The Secret Of True Obedience

Heb 5:8  Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;
 
The secret of true obedience...let me say at once what I believe it to be.

It is the clear and close personal relationship to God.

All our attempts after full obedience will be failures until we get access to His abiding fellowship.

It is God’s holy presence, consciously abiding with us, that keeps us from disobeying Him.
 
Defective obedience is always the result of a defective life.

The defective life, the life of broken and irregular fellowship with God, must be healed, and make way for a full and healthy life; then full obedience will become possible.

The secret of a true obedience is the return to close and continual fellowship with God.

He learned obedience.

Heb 5:8  Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; 

And why was this needful?

And what is the blessing He brings us?

Listen, ‘He learned obedience by the things which He suffered, and became the author of eternal salvation to all them that obey Him.’
 
Suffering is unnatural to us, and therefore calls for the surrender of our will.
 
Christ needed suffering that in it He might learn to obey and give up His will to the Father at any cost.

He needed to learn obedience that as our great High Priest He might be made perfect.
 
He learned obedience, He became obedient unto death, that He might become the author of our salvation.

He became the author of salvation through obedience, that He might save those ‘who obey Him.’
 
As obedience was with Him absolutely necessary to procure, it is with us absolutely necessary to inherit, salvation.

The very essence of salvation is obedience to God.

Christ as the obedient One saves us as His obedient ones.

Whether in His suffering on earth, or in His glory in heaven, whether in Himself or in us, obedience is what the heart of Christ is set upon.
 
On earth Christ was a learner in the school of obedience; in heaven He teaches it to His disciples here on earth.

In a world where disobedience reigns unto death, the restoration of obedience is in Christ’s hands.

As in His own life, so in us, He has undertaken to maintain it. 

He teaches and works it in us.
 
Let us try and think what and how He teaches: it may be we shall see how little we have given ourselves to be pupils in this school, where alone obedience is to be learnt.

~George Mueller~

Hear So As To Be Heard

John 15:7  If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

Note well that we must hear Jesus speak if we expect Him to hear us speak.

If we have no ear for Christ, He will have no ear for us. In proportion as we hear we shall be heard.

Moreover, what is heard must remain, must live in us, and must abide in our character as a force and a power.

We must receive the truths which Jesus taught, the precepts which He issued, and the movements of His Spirit within us; or we shall have no power at the Mercy Seat.

Suppose our Lord's words to be received and to abide in us, what a boundless field of privilege is opened up to us!

We are to have our will in prayer, because we have already surrendered our will to the Lord's command.

Thus are Elijahs trained to handle the keys of heaven and lock or loose the clouds.

One such man is worth a thousand common Christians.

Do we humbly desire to be intercessors for the church and the world, and like Luther to be able to have what we will of the Lord?

Then we must bow our ear to the voice of the Well-beloved, treasure up His words, and carefully obey them.

He has need to "hearken diligently" who would pray effectually.

~Charles Spurgeon~

Little Foxes, And How To Catch Them!~The Power Of Little Things

Song Of Solomon 2:15  Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes. 

Solomon is very emphatic here. It is "the little foxes" which do the mischief.

If the vines are injured, if the beautiful clusters are destroyed, he warns us that it is the little foxes which have crept in and have been the culprits.

I want to linger over this thought. I want every reader to lay to heart the importance of little things. 

Is it not a little one? is the excuse of many a soul when entering upon a course that will be fatal to all peace and happiness.

Yes, it may look like a little one, but for that very reason, be the more on your guard.

A man's life is made up of little things. "He who despises little things, shall fall little by little."

Let me leave the illustration on which these papers are founded; and in other matters see the truth of which I speak.

A tiny hair has in some way found an entrance into the works of a watch.

It touches one of the inner wheels, and so again and again the watch stops or goes irregularly.

Much valuable time is in consequence lost, and only after its removal, does the watch prove useful to its owner.

A spark of fire has fallen upon some inflammable materials. It is but a spark at first, but it soon kindles into a flame.

By-and-by through that one spark, a group of valuable warehouses is burned to the ground.

A small screw has not been carefully fastened in the boiler of an engine.

For a time, no harm comes of it; but after a while, the defect loosens other parts of the machinery.

