GOD Knows

Job 23:10  But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.
     
Believer! What a glorious assurance!

This way of thine-this, it may be, a crooked, mysterious, tangled way-this way of trial and tears. "He knoweth it."

The furnace seven times heated-He lighted it.

There is an Almighty Guide knowing and directing our footsteps, whether it be to the bitter Marah pool, or to the joy and refreshment of Elim.
     
That way, dark to the Egyptians, has its pillar of cloud and fire for His own Israel.

The furnace is hot; but not only can we trust the hand that kindles it, but we have the assurance that the fires are lighted not to consume, but to refine;

And that when the refining process is completed (no sooner-no later) He brings His people forth as gold.
     
When they think Him least near, He is often nearest.

When my spirit was overwhelmed, then thou knewest my path.
     
Do we know of ONE brighter than the brightest radiance of the visible sun, visiting our chamber with the first waking beam of the morning; an eye of infinite tenderness and compassion following us throughout the day, knowing the way that we take?
     
The world, in its cold vocabulary in the hour of adversity, speaks of "Providence"-"the will of Providence"-"the strokes of Providence." 

PROVIDENCE! what is that?
     
Why dethrone a living, directing God from the sovereignty of His own earth?

Why substitute an inanimate, death-like abstraction, in place of an acting, controlling, personal Jehovah?
     
How it would take the sting from many a goading trial, to see what Job saw (in his hour of aggravated woe, when every earthly hope lay prostrate at his feet)-no hand but the Divine.

He saw that hand behind the gleaming swords of the Sabeans...

He saw it behind the lightning flash...

He saw it giving wings to the careening tempest...

He saw it in the awful silence of his rifled home...
     
The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord!
     
Thus seeing God in everything, his faith reached its climax when this once powerful prince of the desert, seated on his bed of ashes, could say, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust him."

~John Macduff~

The Night of Weeping~Worldiness

We have seen that God's cure for selfishness is the setting before us of another self to absorb our own in the person of Jesus.

We have now to see that His cure for worldliness is the bringing before us of another world, more glorious than that which He calls on us to forsake.

There is no thorough cure for it but this. It is lack of faith that makes us worldlings; 

And when the believing eye gets fixed on the world to come, then we learn to set our affections on things above.

So long, however, as all here is bright, we are content with them; we allow ourselves to sink down and settle quietly among the things of earth.

But when God unroofs our dwelling, or tears up its foundation by an earthquake, then we are forced to look upward and seek a better and more enduring portion.

Many such shocks, however, are often needed before our souls are broken off from their cleaving to the dust.
 
The opposite of worldliness is heavenly mindedness or spiritual mindedness.

This, the new relish which the Holy Spirit imparts at conversion, in some measure produces. But it is feeble.

It easily gives way. It is not keen enough to withstand much temptation.

God's wish is to impart a keener relish for the things of God and to destroy the relish for the things of time.

This He effects by blighting all objects in which there was earthly sweetness, so that by being deprived of objects to "mind" on earth, it may of necessity be led to "mind" the things above.

He dries up all the "nether springs" of earthly joy, that we may betake ourselves to the "upper springs" which can never fail.
 
There is much worldliness among the saints.

There is worldliness in their motives and actions, worldliness in their domestic life and in their interaction with society...

There is worldliness in the arrangements of their households and in the education of their families;

There is worldliness in their expenditure, so much being laid out for self, so little for God;

There is worldliness in their religious schemes, and movements, and societies; there is worldliness in their reading, and in their conversation;

There is, in short, too much of the spirit of fervent worldliness about their whole deportment, and little of calm, happy superiority to the things of earth.

They are fretted, disturbed, bustled just like the world.

They grudge labor, or fatigue, or expense, or annoyance in the cause of Christ, or in serving their fellow-men.

They have much of earth, little of Heaven about them.

They are not largehearted, openhanded- willing to spend and be spent, unmoved and unruffled, as those whose eye is ever set on the incorruptible inheritance on which they so soon shall enter.

They are low and unaspiring in the things of God.
 
Perhaps there are few things against which we require to be more warned than against this spirit of worldliness.

The Church is very prone to forget her pilgrim character in this present evil world and to live as a citizen of earth.

Her dignity as the eternally chosen of the Father is lost sight of; her hope as the inheritor of the glory and the kingdom of the Son is obscured.

And oh, how much of sorrow she is preparing for herself by thus losing sight of her calling!

What desolation may be even now hovering over the tabernacle of many a saint, because they will not come out and be separate, because they refuse to be "strangers on the earth as all their fathers were."

Sad it is, indeed, that we should need affliction to teach us this!
 
Why should we whose home and treasure are above, ever again seek our home or our treasure here?

Why should we stoop from our heavenly elevation to mingle again with the company which we have forsaken?

Have we repented of our choice? 

