November 29

Misled by a Voice

Part Three

Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God.
—1 John 4:1

Scripture reading: Psalm 115

My wife and I were visiting at the home of these two sisters when they came in from work that day. We saw the distress. We saw the wild condition. If you are wild, that is the Devil. If you go breathlessly to the Bible, looking for confirmation of the voice, that is the Devil. The Word of God brings light. I must use it as the Word of Light. I must see it as the Light of Light. I must have it as the Light.

I must be wise, because if I say I am baptized with the Holy Spirit, if I say I am a child of God, I must act so that people will know that I have been with God. (See Acts 4:13.) If there is anything I would resound through this meeting like a trumpet, it is this: “Do not let your good be spoken of as evil” (Rom. 14:16)!

Well, what happened to the young woman? The voice came with such tremendous force that she could not let it go. Try the spirits. God will never do anything like that. He will never send you an unreasonable, unmanageable message.

The moment the girl became obsessed with what the voice said, what did the Devil say next? “You keep this a secret. Don’t tell anybody. If you confide in anybody, let it be your sister, because she seems to understand you.” So they confided in each other.

Now that is surely as satanic as anything you ever heard in your life, because every true thing, every holy thing, does not need to be kept a secret under any circumstances. Anything that is holy can be told on the housetops; God wants you to be able to tell all.

My wife and I tried to help them. “Oh, God is speaking to me!” the young woman said. And we could not change her. That night she said that the evil power continued speaking, saying to her, “Tell no one but your sister. Go to the station tonight and wait for the train. The train will come in at thirty-two minutes past seven. Buy two tickets for Glasgow. After you have bought your tickets, you will have sixpence left.”

This could be confirmed, and no one had to know but her sister. They went to the station. The train came in exactly at the right time. And there was just sixpence left after they had bought the ticket. Marvelous! Wonderful! This was sure to be right.

“See!” she said. “I have just the amount of money left after I have bought the tickets that the voice said I would.” The train came in. The voice had said that a gentleman would be sitting in one of the coaches with all the money she would ever need. Directly opposite this gentleman, a woman with a nurse’s cap would be sitting. The man would give her all the money, and they were to take it to a certain bank at a certain street corner in Glasgow.

Here was lack of presentation of thought. There are no banks open at half past seven, and, after investigation, it was discovered that there was no such bank in that place. Then what caused the young woman to obey the voice? It got her ear, and I will tell you what the danger is. If I had only five minutes I would say this to you: if you cannot be reasoned with, you are wrong. If you are right and everybody else is wrong, I don’t care who you are, if you cannot bear examination, if what you hold cannot bear the light of the truth, you are wrong. It will save a lot of you if you will just think.

You may say, “Oh, but I know, I know.” It is a very serious thing when nobody else knows but you. May God deliver us from such a condition. If you think you have some specialty, it is not unique; it can be repeated.

The train came in. They rushed from one end of the train to the other. There were no such people on the train. Then the voice came, “On the next platform, the next train.” And they rushed over. Would you believe, those two young women were kept moving from platform to platform by those voices until half past nine at night?

Thought for today: People get outside of the plan of God when they trust solely in their own judgment.

Smith Wigglesworth Devotional: 365 Day Devotional
By Whitaker House

Smith Wigglesworth was a man who took God at his word, and God used his faith as a model for others. Explore these daily truths from Scripture and the writings of the Apostle of Faith, and you’ll quench your spiritual thirst, conquer defeating fears, be an effective soul winner, and see impossibilities turn into realities. 558 pages.

Buy from ChristianBook

Buy from Amazon

Smith Wigglesworth Devotional