Stepping Aside So the Master Can Speak
Wednesday, July 1, 2026
“You don’t have to reinvent the wheel; just attach it to a new wagon.” – Mark McCormack, sports agent and founder of IMG
Over the years, I’ve had quite a few very kind people compliment me on my God-given writing abilities… and make no mistake about it, whatever literary talents I possess are truly God-given and not Dale-generated.
From the time I won my first essay contest in eighth grade through the publishing of three books, hundreds of political blogs and newspaper editorials, and thousands of devotional messages, God has guided my thoughts every step of the way.
And yet, I know my limitations. In other words, when I read a treatise as deep and profound as the following one by Charles Spurgeon, I simply step aside and let a superior author have his say.
“If the grace of God were to leave the best Christian, there is enough sin in his heart to make him the worst of transgressors. If left to yourselves, you who are warmest for Christ would cool down like Laodicea into sickening lukewarmness: You who are sound in the faith would be white with the leprosy of false doctrine; you who now walk before the Lord in excellency and integrity would reel to and fro and stagger with a drunkenness of evil passion. Like the moon, we borrow our light; bright as we are when grace shines on us, we are darkness itself when the Sun of Righteousness withdraws Himself.”
“Therefore, let us cry to God to never leave us. "Take not Your Holy Spirit from me! Do not withdraw from us Your indwelling grace! Have You not said, 'I, the LORD, am its keeper; every moment I water it. Lest anyone punish it, I keep it night and day'? Lord, keep us everywhere. Keep us when we're in the valley so that we do not grumble against Your humbling hand; keep us when we're on the mountain, so we do not lose our balance by being lifted up; keep us in youth, when our passions are strong; keep us in old age, when becoming conceited in our wisdom, we may therefore prove greater fools than those who are young and silly; keep us when we come to die, in case at the very end we should deny You! Keep us living, keep us dying, keep us working, keep us suffering, keep us fighting, keep us resting, keep us everywhere, for everywhere we need You, O our God!"
“Cast me not away from Your presence; take not Your Holy Spirit from me.” Psalm 51:11 (BSB)
- Rev. Dale M. Glading, President
