“OUR is NOT a trifling God. He likes a VESSEL to get down very low, to be so passive, He has that vessel for use at any moment, it can be anywhere at any moment. It will also be obedient at any moment.” So Mrs. Robinson wrote to Mrs. George A. Mitchell in Zion City, February 11, 1910, in a letter designed to help her and her husband in their desire to know the will of God for them at that particular time.
The previous year the Lord had sent Elder and Mrs. Brooks to Zion City where for three months they had ministered extensively with blessed results. The main purpose of their visit, however, so the Lord revealed during the course of their time together, was to bring spiritual help to the Mitchells and to Mr. and Mrs. James Leggett and thereby to prepare them for the next step God had for them.
As a young man Mr. Mitchell had been an officer in the Salvation Army and later very active in the work of the Lord in Zion. As a result of the failure of Zion, however, he had become very discouraged and had given up any idea of further Christian service. As a result, in much the same way as Peter, in a similar mood, had once gone “a fishing,” so Mr. Mitchell had gone to farming, together with his wife’s brother, James Leggett. Now, as the Mitchells and the Leggetts met together with the Brookses to wait on the Lord, the Holy Ghost so manifested Himself that the gloom which had settled over Mr. Mitchell was dispelled, and he was filled with courage and hope. Thus restored to his first love, the Lord called him to take his place once again in the vineyard of the Lord.
Before the Brookses returned to Toronto in the fall the Lord gave the Leggetts and the Mitchells the word that they should get off their farms in the following spring. Why or what they were to do or where they were to go was not stated; they were simply told that it was the will of the Lord for them to leave their farms at that time. The Lord had so unmistakably confirmed other directions which had been given them that unhesitatingly they accepted this word also and began to prepare accordingly. As they did so, the Lord corroborated their plans in a marked way by causing various circumstances to be unusually favorable to such a move. With eager anticipation and a readiness to obey whatever the Lord should reveal, they awaited the word of the Lord for a further revelation of His will.
To the dismay of all concerned, however, not one word was given. Naturally, as the weeks passed and spring drew nearer, they became increasingly anxious to know what they were to do. After all, time Mitchells had a family to care for as well as themselves. And Mr. Mitchell, so methodical and businesslike, was used to planning his affairs with discretion and order.
Now the fact that Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell wanted to know the will of the Lord and were willing to obey whatever word He would give to His servants, and still no word was given, became “very bewildering” to them. In fact, it became a sore spot” in both of them. “God started it, and He has got to finish it” became their attitude, and with this came a demand for some word from the Lord through one or another of His vessels. Repeatedly they wrote Mrs. Brooks to see if she had not yet received any further word, but she got no word.
At this juncture, the Mitchells and the Leggetts jointly received a letter from a man in the West proposing that they come and take charge of his large ranch for him. A very appealing offer and a most timely one, so it seemed under their present circumstances! Perhaps this was God’s will for them. Perhaps this was why they had had no light before. They said nothing to anyone about the proposition and were just ready to accept it when Mrs. Mitchell received the letter from Mrs. Robinson quoted from at the beginning of this chapter. At just the right moment, the Lord had given Mrs. Robinson tine word which would, if followed, result in the solution of their dilemma and in giving them the light of the knowledge of the will of God they were seeking.
To the folks in Zion City, the all-important thing was what they were to do. To God, however, the all-important thing was the making of vessels “meet for the Master’s use, prepared unto every good work.” The Almighty Potter wanted them to learn that He knew just what to do and when to do it, that all they had to do was to rest absolutely passive in His hands while He worked. Any anxiety or impatience simply hindered His working as He would. In becoming nervous and fretful, those involved were disobeying the clear command: “In nothing be anxious” (Phil. 4:6 A.R.V.). Therefore, the Lord dealt, first of all, with what He saw to be their real need—their spiritual need—not, as they supposed, their need for direction. That would follow in due time if their attitudes were right. In this connection, the Lord chose to give some teaching about the operation of the gifts of the Holy Ghost.
“I am going to explain one or two things to Mr. Mitchell,” wrote Mrs. Robinson. “In the first place a message is given by God. It is not by man. You can’t get it just when you please. You have to let God give it when, how, and as He pleases.
“When you begin to demand a message, you get into your own will. When you declare a message has got to be given, not a human being, who is a real channel, can get one.
Now to get a vessel to the place where he becomes a channel, it takes a high abandonment to the will of God. You must give up your own choice, your own will, your own heart, your own plans, and your own opinions. ...
“Now, then, when Mrs. Brooks was in Zion City, she gave you a message to get off your farm in the spring. To that message she never gave any addition. To the surprise of us all, not one word could either she or I get about the whole matter.
“I will show you something. Somebody said, ‘God started it and has got to finish it.’ It also meant another thing, that if somebody began to order God around, there was going to be a grand crash, or there was going to be a final failure. But nobody understood quite what they were doing.
“When Mr. Mitchell began to fret, he was away ahead of God’s order. It was nowhere near time to get off the farm. There was no hurry, and there was plenty of good time for a good, clear message to go down to Zion City, telling you just exactly the next step.”
