Fret Not Over Evil-doers

Psa 37:1  A Psalm of David. 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~

Let Us Be Alert

Rom 13:11  And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
 
Rom 13:12  The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.
 
Let us wake out of sleep...

Let us be alert...

Let us be alive to the great necessities that really concern us.

Let us put off the garments of the night and the indulgences of the night; the loose robes of pleasure and flowing garments of repose...

The festal pleasures of the hours of darkness are not for the children of the day. 

Let us cast off the works of darkness.

Let us arm ourselves for the day. 

Before we put on our clothes, let us put on our weapons...

For we are stepping out into a land of enemies and a world of dangers...

Let us put on the helmet of salvation,...

The breastplate of faith and love...

And the shield of faith...

And stand armed and vigilant as the dangers of the last days gather around us.

Let us put on the Lord Jesus Christ. 

This is our robe of day. 

Not our own works or righteousness...

But the person and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ...

Who gave us His very life...

And becomes to us our All-Sufficiency.

~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~

The Anchor Of Calvary

There was an evil hour once when I released the anchor of my faith...

I cut the cable of my belief...

I no longer moored myself tight to the coasts of the Revelation of God...

I allowed my vessel to drift with the wind...

I said to reason, "You be my captain;"...

I said to my own brain, "You be my rudder;"...

And I started on my mad voyage. 

Thank God, it is all over now; but I will tell you its brief history.

It was one hurried sailing over the tempestuous ocean of free thought. 

I went on, and as I went, the skies began to darken...

But to make up for that deficiency, the waters were brilliant with the glitter of brilliancy...

I saw sparks flying upward that pleased me, and I thought, "If this is free thought, it is a good thing." 

My thoughts seemed like gems, and I scattered stars with both my hands...

But before long, instead of these flashes of glory, I saw grim fiends, fierce and horrible, come up from the waters...

And as I rushed on, they gnashed their teeth, and grinned at me...

They seized the bow of my ship and dragged me on...

While I, in part, was impressed at the swiftness of my motion, but yet shuddered at the terrific rate with which I passed the old landmarks of my faith.

As I hurried forward with a dreadful speed, I began to doubt my very existence...

I doubted if there were a world...

I doubted if there were such a thing, as myself...

I went to the very verge of the dreamy realms of unbelief...

I went to the very bottom of the sea of Unbelief.

I doubted everything.

But here the devil foiled himself...

For the very extravagance of the doubt, proved its absurdity. 

Just when I saw the bottom of that sea, there came a voice which said, "And can this doubt be true?" 

At this very thought I awoke. 

I started from that death-dream, which, God knows, might have damned my Soul, and ruined my body, if I had not awoke. 

When I arose, faith took the helm...

From that moment I no longer doubted. 

Faith steered me back...

Faith cried, "Away, away!"

I cast my anchor on Calvary...

I lifted my eye to God...

And here I am, "alive, and out of hell."

~Charles Spurgeon~

Christ Was Never Accused Of Drifting

Act 27:15  And when the ship was caught, and could not bear up into the wind, we let her drive.

Christ Was Never Accused of Drifting

And how beautifully is that exemplified in His own so perfect life!

Scoffers said He drank, but no one ever said He drifted.

By a magnificent energy of faithful will He put from Him all the kingdoms of the world.

He chose the long, hard trail and held to it...

Though His feet were bleeding and His heart was breaking...

Far off He saw the cross in its agony and shame and ridicule...

And He set His face steadfastly towards Jerusalem.

Nothing could divert Him nor break the steady power of His purpose...

No tempting friends...

Nor cheering multitudes...

Nor bitter desertion...

Nor betrayal.

The great word in the life of drift is may...

But the great word in the life of Christ is must...

And must is the last triumph of the will.

No man can share His spirit who lives on in aimless indecision.
 
Nobody can have His joy who shrinks from full surrender.

The life of drift never reaches harbor.

It reaches the quicksand and the reef...

From which may God in His mercy save us all.

~George H. Morrison~

The Leadership 0f Our Guide

John 16:13  Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

Truth is like a vast cavern into which we desire to enter, but we are not able to traverse it alone.

At the entrance it is clear and bright;

But if we would go further and explore its innermost recesses, we must have a guide, or we shall lose ourselves. 

The Holy Spirit, who knows all truth perfectly, is the appointed guide of all true believers...

And He conducts them as they are able to bear it, from one inner chamber to another...

So that they behold the deep things of God, and His secret is made plain to them. 

What a promise is this for the humbly inquiring mind!

We desire to know the truth and to enter into it.

We are conscious of our own aptness to err, and we feel the urgent need of a guide.

We rejoice that the Holy Spirit is come and abides among us. 

He condescends to act as a guide to us, and we gladly accept His leadership.

All truth we wish to learn, that we may not be one-sided and out of balance.

We would not be willingly ignorant of any part of revelation lest thereby we should miss blessing or incur sin.

The Spirit of God has come that He may guide us into all truth: 

Let us with obedient hearts hearken to His words and follow His lead. 

~Charles Spurgeon~

"No Man Can Serve Two Masters".

Mark Anthony yoked two lions to his chariot; but there are two lions no man has ever yoked together...the lion of the tribe of Judah, and the lion of the pit. 

These can Never go together. 

Two opinions you may hold in politics, perhaps, but then you will be despised by everyone, unless you are of one opinion or the other, and act as an independent man. 

But two opinions in the matter of soul-religion you Cannot Hold. 

If God be God, serve him, and do it thoroughly...

But if this world is God, serve it, and make no profession of religion. 

If you are a worldling, and think the things of the world are the best, serve them...

Devote yourself to them, do not be kept back by conscience...

Ignore your conscience, and run into sin. 

But REMEMBER, if the Lord is your God, you CANNOT have Baal too...

You Must have one thing or the other. 

No Man Can Serve Two Masters.

If God is served, he will be a Master...

And if the devil be served, it will not be long before he will be a master...

And "You Cannot Serve Two masters." 

Oh! Be wise, and do not think that the two can be mingled together.

~Charles Spurgeon~