Are we ashamed of our pilgrim staff and our pilgrim road? Surely not.

Oh, if to be a stranger on earth is to be divided from sin and sinful appetites, from the seducing vanities and worthless mockeries of the world, from the fascinating beauty and perilous splendor of this decaying scene...

If to be a stranger on earth is to be a friend of God, a member of the heavenly household, an expectant of the kingdom, an heir apparent of the crown of glory- who would not be a stranger here?
 
What higher honor would we seek than to share the homelessness of Jesus, the homelessness of the Church from the beginning?

Why should we seek to enter into nearer fellowship and dearer relationship with such a world as this?

If we knew of no fairer heritage, we might not be wondered at for lusting after our forsaken pleasures.

But we have the pleasures that are at God's right hand forever, and what are earth's allurements to us?

What to us are the sights and sounds of earth, who "shall see the king in his beauty," and hear His voice, into whose lips grace is poured?

What to us is the green fertility of earth, who shall enter into the possession of the new earth, when "the winter is past, the rain over and gone"?

What to us is the gay glory of a city's wealth and pomp, who shall be made citizens of the New Jerusalem, where dwells the glory of God and of the Lamb, whose foundations are of precious stones, whose walls are of jasper, whose gates are of pearl, whose streets and pavements are of transparent gold?
 
Let us, then, "pass the time of our sojourning here in fear."

Let our loins be girt about and our lamps burning, and let us be as men ready to go forth to meet our returning Lord.

If we watch not, if we reject the warning, our chastisement will be sharp and sore.
 
The present seems a time of peculiar warning to the saints. Many are lying under the rebukes of the Lord.

Judgment has begun at the house of God. God is dealing very closely and very solemnly with His own.

On many a saint at this moment is His rod lying heavily, for He would sincerely warn and arouse them before the evil day arrive.

He is dealing with them as He dealt with Lot on the night before the desolation of Sodom.

Let the saints, then, be warned.

Let them be zealous and repent and do their first works.

Come out, be separate, touch not the unclean thing!

Put off the works of darkness; put on the armor of light. 

He is calling on them to get up to a higher level in the spiritual life, to be done with wavering, indecision, and compromise.

He is calling on them to consider the apostle and High Priest of their profession and walk in His steps.

He is calling on them to look at the cloud of witnesses, and lay aside every weight, especially that sin (of unbelief) which does so easily beset them, and to run with patience the race set before them- "looking unto Jesus."
 
Church of the living God! Be warned. Please not yourself, even as Jesus pleased not Himself.

Live for Him, not for yourself, for Him, not for the world.

Walk worthy of your name and calling, worthy of Him who bought you as His bride, worthy of your everlasting inheritance.
 
Up, too, and warn the world! The chastisements that are falling so thickly on you are forerunners of the fiery shower that is preparing for the earth.

Up, then, and warn them- urge and entreat them to flee from gathering wrath.

They have no time to lose, neither have you.

The last storm is on the wing. Its dark skirts are already visible in the heavens.

Judgment has begun at the house of God, and if so, what shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospel of God!

Horatius Bonar 

Sin Of Pride

Proverbs 16:18  Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall . 

Pro 13:10  Only by pride cometh contention: but with the well advised is wisdom.                                                                              

Thankful For The Thorns

2Co 12:10  Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

Here is the secret of Divine all-sufficiency, to come to the end of everything in ourselves and in our circumstances. 

When we reach this place, we will stop asking for sympathy because of our hard situation or bad treatment, for we will recognize these things as the very conditions of our blessing, and we will turn from them to God and find in them a claim upon Him.

~A. B. Simpson~

George Matheson, the well-known blind preacher of Scotland, who recently went to be with the Lord, said: "My God, I have never thanked Thee for my thorn.

I have thanked Thee a thousand times for my roses, but not once for my thorn.

I have been looking forward to a world where I shall get compensation for my cross; but I have never thought of my cross as itself a present glory.

Teach me the glory of my cross; teach me the value of my thorn. 

Show me that I have climbed to Thee by the path of pain.

Show me that my tears have made my rainbows.

Alas for him who never sees The stars shine through the cypress trees.

Spiritual Ascendancy

In this present hour the sovereignty and authority of Jesus Christ is not political on this earth - not manifest among men - "My kingdom is not of this world," but His sovereignty is a spiritual sovereignty.

He is secretly governing and there is a mighty impact.

To come into the heavenlies means you are to have a spiritual and moral ascendancy. 

What is the way out with God? Out of difficulty, out of suffering? It is the way through. 

Here you are in the midst of some suffering, difficulty, adversity. You cry to the Lord to deliver you and the Lord does not do it. Then you get into all kinds of mental fogs.

Why doesn't the Lord deliver you out? Because He is trying to train you to rule and your way of deliverance is by your spirit taking ascendancy over it.

You say, "Lord, I take government over this thing to make it serve Your end and I refuse to be under it in spirit."