An unlooked for catastrophe shortly afterwards occurs.

The boiler explodes and spreads devastation and death far and wide. Many lives are lost and valuable property is destroyed.

A mighty ship is about to be launched. It has cost a large sum, and is fitted to cross the ocean and carry precious merchandise.

But it will not move. Day after day is spent in vain in trying to get it off the stocks.

At length the reason is discovered. A small pebble beneath the keel in a critical position had been the cause of all the trouble.

The tiny hair, the spark, the screw, the pebble - have often their counterpart in the Christian life.

A permitted inconsistency stands in the way and hinders the working of the Savior's love in the heart.

A harsh word does a world of harm. A neglected duty brings evil to thousands.

A little stone in the way - a wrong thought or motive prevents the soul launching forth into the ocean of Divine love.

But I would dwell more at length on the illustration which more properly belongs to our subject.

Catch the foxes, yes, the little ones - let not one of them escape!

If you would be secure, you must be determined to spare none not even the very smallest.

Bear in mind "the little foxes" are especially dangerous, because they creep into the vineyard so secretly.

They often get in unobserved. Even so, little sins and faults have a peculiar power to beguile the conscience.

They often pass unchallenged. They make but little noise or show, and therefore they deceive the heart, and do their deadly work while we are unaware. 

Bear in mind also, that little foxes will soon grow. Week by week, month by month, very insensibly to yourself - the little one is growing stronger and larger!

The one you thought at first a mere plaything because it was so small-becomes an over-bearing tyrant!

Is not this true of every sin? It grows by use and habit.

Its strength and power is constantly on the increase. "Wicked men and seducers grow worse and worse."

Secret sins are the forerunners of presumptuous sins.

If evil is cherished in the deep of the heart, if unholy desires are permitted to remain - soon may follow some terrible breach of the Divine law.

Our safety is in watching against the first wrong step.

We must not treat the smallest deviation from truth and righteousness lightly.

If you once put your foot in the mire of sin, you will sink deeper and deeper! 

I have heard it put in another way. When first you go out with clean boots you are careful to avoid the mud; but after a while, when they are soiled, you do not so much mind, but go across the mire of the street without heeding it.

So when the life is comparatively pure, you shrink from evil; but when the conscience is once defiled by willful sin, you grow careless and indifferent as to what lengths you go in it.

Therefore take good heed on this account. Remember, sin grows, and grows fast.

Watch against the beginnings of evil.

Then there is another peril in little sins. The little foxes are dangerous, because they make a track for others to follow.

A little thief may creep in at the window and open the door for those who are lurking near.

So a little fox may lead the way for a troop of others to enter the vineyard. The path is easier to find. 

The hedge will be broken down, or the opening in the wall made larger; so that where at first there came but one, and that one a little one, by-and-by a whole tribe will be found, and the vineyard utterly laid waste.

So is it with sins. One makes way for another, and each one that goes before makes it easier for others to follow.

There is a companionship in sins as well as in graces. You never find them alone.

If you find in the heart the spirit of humility and faith you will find also love, prayer, patience, holiness, dwelling there also.

So, too, do sins accompany one another. Very often the evil increases fast.

He takes up with bad company, he then becomes loose in his talk, he then finds his way to the drinking saloon, then, perhaps, he gets into profligate habits, and then acts dishonestly to supply means for his extravagance.

In this way very often a young life is blighted and robbed of all its fair prospects, and perhaps the man ends his days in a prison or the poor house.

In this and many similar ways, one sin is linked unto another-and wretchedness, shame, and temporal and eternal damnation are their bitter fruit.

Look at the first sin that crept into our world. Truly it might seem to some to be a small matter but it was the little fox that destroyed the tender grapes.

It begins with a look and a wish. Eve sees the fruit and longs for it. Then she gives ear to the Tempter. 

She believes his lie, and doubts the truth and the goodness of God.

She touches, she takes, she tastes, she persuades her husband to taste likewise. Thus the evil spreads. 

All the joys of paradise are forfeited. The image of God in the soul is lost. Briers and thorns spring up in the ground.

Sins and sorrows without end spring up in the world.

