"Thou Art My Hope In The Day Of Evil"

The path of the Christian is not always bright with sunshine; he has his seasons of darkness and of storm. 

True, it is written in God’s Word, “Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace;” and it is a great truth, that religion is calculated to give a man happiness below as well as bliss above;

But experience tells us that if the course of the just be “As the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day,” yet sometimes that light is eclipsed.

At certain periods clouds cover the believer’s sun, and he walks in darkness and sees no light. 

There are many who have rejoiced in the presence of God for a
season; 

They have basked in the sunshine in the earlier stages of their Christian walk;

They have walked along the “green pastures” by the side of the “still waters,” but suddenly they find the glorious sky is clouded;

Instead of the Land of Goshen they have to tread the sandy
desert;

In the place of sweet waters, they find troubled streams, bitter to their taste, and they say, “Surely, if I were a child of God, this would not happen.”

Oh! say not so, thou who art walking in darkness.

The best of God’s saints must drink the wormwood; the dearest of his children must bear the cross.

No Christian has enjoyed perpetual prosperity; no believer
can always keep his harp from the willows.

Perhaps the Lord allotted you at first a smooth and unclouded path, because you were weak and timid. 

He tempered the wind to the shorn lamb, but now that you are stronger in the spiritual life, you must enter upon the riper and
rougher experience of God’s full-grown children. 

We need winds and tempests to exercise our faith, to tear off the rotten bough of self-dependence, and to root us more firmly in Christ.

The day of evil reveals to us the value of our glorious hope.

~Charles Spurgeon~

The Release From The Bondage To Self

Joh 5:1  After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

Joh 5:2  Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches.

Joh 5:3  In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water.

Joh 5:4  For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.

Joh 5:5  And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years.

Joh 5:6  When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?

Joh 5:7  The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.

Joh 5:8  Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.

Joh 5:9  And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath.

In this story of the impotent man the heart of the matter is in verse five: "And a certain man was there, which had been thirty and eight years in his infirmity."

What is the Jewish background?

There is very little doubt that it was Israel's journey in the wilderness, the thirty-eight years of their wanderings.

What cripples they were!

They could have made the journey from Egypt to Canaan in eleven days, but it took them thirty-eight years and during that time they were really making no progress at all.

They were in bondage to their own self-life.

They were impotent, helpless cripples because the self-life was in the place of mastery.

You have no need for me to tell you how that self-life governed them in the wilderness.

They never looked at anything in the light of how it served God and how far it satisfied His interests.

They looked at everything in the light of how it affected them.

All their murmuring and rebellion was because THEY were not getting what THEY wanted.

It was never what God wanted.

They were just a self-centered people, and the self-life was their bed, and they were cripples lying on that bed.

They were never really able to get up and march straight forward into God's purpose.

Well, that is the Jewish background, and Jesus takes up an illustration of that right in the presence of the Jews when He puts this man on his feet.

The members of the new heavenly Israel are people who have been delivered from self-interest into God's interest, who have been put on their spiritual feet by Jesus Christ and are walking in strength in the way of the Lord.

Do you not think it is a very significant thing that the first miracle after the Day of Pentecost was the raising of an impotent man at the gate of the temple in Jerusalem? 

These are not just pretty stories put together to make an interesting book.

God knows what He is doing, and when He makes the first miracle of the Christian era the raising of an impotent cripple, He is saying that the people of this new Israel are people who have been delivered from this impotence and put on their feet spiritually.

There are a lot of Christian cripples about! 

They cannot get on their own feet, nor can other people put them there. 

You try to pick them up! They may take a step or two, and then down they go again. 

There are many like that, and you can spend your life trying to get them up on their feet. 

What is it that is eating the very life out of them? 

What is it that is making them such helpless cripples that they cannot walk?

It is self-centeredness. 

Make no mistake about it, it is self in some form. 

It is self that wants to be taken notice of. 

It is self in the form of pride. 

This poor man was delivered because he knew his own helplessness and he believed what Jesus said. 

He believed on to Jesus Christ, which means that he believed out of himself. 

Yes, that is the secret - that we shall turn from our miserable selves and cease to be occupied with them, saying once and for all: 'I am done with you, wretched self. I throw myself on to Jesus Christ. 

I take the one great step of committal.

Jesus never lets such a person down. 

~T. Austin Sparks~

Why The LORD Deals With Us

The Cross is a painful process, but it is a blessed issue;

And those amongst us who may have had the greatest agony along this line would, I believe, testify that what it has brought to us of the knowledge and riches of the Lord Jesus has made all the suffering worthwhile.