When you have taken that position you have come out of it - God comes in. 

We want to be delivered from our troubles and the Lord wants us to take ascendancy over them in Him.

That is what Paul did. His thorn in the flesh was just as painful to him in some senses but he was on top of it - it was serving him and he was not a prey to it.

That is the rule of the heavens. It works - I have proved it again and again.

The trouble is that sometimes we are so silly and foolish and blindly go on.

We yield to it or the enemy blinds us concerning it and then it suddenly breaks upon us that we should not be under it and say, "In His Name I take ascendancy over this thing" - we come out by the heavens.

The Lord would show us first of all that the heavens do rule and then bring us into that elevated place with Himself spiritually and governmentally, where the gates of Hell shall not prevail against us, and lead on to the great position where all authority on earth and in heaven is in His hands.

The purpose of God now is the securing of an administrative instrument and the training of that instrument to govern.

People wonder why the Lord does not wipe the devil out of the universe, why He does not stop suffering and affliction, for the Word tells us that our Lord Jesus was "manifested to destroy the works of the devil."

All this has been permitted in order to bring the Church individually and corporately to the place of spiritual ascendancy over trial.

God intended to put us into some higher position and that is our rightful position in Christ where the heavens do rule. 

You are only down and out and under when your spirit is under. 

God would have us take ascendancy over conditions that are. Revelation is bound up with this very thing.

It is wonderful how you go dragging on, hardly holding your ground and then suddenly the Lord gives you a flash - why don't you take your position in Christ?

The great fact is that sovereignty is in the heavenly position and heavenly position is secured for us now in the Lord Jesus for we have been made to sit in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.

Sovereignty, government, ascendancy, elevation - all in our Lord Jesus and in that position we should be governors over things - spiritual governors. 

Not the volume of voice or the phraseology, not the clenching of the fist.

It is your spirit being in a position where you can perhaps very quietly and deeply but strongly in your spirit say, "No, I refuse that in the Name of the Sovereign Lord."

We weaken the forces of darkness by a quiet definite position in Christ. Not a mental thing but spiritual, because the heavens represent that which is spiritual.

~T. Austin Sparks~

When Thou Passest Through The Waters, I Will Be With Thee

Isa 43:2  When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.

How many of the dear saints of God, when they have been brought into tribulation and sorrow, have found the fulfillment of this most gracious promise!

And is there not one of these waters through which all must go-that deep and rapid Jordan which every one must pass through?

How dark and gloomy those waters have appeared to the eyes of many a child of God, in whom is continually fulfilled the experience of the words, "Who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage."

But how often have these waters only been terrible in prospect, in anticipation.

How different has been the reality.

When he comes down to the river's bank and his feet dip in these waters, and it appears as though they would rise higher and higher, the Lord suddenly appears in his power and presence, and then the water sinks. 

He speaks a word of peace to his soul upon a dying bed...reveals Christ in his love and grace and blood...

Removes those doubts, fears, and disturbing thoughts which have perplexed him for years, and brings into his heart a holy calm, a sweet peace, assuring him that all is well with him, both for time and eternity.

Has he not then the fulfilment of the promise, "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee?"

~J. C. Philpot~

The Best Course To Prevent Falling Into The Pit!

It is our wisest and our safest course to stand at the farthest distance from sin; 

Not to go near the house of the harlot, but to fly from all appearance of evil.

Keep to a path far from her...do not go near the door of her house!"

Pro 5:8  Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house: 

The best course to prevent falling into the pit...is to keep at the greatest distance from the pit. 

He who will be so bold as to attempt to dance upon the brink of the pit-may find by woeful experience, that it is a righteous thing with God that he should fall into the pit!

Sin is a plague, yes, the greatest and most infectious plague in the world; and yet, ah! how few are there that tremble at it, that keep at a distance from it!

~Thomas Brooks~



  

Obstinate Faith

Joshua 3:13  And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above; and they shall stand upon an heap.  

Brave Levites! Who can help admiring them, to carry the Ark right into the stream; for the waters were not divided till their feet dipped in the water (ver. 15). 

God had not promised aught else. God honors faith. "Obstinate faith," that the PROMISE sees and "looks to that alone." 

You can fancy how the people would watch these holy men march on, and some of the bystanders would be saying, "You would not catch me running that risk!

Why, man, the ark will be carried away! Not so; "the priests stood firm on dry ground."

We must not overlook the fact that faith on our part helps God to carry out His plans. "Come up to the help of the Lord."

The Ark had staves for the shoulders. Even the Ark did not move of itself; it was carried. 

When God is the architect, men are the masons and laborers.

Faith assists God. It can stop the mouth of lions and quench the violence of fire. It yet honors God, and God honors it. 

Oh, for this faith that will go on, leaving God to fulfill His promise when He sees fit!