One sin, as we might think a little one, has become a giant, and evil of every kind overspreads the face of the earth!

The whole world groans beneath the violence, wickedness, and oppression that lie heavy upon it.

And to this hour, the outcome of that sin is seen in the ten thousand times ten thousand forms of vice and wickedness which cover the earth, and fill mankind with untold misery and woe!

Or take another example. Take an envious, covetous thought. Look at Ahab.

Naboth will not part with his vineyard. So Ahab comes home and yields to a repining, murmuring spirit.

He will take no food, and jealousy and discontent fill his mind. Ah, the little fox has crept in!

What will follow? Robbery, false witness, murder, involving a whole city in the guilt of the cruel and wicked deed.

And it all arises as the result of a wrong thought cherished in the heart!

There is one other point about what we call "little sins" which ought not to be forgotten.

We can only speak of them as such, when treating of man's judgment.

The heart-searching Judge of all mankind has a very different standard to ours.

We may reckon that a small thing which the Lord may reckon a most aggravated sin. He judges not as man judges.

Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. Men think that thoughts and motives are but little things.

Yet before God, it is these which constitute a man's true character.

In His sight, thoughts are deeds. He sees in the germ, the full-grown fruit. Hatred is murder.

An unchaste look adultery. "I know the things that come into your mind, every one of them!" says the Lord and as He knows, He judges.

It seemed a small thing to Lot's wife to look back, but that look was fatal.

It seemed but a small thing to Uzzah to touch the ark when it shook, but he perished in his sin.

It seemed but a small thing in Herod to accept the flattering voice of the people, calling him a God; but God smote Him with worms until he died.

Before God, there is no little sin.

Let us therefore take good heed to ourselves. "Cleanse me from secret faults."

Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be always acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.

~George Everard, 1878~

Ordering The Stops

Waiting is much more difficult than walking. Waiting requires patience, and patience is a rare virtue. 

It is fine to know that God builds hedges around His people when the hedge is looked at from the viewpoint of protection.

But when the hedge is kept around one until it grows so high that he cannot see over the top...

And wonders whether he is ever to get out of the little sphere of influence and service in which he is pent up...

It is hard for him sometimes to understand why he may not have a larger environment...

Hard for him to "brighten the corner" where he is. 

But God has a purpose in all HIS holdups.

The steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord,  reads Psalm 37:23.

On the margin of his Bible at this verse George Mueller had a notation, "And the stops also."

It is a sad mistake for men to break through God's hedges.

It is a vital principle of guidance for a Christian never to move out of the place in which he is sure God has placed him, until the Pillar of Cloud moves.

~Sunday School Times~

When we learn to wait for our Lord's lead in everything, we shall know the strength that finds its climax in an even, steady walk. 

Many of us are lacking in the strength we so covet.

But God gives full power for every task He appoints.

Waiting, holding oneself true to His lead...this is the secret of strength.

And anything that falls out of the line of obedience is a waste of time and strength. 

Watch for His leading.

~S. D. Gordon~

Must life be a failure for one compelled to stand still in enforced inaction and see the great throbbing tides of life go by?

No; victory is then to be gotten by standing still, by quiet waiting.

It is a thousand times harder to do this than it was in the active days to rush on in the columns of stirring life.

It requires a grander heroism to stand and wait and not lose heart and not lose hope...

To submit to the will of God, to give up work and honors to others, to be quiet, confident and rejoicing, while the happy, busy multitude go on and away.

It is the grandest life "having done all, to stand."

~J. R. Miller~

The Crosses We Make!

Luke 22:42  Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.

A cross is composed of two pieces of wood. The shorter piece represents your will and the longer piece represents God's will.

Lay the two pieces side by side and there is no cross; but lay the shorter piece across the longer one and you have a cross. 

Just so, whenever our will falls across God's will...there is a cross in our life.

We make a cross for ourselves every time we do not accept Christ's way, every time we murmur at anything He sends, every time we will not do what He commands. 

But when we quietly accept what He gives, when we yield in sweet acquiescence to His will, though it shatters our fairest hopes, when we let our will lay alongside His...we have found the peace of Christ.

Mat 26:42  He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.