Then follows the sentence quoted at the beginning of this chapter: “Our God is not a trifling God. He likes a vessel to get down very low, to be so passive, He has that vessel for use at any moment, it can be anywhere at any moment. It will also be obedient at any moment and will do something else—see its own trouble-making. When Mr. Mitchell began to fret, the Almighty Potter had him in hand, but Mr. Mitchell must look at himself and say, ‘I wobble badly on the wheel.’”
To illustrate what the Lord meant, Mrs. Robinson related in detail the “long story” of how the Lord dealt with Mr. Marlatt when, under similar circumstances, he wanted to know the will of the Lord but was allowed to “die” to his impatience and come into the complete rest of God before the Lord told him what to do.ⁿ
Note: This story has already been related in its chronological position in the preceding chapter of this narrative. It would be well, however, for the reader to re-read it at this point so as to get the full force of the important teaching that was here given regarding the leading of the Holy Ghost and the operations of the gifts of the Spirit.
“Now we cannot explain very much about the predicament you apparently are left in, further than this: you dropped your direct dealing [with the Father] in faith,” Mrs. Robinson continued.
“Then I will tell you this: whatever message God might have given could only be given through channels that were very passive themselves, and when Mrs. Brooks got anxious she got me a little worked up, and I regret to say we are not perfect vessels.
“You know, dear, we are all little vessels. Yet we do do the works of the Lord. Our messages are truly His, and those things which He does by our hand are truly His. But we can no more do the things that are beyond our powers than you or Mr. Mitchell can. What I mean is like this: Mrs. Brooks and I both have, for instance, a measure of the gift of wisdom, but we need a larger gift to do larger things. The real lack in both our experiences at the present time is a more decided range of knowledge.
“I do not know whether you understand the difference between wisdom and knowledge. I do not want to take the time in this letter to tell you much about this. Wisdom instructs you what to do, but knowledge tells you how things are going to turn out. ….
“The gift of knowledge ... could tell you how to get a faith home, like this: Go to No. 30 such and such a street. You will find a woman by the name of Jones, and all the details of how to deal with that woman would be given. Then you would be told how much rent to pay, and all the details to the very finest points could be given by a full gift of knowledge. ….
“The Lord has spoken to me so clearly about you and your husband,” concluded Mrs. Robinson, “and He said to me that Mr. Mitchell is for the vineyard, and that the Lord really had called you years ago to the vineyard, and that it had not been the mind of the Lord at all for you to be bound altogether to housework.
“Can’t you and Mr. Mitchell rise into a large faith that God will put you both in your right place? I will say to you, the awful picture the Lord draws to me of lives born and reared for the vineyard, and changed in the course, is sometimes a most dreadful one. But to my mind, there is no place so bad in that respect as our poor, sidetracked Zion City.”
Now, if there was no direction as to what the Lord wanted them to do after they got off the farm, whether they recognized it at the time or not, there was a suggestion of His plan concealed in time teaching given—His desire for a faith home in Zion City. Evidently the Mitchells and Leggetts acted on the instruction in this letter—to lay this matter down absolutely at the feet of the Lord and to rest passive in His hands for Him to reveal His will when and by whom He willed, for in a few days, on February 19, the Lord gave Mrs. Brooks a letter for the Leggetts in which He unfolded His plan for them. It contained minute instructions for the securing of a house for a faith home there:
“Try to be successful in finding a house with ten rooms... a very satisfactory place for holding meetings.. . down near the front street, anywhere between 27th and 21st St. and between Elizabeth and Enoch [Avenues].“
In the same letter the Lord indicated those who should reside in the home and the purpose of it. He wanted “a Home that will be open to anyone who can come to stay for any length of time” of His choosing. Further it was stated that the Brookses would leave Toronto for Zion City the first of March to take charge of the new home.
The arrival of these letters could not have been more perfectly timed, for absolutely unknown to those in Toronto, the Leggetts and the Mitchehls were just about ready to mail their acceptance of the proposal to manage the western ranch.
Immediately, however, they “conferred not with flesh and blood but with the Lord, and became convinced in their own hearts that this [word] was the call of God.”
In accordance with the instruction given, a house was secured at 2410 Elisha Avenue, almost the exact center of the limits prescribed by the Lord, just one block from “the front street.”
After the Brookses left for Zion City, the Toronto Faith Home was moved, May 1, 1910, from Surrey Place to a house a few blocks away, located on St. Vincent Street, diagonally across from the Central Presbyterian Church. There the meetings were continued by Mrs. Robinson, assisted by the other ministers who had remained in Toronto.
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Martha Wing Robinson (1874 - 1936)
Martha held meetings which touched people to return to the work of the service of God. The Robinsons opened a "Faith Home" where people would come for teaching and prayer. Like George Muller they depended on God to provide what was needed for expenses. Thousands came through her home and healings were a regular occurrence. Her husband died in April of 1916, but Martha continued in her ministry. She had a very sharp gift of discernment and regularly told people the secrets of their hearts. She often had directive prophetic words for those under her care. Many young people came to the home for training and went into the mission fields and evangelistic endeavours.Martha Wing Robinson died June 26, 1936. Shortly before she died she stated her life's message "Nothing matters but Christ Jesus." Her whole life was spent in the service of God and for the Glory of His Son Jesus. She had seen many healed, saved, delivered, empowered and sent out. She was truly a mother in Israel. In 1962 Gordon P. Gardiner wrote a book about her life called "Radiant Glory" because that is how she lived her life.