Fellow Levites, let us shoulder our load, and do not let us look as if we were carrying God's coffin. It is the Ark of the living God!

Sing as you march towards the flood!

~Thomas Champness~

One of the special marks of the Holy Ghost in the Apostolic Church was the spirit of boldness.

One of the most essential qualities of the faith that is to attempt great things for God, and expect great things from God, is holy audacity.

Where we are dealing with a supernatural Being, and taking from Him things that are humanly impossible, it is easier to take much than little;

It is easier to stand in a place of audacious trust than in a place of cautious, timid clinging to the shore.

Like wise seamen in the life of faith, let us launch out into the deep, and find that all things are possible with God, and all things are possible unto him that believeth.

Let us, today, attempt great things for God; take His faith and believe for them and His strength to accomplish them. 

~Days of Heaven upon Earth~

Know How To Wait

Isa 28:16  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.

He shall make haste to keep the LORD's commandments; but he shall not make haste in any impatient or improper sense.

He shall not haste to run away, for he shall not be overcome with the fear which causes panic.

When others are flying hither and thither as if their wits had failed them, the believer shall be quiet, calm, and deliberate, and so shall be able to act wisely in the hour of trial.

He shall not haste in his expectations, craving his good things at once and on the spot, but he will wait God's time.

Some are in a desperate hurry to have the bird in the hand, for they regard the LORD's promise as a bird in the bush, not likely to be theirs.

Believers know how to wait. 

He shall not haste by plunging into wrong or questionable action.

Unbelief must be doing something, and thus it works its own undoing;

But faith makes no more haste than good speed, and thus it is not forced to go back sorrowfully by the way which it followed heedlessly.

How is it with me? 

Am I believing, and am I therefore keeping to the believer's peace, which is walking with God? 

Peace, fluttering spirit! Oh, rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him!

Heart, see that thou do this at once!

~Charles Spurgeon~

Set Apart

Mat 14:23  And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone.

One of the blessings of the old-time Sabbath was its calm, its restfulness, its holy peace.

There is a strange strength conceived in solitude. Crows go in flocks and wolves in packs, but the lion and the eagle are solitaires.

Strength is not in bluster and noise. Strength is in quietness.

The lake must be calm if the heavens are to be reflected on its surface.

Our Lord loved the people, but how often we read of His going away from them for a brief season. 

He tried every little while to withdraw from the crowd. He was always stealing away at evening to the hills.

Most of His ministry was carried on in the towns and cities by the seashore, but He loved the hills the best, and oftentimes when night fell He would plunge into their peaceful depths.

The one thing needed above all others today is that we shall go apart with our Lord, and sit at His feet in the sacred privacy of His blessed presence.

Oh, for the lost art of meditation!

Oh, for the culture of the secret place!

Oh, for the tonic of waiting upon God!

~Selected~

It is well to live in the valley sweet, Where the work of the world is done, Where the reapers sing in the fields of wheat, As they toil till the set of sun.

But beyond the meadows, the hills I see Where the noises of traffic cease, And I follow a Voice that calleth to me From the hilltop regions of peace.

Aye, to live is sweet in the valley fair, And to toil till the set of sun; But my spirit yearns for the hilltop's air When the day and its work are done.

For a Presence breathes o'er the silent hills, And its sweetness is living yet; The same deep calm all the hillside fills, As breathed over Olivet.

Every life that would be strong must have its Holy of Holies into which only God enters.

From Obedience To Blessing

Hag 2:19  Is the seed yet in the barn? yea, as yet the vine, and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree, hath not brought forth: from this day will I bless you.

Future things are hidden from us. Yet here is a glass in which we may see the unborn years.

The LORD says, "From this day will I bless you." It is worthwhile to note the day which is referred to in this promise.

There had been failure of crops, blasting, and mildew, and all because of the people's sin.

Now, the LORD saw these chastened ones commencing to obey His word and build His temple, and therefore He says, "From the day that the foundation of the LORD's temple was laid, consider. 

From this day will I bless you.

If we have lived in any sin, and the Spirit leads us to purge ourselves of it, we may reckon upon the blessing of the LORD.

His smile, His Spirit, His grace, His fuller revelation of His truth will all prove to us an enlarged blessing.

We may fall into greater opposition from man because of our faithfulness, but we shall rise to closer dealings with the LORD our God and a clearer sight of our acceptance in Him.

LORD, I am resolved to be more true to Thee and more exact in my following of Thy doctrine and Thy precept; 

And I pray Thee, therefore, by Christ Jesus, to increase the blessedness of my daily life henceforth and forever.

~Charles Spurgeon~

"It Is Enough For The Disciple To Be As His Master"

No one will dispute this statement, for it would be unseemly for the servant to be exalted above his Master.

When our Lord was on earth, what was the treatment he received?

Were his claims acknowledged, his instructions followed, his perfections worshipped, by those whom he came to bless? No; “He was despised and rejected of men.”