Psalm 40:8  I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.

~J. R. Miller~

You Will Not Leave In Haste

I do not believe we have even begun to understand the wonderful power there is in being still.

We are in such a hurry, always doing, that we are in danger of not allowing God the opportunity to work.

You may be sure that God will never say to us, “Stand still,” “Sit still,” or “Be still,” unless He is going to do something.

This is our problem regarding the Christian life: we want to do something to be Christians, instead of allowing Him to work in us.

Think of how still you stand when your picture is being taken, as the photographer captures your likeness on film. 

God has one eternal purpose for us: that we should be “conformed to the likeness of his Son”

Rom 8:29  For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

But in order for that to happen, we must stand still.

We hear so much today about being active, but maybe we need to learn what it means to be quiet.

Sit still, my children! Just sit calmly still!

Nor deem these days-these waiting days-as ill!

The One who loves you best, who plans your way, Has not forgotten your great need today!

And, if He waits, it’s sure He waits to prove To you, His tender child, His heart’s deep love.

Sit still, my children! Just sit calmly still!

You greatly long to know your dear Lord’s will!

While anxious thoughts would almost steal their way Corrodingly within, because of His delay

Persuade yourself in simple faith to rest That He, who knows and loves, will do the best.

Sit still, my children! Just sit calmly still!

Nor move one step, not even one, until His way has opened.

Then, ah then, how sweet!

How glad your heart, and then how swift your feet, Your inner being then, ah then, how strong!

And waiting days not counted then too long.

Sit still, my daughter! Just sit calmly still!

What higher service could you for Him fill?

It’s hard! ah yes! But choicest things must cost!

For lack of losing all how much is lost!

It’s hard, it’s true! 

But then-He gives you grace To count the hardest spot the sweetest place.

~J. Danson Smith~

Don't Worry

When you are inclined to worry...don't do it! That is the first thing.

No matter how much reason there seems to be for worrying still, there is your rule. Do not break it—don't worry!
 
Matters may be greatly tangled, so tangled that you cannot see how they ever can be straightened out; still, don't worry!

Troubles may be very real and very sore, and there may not seem a rift in the clouds; nevertheless, don't worry!

You say the rule is too high for human observance-that mortals cannot reach it;

Or you say there must be some exceptions to it-that there are peculiar circumstances in which one cannot but worry.

But wait a moment. What did the Master teach?

I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.

He left no exceptions.

What did Paul teach?

Don't worry about anything!

He did not say a word about exceptions to the rule-but left it unqualified and absolute.

A good bit of homely, practical, common-sense wisdom, says that there are two classes of things we should not worry about...things we can help, and things we cannot help.

Evils we can help-we ought to help.

If the roof leaks-we ought to mend it;

If the fire is burning low and the room growing cold-we ought to put on more fuel;

If the fence is tumbling down, so as to let our neighbor's cattle into our wheat field-we had better repair the fence than sit down and worry over the troublesomeness of people's cows;

If we have dyspepsia and it makes us feel badly-we had better look to our diet and our exercise.

That is, we are very silly if we worry about things we can help.

Help them!

That is the heavenly wisdom for that sort of ills or cares-that is the way to cast that kind of burden on the Lord.

But there are things we cannot help. "Can any of you add a single cubit to his height by worrying?"

What folly, then, for a short man to worry because he is not tall, or for a woman to worry about the color of her hair, or for anyone to worry because of any physical peculiarities he may have?

These are types of a large number of things in people's lives—which no human power can change. Why worry about these? Will worrying do any good? No!

So we come to the same result by applying this common-sense rule.

Things we can make better-we should make better, and not fret about them!

Things we cannot help or change-we should accept as God's will for us, and make no complaint about them.

This very simple principle, faithfully applied, would eliminate all worrying from our lives!

As children of our heavenly Father-we may go a step farther.

If this world were governed by chance-no amount either of philosophy or of common sense could keep us from worrying; but we know that our Father is taking care of us!

No little child in best and most caring home, was ever carried so carefully or so safely in the love and thought and care of earthly parents-as is the least of God's little ones in the heavenly Father's heart!