So the work of the Lord for us and the work of the Lord in us, by the Cross, is only intended in the Divine thought to make room for the Lord Jesus.

The brazen altar of the Tabernacle, as that of the Temple, was a very big altar.

Yes, the altar has to be a big one; there has to be a big place for Christ Crucified.

He is to fill all things and He is to be the fullness of all things, and there is going to be no room for us in the end.

Does that strike you with dismay?

Surely not.

So the Cross, the work of redemption through that Cross, has for its explanation just this, that Christ may be all, and in all; that in all things He may have the preeminence.

This, then, is the explanation of our experiences why the Lord deals with us as He does;

Why believers go through the experiences that they do go through;

Why they go through things that no one else seems called upon to go through;

Why sometimes they almost envy unbelievers the easy time that so many of them have.

This explains the Lord’s dealings with Israel in the wilderness.

Even after their deliverance from Egypt’s bondage and tyranny, there was heart-break and agony.

Why this chastening?

In the wilderness they still hark back to Egypt.

The work the Lord is doing in them is in order that He may be everything in and to them.

If He cuts off their natural supplies, it is only to show what their heavenly supplies are.

If He cuts off their natural power, it is that they may come to know the power of the heavens.

Whatever He may take them out of or lead them into is with a view to taking them out of themselves and that He Himself may be all, and in all.

This is the explanation of our difficulties.

The Lord knows how best to deal with each one of us, and He does not use standardized methods.

He deals with you in one way and with me in another.

He knows how to lead us into experiences which are most calculated to bring us to where the Lord is all, and in all.

~T. Austin Sparks~

This, And Nothing But This, Is True Christianity!

1Co 6:19  What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
 
1Co 6:20  For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

All that you are and have...Are His.

You owe Him your whole selves!

The Lord Jesus Christ, who created you and redeemed you from eternal damnation is your Proprietor, Master, and King.
 
Whom else then should you serve?
 
To whom else should you devote your lives?
 
Whose interest should you rather seek?

Rom 14:7  For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.
 
Rom 14:8  For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's.

Our religion is exactly in proportion as we cease to live for ourselves-and live for God alone. 

We have just as much religion-as we have of self-denial.

The only evidence of attachment to Him on which we can rely-is that we make it our design and care to promote His glory and the accomplishment of His benevolent purposes, not now and then, but in the general tenor of our lives.

To live for God, is to regard His will as the rule and ground of our conduct, and His glory as our supreme object.

Not merely one day in a week-but in our general course to act from a reference to His authority.

To live for God, is to choose our calling, to pursue our business, to frame our habits, to regulate our actions from hour to hour-from a regard to His will and honor.

To live for God, is to feel and act as those who are not at liberty to live to themselves, but have their work daily assigned them by a heavenly Master.

To live for God, is to live under a sense that we are not our own-not our own masters, not our own proprietors, not at our own disposal.

To live for God, is to live as though our time, talents, influence, property, and all that we are and have-are God's.

To live for God, is to hold everything in readiness to use for Him, or resign all things to Him as He shall direct.

To live for God, is to to be submissive under afflictions, and willing to be at His disposal in all our trials.

To live for God, is to to be ready to deny ourselves for Him in every way which His Word or Providence may point out.

To live for God, is to desire life chiefly that we may serve Him.

To live for God, is to make Him the center in which all the lines of our life shall meet.

To live for God, is to make it the business of our lives to please Him and not ourselves.

The very core of all true religion, is not to live for ourselves-but for God; not to consider ourselves our own-but the property and the servants of the Lord Jesus Christ; 

Not to feel as though we are set up in the world to work for ourselves, to spend the most of our time in pursuing what is termed our innocent gratifications-but to hold our time, powers, influence, and property as talents entrusted to us to be used for Christ...

Keeping our eye on His Word to learn His will, and aiming habitually to please and honor Him.

This, and nothing but this, is true Christianity! 

Whatever our creed is-if this is not our character-then all our religion is vain!

2Co 5:9  Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.

~Edward Griffin~

"Commit Thy Way Unto The LORD"

Seldom have we heard a better definition of faith than was given once in one of our meetings by a dear old colored woman, as she answered the question of a young man how to take the Lord for needed help.

In her characteristic way, pointing her finger toward him, she said with great emphasis: "You've just got to believe that He's done it, and it's done."

The Great Danger with most of us is, that after we ask Him to do it, we do not believe that it's done...

But we keep on helping Him, and getting others to help Him; superintending God and waiting to see how He is going to do it.

Faith adds its amen to God's yea, and then takes its hands off, and leaves God to finish His work.