Outside the camp was  his place: cross-bearing was his occupation.

Did the world yield him solace and rest?

Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.

This inhospitable country afforded him no shelter: it cast him out and crucified him.

Such...if you are a follower of Jesus, and maintain a consistent, Christ-like walk and conversation you must expect to be the lot of that part of your spiritual life which, in its outward development, comes under the observation of men.

They will treat it as they treated the Saviour - they will despise it.

Dream not that worldlings will admire you, or that the more holy and the more Christ-like you are, the more peaceably people will act towards you.

They prized not the polished gem, how should they value the jewel in the rough?

If they have called the Master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?

If we were more like Christ, we should be more hated by his enemies.

It were a sad dishonor to a child of God to be the world’s favorite.

It is a very ill omen to hear a wicked world clap its hands and shout “Well done” to the Christian man.

He may begin to look to his character, and wonder whether he has not been doing wrong, when the unrighteous give him their approbation.

Let us be true to our Master, and have no friendship with a blind and base world which scorns and rejects him.

Far be it from us to seek a crown of honor where our Lord found a coronet of thorns.

~Charles Spurgeon~

The Largest Slice Of The Well-Sugared Cake

Many profess that they are strangers and pilgrims here below. But they take care to have as much of this world's comforts as they can scrape together by hook and by crook.
 
They talk about being 'strangers', yet can be in close friendship with men of the world.

And could you see them at the exchange, at the market, behind the counter, or at home with their families - you would not find one mark to distinguish them from the ungodly!
 
Yet they come to chapel and if called upon to pray, they will tell the people they are "poor strangers and pilgrims in a valley of tears"...

While all the time their hearts are in the world and their eyes stand out with fatness and they are as light and trifling as a comic actor and have no concerns except to get the largest slice of the well-sugared cake that the world sets before them!
 
It is not the 'mere profession of the lips' but 'grace in the heart', that makes a man a stranger and a pilgrim.
 
God's people are strangers and sojourners...the world is not their home nor can they take pleasure in it.

Sin is often a burden to them - guilt often lies as a heavy weight upon their conscience...

A thousand troubles harass their minds, a thousand perplexities oppress their souls.

They cannot bury their minds in business and derive all their happiness from their successes, for they feel that this earth is not their home.

They are often cast down and exercised, because they have to live in such an ungodly world.

Hebrews 11:13  These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

~J. C. Philpot~

O LORD, Remind Us That All Below Is Passing Away

O merciful and heavenly Father, receive us graciously as we kneel before You this day. 

Every day we have to thank You for Your unfailing goodness toward us, and to confess before You our perpetual backslidings.

Deliver us, O Lord, from being burdened by earthly cares and anxieties, and may we cast them continually on You.

Deliver us from making an idol of worldly gain, for we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.

Break every chain that binds us too closely to the world, and knit our hearts to You, that we may love You above all.

O Lord, remind us that all below is passing away, and that we must soon enter upon our eternal state.

O that we may ever keep eternity in view!

It will profit us nothing to gain the whole world, if we lose our own souls and Your everlasting kingdom.

Keep us, we beseech You, in the way of life. 

Cleanse us from all our iniquities in the blood of the Lamb.

We bless You for every comfort and every mercy which You have provided for us.

But we beseech You to enable us to set our affections on those things which are above, and not on things below.

Keep us from being dazzled by the world's attractions, or turned away from You by its riches or its honors.

We would choose the pearl of great price as our treasure, and be willing to sell all rather than lose it.

Help us to count all things but loss that we may win Christ, and reckon His reproach greater riches than any earthly good.

If by one sinful word or deed we might gain the whole world, give us grace to refuse the tempting prize.

May we love You with supreme affection, and long for nothing in comparison of Your presence here and Your glory hereafter.

Teach us to seek those things which are above, and may we live as strangers and sojourners on earth.

Most gracious Father, teach us that we are strangers and sojourners upon earth. 

Here we have no continuing city. But lead us onward to the better country.

We shall soon lie down to rest awhile beneath the sod but You will call us forth from the grave to live forever in Your Presence!

O teach us to look forward in blessed hope.

Enrich us with all the grace of Your Holy Spirit, and in due season receive us to Your glory and kingdom, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

~George Everard~

The Shield Of Faith~Faith Is Given To Guard Life In Everything; Not From Everything

Ephesians 6:16  Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.                                                   

But if faith be a protecting shield, what then of the apostle's own experience?

So far from being defended from life's ills, he knew them all in an abounding measure.

He was not protected from cold or heat or hunger, nor from shipwreck, nor from the hand of robbers (2Co 11:1-33).

He was not protected from bodily infirmity, for he suffered from his lacerating thorn (2Co 12:1-21).

Everything that makes life bitter was mingled in the cup of the apostle, and yet he dares to speak of faith's protection.

