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~

The Lord’s Dealings Are Based On Our Pride

                                                                                 

On the one side, it is terribly true... 

Psa 138:6  Though the LORD be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off.

It all sprang out of that proud heart that lifted itself up and said... 

Isa 14:13  For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 

Isa 14:14  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

With that I, all the trouble began, and that one bit his poison into the race. 

The poison of the human race is pride, and it has come all the way down.

It is sometimes almost untraceable: 

We are not able always to trace it out in all its forms...

There are, of course, the obviously, manifestly proud, the ambitious, the assertive, the self-important, the self-sufficient. 

It is an ugly thing. 

A lot of our murmuring is pride...

A lot of tears are pride which we think is humility...

A lot of our criticism of other people springs from pride...

Pride is at the root. 

Very much of our poor, miserable tone is, after all, pride. 

Oh, how subtle and serpentine a thing this is!

It is there. 

So the Lord has to stand back.

On the other hand, look at humility...

To this man will I look – that is the beginning, the Lord even looking in anyone’s direction –“even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit".

And He dwells with them.

Isa 66:2  For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.

Isa 57:15  For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. 

Psa 25:9  The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way.

Mat 5:5  Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. 

It is like that all the way through; vindication is on that basis.  

Num 12:3  (Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.)

And you know when that was said at the time when his position was disputed, and God appeared at the entrance of the tabernacle and answered the challenge on the ground of the meekness of His servant. 

God stands by and vindicates the meek.

I say the whole Bible is founded on this issue. 

What a vital matter this is!

Is not the Lord justified in taking any steps to clear up that situation - breaking, emptying, humbling, withholding, deferring, delaying...

In any way bringing us to nought, to a place of utter dependence, where there is nothing we can rely upon at all but the Lord Himself? 

Is He justified?

It is a tremendous process.

It is a very real, very devastating work...

And the very fact that we suffer so much shows how deep and real it is.

~T. Austin Sparks~

Is God In What You Are Doing?

Beloved, the principle of Life in your spirit is to be the guiding principle of all your service in the Lord Jesus Christ.

I do not mean Life in your surroundings. 

The Lord may take you to a place where death reigns, but if death reigns in you, you may as well give up the whole thing at once. 

You may be there, and the Life of God may be in you to meet that situation to triumph over it; 

But mark you, if you begin to touch what you call pieces of work for God and there is no Life in your spirit, the thing is dead in your spirit; you have no right there until you get in your spirit the Life of God relative to that thing. 

Don’t touch it, or you will be found in dead works, trying to do something where there is no vital principle at all.

A lot of people hold on and continue in certain realms, certain spheres, certain companies, certain connections...

And they are there merely from the standpoint of natural reasoning and argument, sentimentality, tradition, or somehow thinking that by staying in, something is going to be done...

While in their spirit they know the thing is dead, and they have no Life there.
 
Oh, that God’s people had discernment, spiritual discernment! 

The one cry in our spirit is that His people might be more discerning...to be able to discern in their spirit where Life is and where death is. 

We have got to get on to the thing that God is doing, for only in this can we have the witness of Life that it is the thing of God, and that we shall get through. 

In order that He might be able to consummate His purpose, gather up His plan and bring it to a mighty, victorious issue in the coming of the Lord, our need is to have Life more abundant… and the spiritual discernment by Life, to know where Life is and where death is.

You may be doing what you call the work of God and have death in your Spirit; and that very doing of what you call the work of God because there is death in your spirit is antagonistic to the purpose of God. 

You may have Life in your Spirit and death all around, but the fact that you have the witness of Life is both the key and the assurance that something is to be accomplished.
 
I believe, beloved, that we dare not do a thing unless we have definite witness in our spirit that it is the thing of God to be done through us…. 

Is God in this?

Is God in that?

Has God undertaken it?

The answer to that question in your spirit will not be an audible voice...

It must ever be the liberty and the freedom and the uprising of His Life in you that gives you a clear way through in your spirit.

~T. Austin Sparks~

Complete Safety

Deu 33:12  And of Benjamin he said, The beloved of the LORD shall dwell in safety by him; and the LORD shall cover him all the day long, and he shall dwell between his shoulders.

Yes, there is no safety like that which comes of dwelling near to God.

For His best beloved the LORD can find no surer or safer place.

O LORD, let me always abide under Thy shadow, close to Thy wounded side. 

Nearer and nearer would I come to Thee, my LORD; and when once specially near Thee, I would abide there forever. 

What a covering is that which the LORD gives to His chosen!

Not a fair roof shall cover him, nor a bomb-proof casement, nor even an angel's wing, but Jehovah Himself. 

Nothing can come at us when we are thus covered. 

This covering the LORD will grant us all the day long, however long the day.

LORD, let me abide this day consciously beneath this canopy of love, this pavilion of sovereign power. 

Does the third clause mean that the LORD in His temple would dwell among the mountains of Benjamin or that the LORD would be where Benjamin's burden should be placed, or does it mean that we are borne upon the shoulders of the Eternal?

In any case, the LORD is the support and strength of His saints. 

LORD, let me ever enjoy Thy help, and then my arms will be sufficient for me. 

~Charles Spurgeon~

The Safest Shelter

Isa 32:2  And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.

Who this Man is we all know. 

