Timothy Keller, founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, describes the spiritual awakening of French-born theologian Emile Cailliet in the introduction to his book King’s Cross. Cailliet was an agnostic during his college days prior to World War I. After graduation, he served in the army. Cailliet not only witnessed a buddy killed while speaking to him, but also spent months recovering in the hospital from a severe battle wound. During his recovery, he read voraciously, longing for a book that would understand him.
Since Cailliet didn’t know of any such book, he decided to compile an anthology of quotations that spoke to his condition at various points in time. When he finally had completed his compilation and sat down to read it, he found that he was greatly disappointed because the undertaking had been of his own making. It was only when he read the Bible that he finally realized he had found the Book that would understand him. Or, as Timothy Keller succinctly phrases his own spiritual awakening:
“Though as a youth I had believed the Bible was the Word of God, I had not personally met the Lord of the Word.”
In his Explanation of the Third Article, Martin Luther states:
“I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength, believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him. But the Holy Ghost has called me by the Gospel . . .”
In our transitional, desert Land Between time, we need to consider whether we’re relying on our own efforts or on “the Lord of the Word.”