I think there are many who have still to learn that faith was never intended for exemption.

Faith is not given to guard the life from anything; it is given to guard the life in everything.

It empowers one to bear, and to bear cheerfully, what otherwise would break the heart and darken the loving ordering of God.

To pass through the very worst that life can bring, undismayed in soul, and unembittered;

To tread the darkest mile and sing in it; never to lose heart, or hope, or love;

That is what faith achieved for the apostle and can achieve for everyone of us, and that is the shielding power of faith.

So was it with our blessed Lord. When He came here, He was offered no exemption.

He was a man of sorrows, and He suffered, and He was tempted in all points like as we are.

Yet to the end, in a faith that never faltered, He was loving, tranquil, and forgiving and under the cross spoke about His peace.

~George H. Morrison~

Fret Not Over Evil-Doers

Psalm 37:1 Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.
 
Do not get into a perilous heat about things. If ever heat were justified, it was surely justified in the circumstances outlined in the Psalm.

Evil-doers were moving about clothed in purple and fine linen, and faring sumptuously every day. 

Workers of iniquity were climbing into the supreme places of power, and were tyrannizing their less fortunate brethren.

Sinful men and women were stalking through the land in the pride of life and basking in the light and comfort of great prosperity, and good men were becoming heated and fretful.

Fret not thyself. Do not get unduly heated! Keep cool!

Even in a good cause, fretfulness is not a wise help-meet.

Fretting only heats the bearings; it does not generate the steam. It is no help to a train for the axles to get hot; their heat is only a hindrance.

When the axles get heated, it is because of unnecessary friction; dry surfaces are grinding together, which ought to be kept in smooth co-operation by a delicate cushion of oil.

And is it not a suggestive fact that this word "fret" is closely akin to the word "friction," and is an indication of absence of the anointing oil of the grace of God?

In fretfulness, a little bit of grit gets into the bearings-some slight disappointment, some ingratitude, some discourtesy-and the smooth working of the life is checked. 

Friction begets heat; and with the heat, most dangerous conditions are created.

Do not let thy bearings get hot. Let the oil of the Lord keep thee cool, lest by reason of an unholy heat thou be reckoned among the evil-doers.

~The Silver Lining~

Dear restless heart, be still; don't fret and worry so; God has a thousand ways His love and help to show; Just trust, and trust, and trust, until His will you know.

Dear restless heart, be still, for peace is God's own smile, His love can every wrong and sorrow reconcile; Just love, and love, and love, and calmly wait awhile.

Dear restless heart, be brave; don't moan and sorrow so, He hath a meaning kind in chilly winds that blow; Just hope, and hope, and hope, until you braver grow.

Dear restless heart, repose upon His breast this hour, His grace is strength and life, His love is bloom and flower; Just rest, and rest, and rest, within His tender power.

Dear restless heart, be still! Don't struggle to be free; God's life is in your life, from Him you may not flee: just pray, and pray, and pray, till you have faith to see.

~Edith Willis Linn~

One Of You Is A Devil!

Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves.

Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you... unless, of course, you fail the test?

2Co 13:5  Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?

Self-examination is a necessary but difficult work.

Self-examination is the setting up a court in conscience and keeping a register there, that by strict scrutiny a man may know how things stand between God and his own soul.

By a serious scrutiny of our hearts, we come to know to what prince we belong...whether to the Prince of Peace, or the prince of darkness.

Self-searching is a heart-anatomy.

As a surgeon, when he makes a dissection in the body, discovers the inward parts, the heart, liver, and arteries - just so, a Christian anatomizes himself.

Sentimentality and public opinion are false rules to go by.

We must judge the state of souls by the light of Scripture. 

Many have foolish, presumptuous hopes. They fancy their state to be good; and while they weigh themselves in the balance of presumption, they pass the test.

Many take their salvation on trust.

The foolish virgins thought they had oil in their lamps, the same as the wise.

How confident are some of salvation-yet never examine their title to Heaven.

Many rest in the good opinions of others. How vain is this!

Alas, one may be gold and pearl in the eye of others-yet God may judge him to be reprobate silver!

Others may think him a saint-and God may write him down in His black book!

Judas was looked upon by the rest of the Apostles as a true believer...yet he was a traitor!

John 6:70  Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?

Others can but see the outward behavior but they cannot tell what evil is in the heart.

Fair streams may run on the top of a river but vermin may lay at the bottom!

~Thomas Watson~                                                                               

The LORD Is Excusing Them

Luke 14:23  And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.
 
In the great parable in the fourteenth chapter of Luke, giving an account of the great supper an ancient lord prepared for his friends and neighbors, and to which, when they asked to be excused, he invited the halt and the lame from the city slums and the lepers from outside the gate, there is a significant picture and object lesson of the program of Christianity in this age.

In the first place, it is obvious to every thoughtful mind that the Master is beginning to excuse the Gospel-hardened people of Christian countries.

