of the whole life to the care and service of God.