Who could He be but the Second Man, the LORD from heaven, the man of sorrows, the Son of Man? 

What a hiding place He has been to His people! 

He bears the full force of the wind Himself, and so He shelters those who hide themselves in Him. 

We have thus escaped the wrath of God, and we shall thus escape the anger of men, the cares of this life, and the dread of death. 

Why do we stand in the wind when we may so readily and so surely get out of it by hiding behind our LORD? 

Let us this day run to Him and be at peace. 

Often the common wind of trouble rises in its force and becomes a tempest, sweeping everything before it.

Things which looked firm and stable rock in the blast, and many and great are the falls among our carnal confidences. 

Our LORD Jesus, the glorious man, is a covert which is never blown down.

In Him we mark the tempest sweeping by, but we ourselves rest in delightful serenity.

This day let us just stow ourselves away in our hiding place and sit and sing under the protection of our Covert. 

Blessed Jesus! Blessed Jesus! How we love Thee!

Well we may, for Thou art to us a shelter in the time of storm.

~Charles Spurgeon~

The Providences Of God Are Often Dark And Mysterious!

Psalm 77:19  Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known.

The Providences of God are often dark and mysterious. 

It is not easy to ascertain why the Lord acts as He does or to find out the precise object which He has in view. 

He carries on His work according to His eternal and pre-ordained plan...and He accomplishes His purposes often by the most unlikely means. 

He works all things after the counsel of His own will and He works leisurely, having no cause to hurry. 

We are naturally hasty, and want to know what God means at once. 

But He says, "Be still. Wait. Watch. Let patience have her perfect work."

We may not be able to account for our trials, troubles, losses, and crosses but all will be made plain by-and-by. 

John 13:7  Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.

We now know in part but we shall soon know even as also we are known.

And until then, we may well bepatient-assured that God is acting wisely, lovingly, and is consulting our good in all that He does.

O wonder-working God, Your dealings with us are often dark, and difficult to be understood! 

Give us faith to believe Your promises when we cannot understand Your Providences. 

Let us be assured of Your love to us when we cannot ascertain the design of Your dealings with us. 

Preserve us from a repining, complaining, and unbelieving spirit and grant us grace that we may rest satisfied that You are acting rightly. 

May we learn, in whatever state we are therewith to be content. 

With patience may we do and suffer 

Your will at present...being fully assured that all will be explained and opened up to us at length. 

O to be enabled to rest on Your covenant love, to trust Your faithful promises, and to commit all of our ways unto You!

Psa 25:10  All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.

~James Smith~

Is Your Life A Dwelling Place For God?

If we are really to be the dwelling place of God, then we are to be nothing in ourselves.

Do not look for reputation...

Do not try to make an impression...

Do not stand on your own dignity...

Do not do any of those things in any way whatever which will give you prominence with people and make them think something of you.

It will not pass with the Lord.

So let us get rid of it, every bit of it, and recognize what we are in God’s sight.

He is going to bring that about...

So if we try to make people think we are other than we are in order to get an advantage, we are contradicting the principle of the house of God.

All self-importance must go, and all desire for recognition.

All that sort of thing has to be wiped out.

The house of God is not founded on that.

God will not have it.

Man is abased, and all the other is the devil’s work.

It comes from him in whose heart pride was found.

When young men and women have given up all the prospects of this world and laid their treasures in the dust and gone forth at the command of the Lord

They have laid everything in ashes so far as this world’s hopes and prospects are concerned.

The Church has been built in that way.

Even when it is not like that in great acts of life’s vocation, it is a daily thing...

A letting go of our own interests in obedience to the Lord, in faith in the Lord.

It is thus the building goes on.

I could work that down to very fine points and show how often the house of God is delayed and arrested in its progress by the withholding of something on which the Lord has laid his finger and said ‘I want that’.

However there is the general principle, the triumph of faith through obedience when all is in the dust.

Abraham believed God, and that great triumph provided God with the site for His temple, the great example and type of that spiritual house which is central to the fulfillment of all His purposes.

God dwells in that sort of thing.

But that central thing has to go through the depths.

That which is the very heart of God’s presence to which He commits Himself, has to know stripping more than others.
 
This involves a deep work where faith is brought to perfection through very deep testing.

~T. Austin Sparks~

Follow To Know

Not all at once, but by degrees shall we attain to holy knowledge, and our business is to persevere and learn by little and little. 

We need not despair, though our progress may be slow, for we shall yet know. 

The LORD, who has become our Teacher, will not give us up, however slow of understanding we may be...

For it is not for His honor that any degree of human folly should baffle His skill. 

The LORD delights to make the simple wise. 

Our duty is to keep to our main topic and follow on to know, not this peculiar doctrine nor that, but Jehovah Himself. 

To know Father, Son, and Spirit, the Triune God, this is life eternal...

Let us keep to this, for in this way we shall gain complete instruction.

By following on to know the LORD, we learn healing after being torn, binding up after smiting, and life after death. 

Experience has its perfect work when the heart follows the trackway of the Almighty LORD. 

My soul, keep thou close to Jesus, follow on to know God in Jesus, and so shalt thou come to the knowledge of Christ, which is the most excellent of all the sciences. 

The Holy Ghost will lead thee into all truth.

Is not this His gracious promise? 

Rely upon Him to fulfill it.

~Charles Spurgeon~