It is getting constantly more difficult to interest the unsaved of our own land, especially those that have been accustomed to hear the Gospel and the things of Christ.

They have asked to be excused from the Gospel feast, and the Lord is excusing them.

At the same time, two remarkable movements indicated in the parable are becoming more and more manifest in our time.

One is the Gospel for the slums and the neglected classes at home; the other is the Gospel for the heathen or the neglected classes abroad.

~A. B. Simpson~

When God Says No

1Ki 8:56  Blessed be the LORD, that hath given rest unto his people Israel, according to all that he promised: there hath not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant.

Some day we shall understand that God has a reason in every NO which He speaks through the slow movement of life.

Somehow God makes up to us.

How often, when His people are worrying and perplexing themselves about their, prayers not being answered, is God answering them in a far richer way!

Glimpses of this we see occasionally, but the full revelation of it remains for the future.

If God says 'Yes' to our prayer, dear heart, And the sunlight is golden, the sky is blue, While the smooth road beckons to me and you, And the song-birds warble as on we go, Pausing to gather the buds at our feet, Stopping to drink of the streamlets we meet, Happy, more happy, our journey will grow, If God says 'Yes' to our prayer, dear heart.
     
If God says 'No' to our prayer, dear heart, And the clouds hang heavy and dull and gray; If the rough rocks hinder and block the way, While the sharp winds pierce us and sting with cold;

Ah, dear, there is home at the journey's end, And these are the trials the Father doth send To draw us as sheep to His Heavenly fold, If God says 'No' to our prayer, dear heart.
     
Oh for the faith that does not make haste, but waits patiently for the Lord, waits for the explanation that shall come in the end, at the revelation of Jesus Christ!

When did God take anything from a man, without giving him manifold more in return?

Suppose that the return had not been made immediately manifest, what then?

Is today the limit of God's working time?

Has He no provinces beyond this little world?

Does the door of the grave open upon nothing but infinite darkness and eternal silence?
     
Yet, even confining the judgment within the hour of this life, it is true that God never touches the heart with a trial without intending to bring upon it some grander gift, some tenderer benediction.

He has attained to an eminent degree of Christian grace who knows how to wait.

~Selected~
     
When the frosts are in the valley, And the mountain tops are grey, And the choicest buds are blighted, And the blossoms die away...

A loving Father whispers, "This cometh from my hand"; Blessed are ye if ye trust Where ye cannot understand.
     
If, after years of toiling, Your wealth should fly away And leave your hands all empty, And your locks are turning grey, Remember then your Father Owns all the sea and land;

Blessed are ye if ye trust Where ye cannot understand.

~Selected~

"Trouble" Inevitable With Spiritual Sight

When, therefore, there is the purest testimony,the fullest expression of what is of God, the heavenly over against the earthly, the spiritual over against the carnal or the natural, the enemy gives a turn to things, a twist to things, and lays the responsibility at the door of a spiritual and a heavenly ministry.

He says: 'You are the cause of all the trouble - you are the troubler!'

But no. The trouble lies deeper than that, and in another realm.

The truth is, there is something here that, in its very nature, MUST create trouble, MUST be a source of trouble, so long as God's known will, His revealed mind, is being violated; while the full expression of God's purpose is being withstood.

To bring in something that stands for that, there is going to be trouble.

It is a costly thing to have seen God's full purpose and thought concerning His people.

It is always a costly thing.

The Lord Jesus set a very vivid example and object lesson of this truth right in the foreground, in the incident of the man born blind (John 9).

There is no doubt that the Lord intended that man to represent Israel and Israel's condition at the time.

He gave that man sight - and what happened to the man?

They cast him out, that is all; they cast him out, they excommunicated him (v. 34).

That is an object lesson, an instance of this very thing.

If eyes have been opened; if, in any sense - not officially - you have become a 'seer' - one who sees: it is going to cost you a lot, it will involve you in a lot of trouble.

This matter of 'seeing' does that.

It was Elijah the SEER, over against the BLINDNESS of Israel.

It is a costly thing to be a spiritual man or a spiritual woman in this universe.

It is a costly thing, yes, very costly, to hold to a heavenly and spiritual position.

It is a costly thing to hold for Christ's full place; it involves you in trouble. It is a costly thing to have light - if it is true light, God-given light.

It is a costly thing to have life.

But remember, it is here, in this, that the power is resident. It is with this that God is found ultimately to be committed.

You know the story again. God will have no compromise with the thing that lies behind. 'Take the prophets of Baal!' They were all slain.

There is NO compromise with that spiritual thing.

But God is shown as to where He stands, to what He is committed, and where the power is.

For I suppose that, if Elijah represents one thing more than another, he does represent spiritual power.

When we think of spiritual power we always refer to Elijah - 'in the power of Elijah'. It is proverbial.

