We continue in our series this week with excerpts from The Journals of Jim Elliot in the Summer of 1948.
JULY 7 Psalm 104 Psalms 104:4: “He makes his ministers a flame of fire.” Am I ignitible? God deliver me from the dread asbestos of “other things.” Saturate me with the oil of the Spirit that I may be a flame . But flame is transient, often short lived. Canst thou bear this, my soul, short life? In me there dwells the Spirit of the Great Short-Lived, whose zeal for God’s house consumed Him, and He has promised baptism with the Spirit and with fire. “Make me Thy fuel, flame of God.”
JULY 15 Ruth Naomi had to become empty before God could restore life (1:21; 4:15). The weakness of two widows at the mercy of God He uses to give ancestry to great David and David’s “Lord.” Naomi’s tendency was to become embittered at her loss, not knowing this was God’s way to make His and her name remembered (4:11) in Israel. How like Orpah I am prone to kiss, to display full devotion and turn away; how unlike Ruth, cleaving and refusing to part except at death (1:14-17). Eternal Lover, make Thou Thyself inseparable from my unstable soul. Be Thou the object bright and fair to fill and satisfy the heart. My hope to meet Thee in the air, and never more from Thee to part!
**Excerpt originally published in The Journals of Jim Elliot, pp 72, 73