Mat 6:31  Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

Mat 6:32  (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

The things we cannot help or change are in his hand, and belong to the "all things" which, we are assured, "work together for good to those who love God."

In the midst of all the great rush of events and circumstances, in which we can see no order and no design we well know that each believer in Christ, is as safe as any little child in the arms of the most loving mother!

It is not a mere blind faith that we try to nourish in our hearts as we seek to school ourselves to quietness and confidence amid all life's trials and disappointments:

It is a faith that rests upon the character and the infinite goodness of God-the faith of a little child in a Father whose name is "Love" and whose power extends to every part of his universe.

So here we find solid rock upon which to stand, and good reason for our lesson that we should never worry.

Our Father is taking care of us!

But if we are never to worry, what shall we do with the things which incline us to worry?

There are many such things in the life, even of the most warmly sheltered.

There are disappointments which leave the hands empty after days and years of hope and toil.

There are resistless thwartings of fondly cherished plans and purposes.

There are bereavements which seem to sweep away every earthly joy.

There are perplexities through which no human wisdom can lead the feet.

There are experiences in every life-whose natural effect is to disquiet the spirit and produce deep and painful anxiety.

If we are never to worry, what are we to do with these things which naturally tend to cause us worry?

The answer is easy...we are to put all these disturbing and distracting things into the hands of our Father!

Of course, if we carry them ourselves...we cannot help worrying over them!

But we are not to carry them; we cannot if we would!

Up to the measure of our wisdom and our ability-we are to calculate our lives, and shape our circumstances.

What people sometimes call trust is only indolence; we must meet life heroically. But when we have done our whole simple duty—there both our duty and our responsibility end!

We cannot hold back the wave which the sea flings upon the beach;

We cannot control the winds and the clouds and the other forces of nature;

We cannot keep away the frosts which threaten to destroy our summer fruits;

We cannot shut out of our doors, that sickness which brings pain and suffering; or that sorrow which leaves its poignant anguish!

We cannot prevent the misfortune which comes through others, or through public calamity.

In the presence of all this class of evils-we are utterly powerless; they are irremediable by any wisdom or strength of ours!

Why, then, should we endeavor to carry them, only to vex ourselves in vain with them!

Besides, there is no reason why we should even try to carry them!

It would be a very foolish little child, in a home of plenty and of love-which would worry about its food and clothing or about its father's business affairs, and be all the while in a state of anxiety and distress concerning its own safety and comfort.

The child has nothing whatever to do with these matters! Its father and its mother are attending to them.

Or imagine a great ship on the ocean and the child of the ship's captain on board.

The child goes about the vessel anxious concerning every movement and worried lest something may go wrong-lest the engines may fail, or the sails give out, or the sailors not do their duty, or the provisions become exhausted, or the machinery break down.

What has the captain's child to do with any of these things!

The child's father is looking after them!

We are God's children, living in our Father's world-and we have nothing more to do with the world's affairs than the shipmaster's little child has to do with the management and care of the great vessel in mid-ocean.

We have only to stay in our place and attend to our own little personal duties, giving ourselves no shadow of anxiety about anything else!

That is what we are to do instead of worrying when we meet things that would naturally perplex us.

We are just to lay them in God's hands-where they belong-that he may look after them, while we abide in quiet peace, and go on with our little daily duties.

We have high scriptural authority for this.

This is what Paul teaches in his immortal prison letter when he says: "Don't worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

And the peace of God, which surpasses every thought, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus!

The points here shine out very clearly.

We are not to worry about anything!

In no possible circumstances are ever to worry!

Instead of worrying we are to take everything to God in prayer.

The result will be peace: "And the peace of God, which surpasses every thought, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus!"

Peter's counsel is similar, though more condensed.

1Pe 5:7  Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

In the Revised Version its meaning comes out more clearly: Casting all your anxiety upon him because he cares for you!

God is taking care of you-not overlooking the smallest thing, and you have but to cast all your cares and anxiety upon him...and then be at peace.

It is trying to carry our own cares, which produces worry!
Our duty is to cast them all upon Christ, giving ourselves thought only about our duty.

This is the secret of peaceful living.

There is a practical suggestion which may be helpful in learning this lesson.