Its language is, "Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in Him; and He worketh."

Lord, I give up the struggle...

To Thee commit my way...

Trust Thy word forever...

And settle it all to-day...

~A. B. Simpson~

Preserved To Work's End

Act 23:11  And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome.

Are you a witness for the LORD, and are you just now in danger?

Then remember that you are immortal till your work is done.

If the LORD has more witness for you to bear, you will live to bear it.

Who is he that can break the vessel which the LORD intends again to use?

If there is no more work for you to do for your Master, it cannot distress you that He is about to take you home and put you where you will be beyond the reach of adversaries. 

Your witness-bearing for Jesus is your chief concern, and you cannot be stopped in it till it is finished: therefore, be at peace.

Cruel slander, wicked misrepresentation, desertion of friends, betrayal by the most trusted one, and whatever else may come cannot hinder the LORD's purpose concerning you. 

The LORD stands by you in the night of your sorrow, and He says, "Thou must yet bear witness for me." Be calm; be filled with joy in the LORD.

If you do not need this promise just now, you may very soon. 

Treasure it up. 

Remember also to pray for missionaries and all persecuted ones, that the LORD would preserve them even to the completion of their lifework. 

~Charles Spurgeon~

God's Hornets

Exo 23:28  And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee.

What the hornets were we need not consider. 

They were God's own army which He sent before His people to sting their enemies and render Israel's conquest easy. 

Our God by His own chosen means will fight for His people and gall their foes before they come into the actual battle. 

Often He confounds the adversaries of truth by methods in which reformers themselves have no hand. 

The air is full of mysterious influences which harass Israel's foes.

We read in the Apocalypse that "the earth helped the woman."

Let us never fear.

The stars in their courses fight against the enemies of our souls.

Oftentimes when we march to the conflict we find no host to contend with.

The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.

God's hornets can do more than our weapons. 

We could never dream of the victory being won by such means as Jehovah will use. 

We must obey our marching orders and go forth to the conquest of the nations for Jesus, and we shall find that the LORD has gone before us and prepared the way; 

So that in the end we will joyfully confess, "His own right hand and his holy arm, have gotten him the victory." 

~Charles Spurgeon~

Grow In His Strength

Deu 32:12  So the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him.  

Our Almighty Parent delights to conduct the tender nestlings of His care to the very edge of the precipice, and even to thrust them off into the steeps of air, that they may learn their possession of unrealized power of flight, to be forever a luxury; 

And if, in the attempt, they be exposed to unwonted peril, He is prepared to swoop beneath them, and to bear them upward on His mighty pinions.

When God brings any of His children into a position of unparalleled difficulty, they may always count upon Him to deliver them.

~The Song of Victory~

When God puts a burden upon you He puts His own arm underneath.

There is a little plant, small and stunted, growing under the shade of a broad-spreading oak; and this little plant values the shade which covers it, and greatly does it esteem the quiet rest which its noble friend affords. 

But a blessing is designed for this little plant.

Once upon a time there comes along the woodman, and with his sharp axe he fells the oak. 

The plant weeps and cries, "My shelter is departed; every rough wind will blow upon me, and every storm will seek to uproot me!"

No, no, saith the angel of that flower; "now will the sun get at thee; now will the shower fall on thee in more copious abundance than before; 

Now thy stunted form shall spring up into loveliness, and thy flower, which could never have expanded itself to perfection shall now laugh in the sunshine, and men shall say, 'How greatly hath that plant increased! 

How glorious hath become its beauty, through the removal of that which was its shade and its delight!
 
See you not, then, that God may take away your comforts and your privileges, to make you the better Christians?

Why, the Lord always trains His soldiers, not by letting them lie on feather-beds, but by turning them out, and using them to forced marches and hard service. 

He makes them ford through streams, and swim through rivers, and climb mountains, and walk many a long march with heavy knapsacks of sorrow on their backs.

This is the way in which He makes them soldiers - not by dressing them up in fine uniforms, to swagger at the barrack gates, and to be fine gentlemen in the eyes of the loungers in the park. 

God knows that soldiers are only to be made in battle; they are not to be grown in peaceful times. 

We may grow the stuff of which soldiers are made; but warriors are really educated by the smell of powder, in the midst of whizzing bullets and roaring cannonades, not in soft and peaceful times. 

Well, Christian, may not this account for it all?

Is not thy Lord bringing out thy graces and making them grow?

Is He not developing in you the qualities of the soldier by throwing you into the heat of battle, and should you not use every appliance to come off conqueror?

~Charles Spurgeon.~