Why? Not because of anything that he was in himself; no, not because of the man.

He was a man in touch with the Throne; he was a man who had seen; a man who was committed, of whom it was true that he was "very jealous for the Lord".

God was with Elijah.

John came 'in the power of Elijah' (Luke 1:17); he was the Elijah of his time. The Lord Jesus said of him: "If ye are willing to receive it, this is Elijah" (Matt. 11:14), though John himself denied this (John 1:21).

Elijah is a sort of phantom in a certain realm. Poor Herod was scared of his life - he began to see things, to get strange ideas - when he heard about Jesus: some suggested to him that this was Elijah returned to life, but he thought it was John the Baptist risen from the dead (Matt. 14:2; Mark 6:14-16).

The fellow just lost his mental grasp of things. This Elijah man counts for something.

Power is with him; the verdict is with him.

And - let there be no mistake about it - in the end it will be found that God IS committed to that which is utterly committed to Him for His full purposes.

It is costly; it causes much trouble; BUT - the issue is with Him, and He will look after His own interests.

~T. Austin Sparks~

Spider Or Bee?

A godly man strives to be an instrument for making others godly. He is not content to go to heaven alone, but wants to take others there.

Spiders work only for themselves but bees work for others.

A godly man is both a diamond and a magnet-a diamond for the sparkling luster of grace; and a magnet for his attractiveness. He is always drawing others to embrace piety.

Living things have a propagating virtue. Where piety lives in the heart, there will be an endeavor to propagate the life of grace in those we converse with.

My son, Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds Philemon 10. Though God is the fountain of grace-yet the saints are the pipes which transmit the living streams to others!

Grace is like fire which assimilates and turns everything into its own nature.

Where there is the fire of grace in the heart-it will endeavor to inflame others.

Grace is a holy leaven, which will be seasoning and leavening others with divine principles.

Grace makes the heart tender.

A godly man pities those who are in the gall of bitterness. He sees what a deadly cup is brewing for the wicked!

They must, without repentance, be bound over to God's wrath!

The fire which rained on Sodom was but a painted fire in comparison with hell fire!

This is a fire with a vengeance: "Suffering the vengeance of eternal fire" Jude 7.

Now when a godly man sees Satan's captives ready to be damned he strives to convert them from the error of their way: Knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men! 2 Cor. 5:11.

A godly man will be careful that his children should know God. He would be very sad if any of his children should burn in hell.

~Thomas Watson~

The Omnipresence Of GOD

Psa 139:7  Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
 

The omnipresence of God! How baffling to any finite comprehension!

To think that above us, and around us, and within us there is Deity-the invisible footprints of an Omniscient, Omnipresent One!

His Eyes are in every place; on rolling planets and tiny atoms; on the bright seraph and the lowly worm; roaming in searching scrutiny through the tracks of immensity and reading the dark and hidden page of my heart!

All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do!

O God! shall this Your Omnipresence appall me? No!

In my seasons of sadness and sorrow and loneliness - when other comforts and comforters have failed...

When, it may be, in the darkness and silence of some midnight hour, in vain I have sought repose - how sweet to think, "My God is here!

I am not alone. The Omniscient One, to whom the darkness and the light are both alike is hovering over my sleepless pillow!

He who keeps Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps!

O my Unsetting Sun, it cannot be darkness or loneliness or sadness where You are.

There can be no night to the soul which has been cheered with Your glorious radiance!

Surely, I am with you always! How precious, blessed Jesus, is this Your legacy of parting love!

Present with each of Your people until the end of time - ever present, omnipresent.

The true "Pillar of cloud" by day and "Pillar of fire" by night, preceding and encamping by us in every step of our wilderness journey.

My soul! think of Him, at this moment, in the mysteriousness of His Godhead nature-and yet, with all the exquisitely tender sympathies of a glorified Humanity-as present with every member of the family that He has redeemed with His blood!

Yes, and as much present with every individual soul, as if He had none other to care for-but as if that one engrossed all His affection and love!

The Great Builder surveying every stone and pillar of His spiritual temple;

The Great Shepherd with His eye on every sheep of His fold;

The Great High Priest marking every tear-drop; noting every sorrow; listening to every prayer; knowing the peculiarities of every case; no number perplexing Him no variety bewildering Him; able to attend to all, and satisfy all, and answer all...

Myriads drawing hourly from His Treasury and yet no diminution of that Treasury ever emptying, and yet ever filling, and always full!

Jesus! Your perpetual and all-pervading presence turns darkness into day!

I am not left un-befriended to weather the storms of life.

Your hand is from hour to hour piloting my frail vessel.

The omnipresence of God-gracious antidote to every earthly sorrow! 

I have set the Lord always before me! Even now, as night is drawing its curtains around me, be this my closing prayer, 'Blessed Savior! abide with me, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent!'

Psa 4:8  I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety.

~John Macduff~