The heart in its pressure of care or pain, cannot well remain silent-it must speak or break.

Its natural impulse is to give utterance to its emotion, in cries of pain or in fretful complainings and discontented murmurings.

It will be a great relief to the overburdened heart, if in time of pain or trial, the pent-up feelings can be given some other vent than in expressions of worry or anxiety.
 
It is most suggestive, therefore, that in Paul's words, already quoted, when he says we should take our anxieties to God in prayer, he adds "with thanksgiving."

The songs of thanksgiving carry off the heart's suppressed pain and give it relief.

It is better always to put pain or grief into melody than into wails.

It is better for the heart itself-it is a sweeter relief.

There are no wings like the wings of song and praise to bear away life's burdens!

It is also better for others, for us to start a song-than to let loose a shriek or a cry of anguish to fly abroad.

We remember our Lord Jesus when he was nailed to the cross, where his sufferings must have been excruciating;

Instead of a cry of anguish-he turned the woe of his heart into a prayer of intercession for his murderers!

Paul, too, in his prison, his back torn with the scourge and his feet fast in the stocks, uttered no word of complaint and no cry of pain-but gave vent to his great suffering in midnight hymns of praise which rang through all the prison.

These illustrations suggest a wonderful secret of heart peace in the time of distress, from whatever cause.

We must find some outflow for our pent-up emotions; silence is unendurable.

We may not complain nor give utterance to feelings of anxiety-but we may turn the bursting tides into the channels of praise and prayer!

We may also find relief in loving service for others.
Indeed, there is no more wonderful secret of joyful endurance of trial, than this!

If the heart can put its pain or its fear into helping and comforting those who are in need and in trouble-it soon forgets its own care!

If the whole inner story of lives were known, it would be found that many of those who have done the most to comfort the world's sorrow, and bind up its wounds, and help it in its need-have been men and women whose own hearts found outlet for their pain, care or sorrow-in ministries to others in Christ's name.

Thus they found blessing for themselves, in the peace which ruled in their lives and they became blessings to the world by giving it songs instead of tears and helpful service instead of the burden of discontent and complaining!

If a bird has to be in a cage-it is better to fill its place of imprisonment with happy song, than to sit moaning within the wire walls, in inconsolable distress.

If we must have cares and trials, it is better that we should be rejoicing Christians...

Brightening the very darkness of our environment with the bright light of Christian faith...

Than that we should succumb to our troubles and get nothing but worry out of our life-and give nothing to the world, but murmurings and the memory of our miserable discontent!

~J. R. Miller~

He Acts On Honest Confession

Job 33:27  He looketh upon men, and if any say, I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not;
 
Job 33:28  He will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light.

This is a word of truth, gathered from the experience of a man of God, and it is tantamount to a promise. 

What the LORD has done, and is doing, He will continue to do while the world standeth.

The LORD will receive into His bosom all who come to Him with a sincere confession of their sin;

In fact, He is always on the lookout to discover any that are in trouble because of their faults.

Can we not endorse the language here used?

Have we not sinned, sinned personally so as to say, "I have sinned"?

Sinned willfully, having perverted that which is right?

Sinned so as to discover that there is no profit in it but an eternal loss?

Let us, then, go to God with this honest acknowledgment. He asks no more. We can do no less.

Let us plead His promise in the name of Jesus.

He will deliver us from the pit of hell which yawns for us; He will grant us life and light.

Why should we despair?

Why should we even doubt?

The LORD does not mock humble souls.

He means what He says.

The guilty can be forgiven.

Those who deserve execution can receive free pardon.

LORD, we confess, and we pray Thee to forgive! 

~Charles Spurgeon~

The Psalmist Was Deceived

Psa 55:23  But thou, O God, shalt bring them down into the pit of destruction: bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; but I will trust in thee.  

Observe, he was a man deceived. Somebody he trusted had proven false, and it had almost broken David's heart.

Psa 55:12  For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it: neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; then I would have hid myself from him:

Psa 55:13  But it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance.

Psa 55:14  We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company.

A man his equal, his guide and his acquaintance to whom he used to turn for loving counsel;

A man with whom, on quiet Sabbath mornings, he used to walk unto the house of God;

A man whose friendship he had never doubted and on whose loyalty he would have staked his life had played the part of Iscariot to the psalmist.

