He Has Given Me No Message

“But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall bear witness of me: and ye also bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.” — John 15:26-27 (ASV)

In the late summer of 1904, missionaries and Indian Christian workers gathered at Sialkot for a new kind of meeting, a convention “for the deepening of the spiritual life.” Sialkot was not Hyde's station. It belonged to another Presbyterian mission, and he came each year as a guest. The convention still meets today, in Pakistan.

Hyde came to lead Bible studies. But what people remembered from that first year was an evening when he turned up late to a men's meeting. They had sung hymn after hymn. At last he came in, sat down on the mat in front of them, and was silent for a long time. Then he stood up:

“Brothers, I did not sleep any last night and I have not eaten anything to-day. I have been having a great controversy with God. I feel that he has wanted me to come here and testify to you concerning some things that he has done for me, and I have been arguing with him that I should not do this.”

His argument with God had been about one thing: whether to be honest in public about his own struggles. He spoke quietly for fifteen or twenty minutes about “some of the desperate conflicts that he had had with sin and how God had given him victory.” Then he sat down and said, “Let us have a season of prayer.” Man after man stood up to pray and confess. The leader's honesty opened the door for everyone else's. At the end of that convention Hyde said, “Oh, I must not lose this blessing.” His colleague added, “he never did lose it.”

The 1905 convention, from 25 August to 3 September, is the one everyone remembered. Nearly three hundred people came, most of them Indian workers. According to his friends' memoirs, Hyde was given the morning Bible readings on the Holy Spirit. His point was simple. The Holy Spirit is the real witness to Jesus; we only witness behind him. Then he turned it on the pastors:

“Is the Holy Spirit first in your pulpits, pastors? Do you consciously put him in front and keep yourselves behind him, when preaching?”

On the second morning, the mission's own official report says, the appointed speaker came in and said quietly, “I thank God, He has given me no message for you to-day.” Some faces showed surprise. The chairman moved aside and said, “The Holy Ghost is leader of this meeting.” The report doesn't name the speaker, but the memoirs tell the same story about Hyde, so it was almost certainly him.

Days of deep conviction, open confession and then joy followed. A room was set aside for prayer, and after the first day or two it was never empty, day or night. At one point Hyde felt God telling him to do something. He went and obeyed, but came back weeping because he had obeyed unwillingly: “Pray for me, brethren, that I may do this joyfully.”

Think about how hard that second morning was. Three hundred people were waiting, and he had nothing to say, so he said so and sat down. The young man who once wanted to shine could never have done it. Whether you're leading a small group, playing in a band, or just telling a friend about your faith, his question still stands: is the Holy Spirit first, or are you?

One thing to do this week: before the next thing you lead, play or speak at, pray one honest sentence: “Holy Spirit, go in front; I'll stay behind you.” Afterwards, notice whether you cared more about how you came across or about what God did.