What a devastating revelation!

What a tragic and desolating hour!

How many people have lost their faith in God when they have lost it in a man or woman?

Yet David, amid the ruins of that friendship, deserted by one he clung to as a brother, says, "But I will trust in thee."

~George H. Morrison~

Made Rich By Faith

Poverty is a hard heritage; but those who trust in the LORD are made rich by faith.

They know that they are not forgotten of God, and though it may seem that they are overlooked in His providential distribution of good things, they look for a time when all this shall be righted. 

Lazarus will not always lie among the dogs at the rich man's gate, but he will have his recompense in Abraham's bosom.

Even now the LORD remembers His poor but precious sons, "I am poor and needy; yet the LORD thinketh upon me," said one of old, and it is even so.

The godly poor have great expectations.

They expect the LORD to provide them all things necessary for this life and godliness;

They expect to see things working for their good;

They expect to have all the closer fellowship with their LORD, who had not where to lay His head; 

They expect His second advent and to share its glory.

This expectation cannot perish, for it is laid up in Christ Jesus, who liveth forever, and because He lives, it shall live also.

The poor saint singeth many a song which the rich sinner cannot understand.

Wherefore, let us, when we have short commons below, think of the royal table above.

~Charles Spurgeon~

Divine Recompense

If I carefully consider others, God will consider me, and in some way or other He will recompense me.

Let me consider the poor, and the LORD will consider me.

Let me look after little children, and the LORD will treat me as His child.

Let me feed His flock, and He will feed me.

Let me water His garden, and He will make a watered garden of my soul.

This is the LORD's own promise; be it mine to fulfill the condition and then to expect its fulfillment.
 
I may care about myself till I grow morbid; I may watch over my own feelings till I feel nothing; and I may lament my own weakness till I grow almost too weak to lament.

It will be far more profitable for me to become unselfish and out of love to my LORD Jesus begin to care for the souls of those around me.

My tank is getting very low; no fresh rain comes to fill it; what shall l do.

I will pull up the plug and let its contents run out to water the withering plants around me.

What do I see? My cistern seems to fill as it flows. A secret spring is at work.

While all was stagnant, the fresh spring was sealed; but as my stock Rows out to water others the LORD thinketh upon me. 

Hallelujah!

~Charles Spurgeon~

I Heard A Still Voice

Job 4:16  It stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof: an image was before mine eyes, there was silence, and I heard a voice, saying, 

A score of years ago, a friend placed in my hand a book called True Peace.

It was an old medieval message, and it had but one thought-that God was waiting in the depths of my being to talk to me if I would only get still enough to hear His voice.

I thought this would be a very easy matter, and so began to get still.

But I had no sooner commenced than a perfect pandemonium of voices reached my ears, a thousand clamoring notes from without and within, until I could hear nothing but their noise and din.

Some were my own voices, my own questions, some my very prayers.

Others were suggestions of the tempter and the voices from the world's turmoil.

In every direction I was pulled and pushed and greeted with noisy acclamations and unspeakable unrest.

It seemed necessary for me to listen to some of them and to answer some of them; but God said, "Be still, and know that I am God."

Then came the conflict of thoughts for tomorrow, and its duties and cares; but God said, "Be still."

And as I listened, and slowly learned to obey, and shut my ears to every sound, I found after a while that when the other voices ceased, or I ceased to hear them, there was a still small voice in the depths of my being that began to speak with an inexpressible tenderness, power and comfort.

As I listened, it became to me the voice of prayer, the voice of wisdom, the voice of duty, and I did not need to think so hard, or pray so hard, or trust so hard;

But that "still small voice" of the Holy Spirit in my heart was God's prayer in my secret soul, was God's answer to all my questions, was God's life and strength for soul and body, and became the substance of all knowledge, and all prayer and all blessing: for it was the living GOD Himself as my life, my all.

It is thus that our spirit drinks in the life of our risen Lord, and we go forth to life's conflicts and duties like a flower that has drunk in, through the shades of night, the cool and crystal drops of dew.

~A. B. Simpson~