Day: August 28, 2013

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WHO CAN FATHOM ETERNITY?

God has given them a desire to know the future … but people can never completely understand what he is doing. ECCLESIASTES 3:11

It doesn’t take a wise person to know that people long for more than earth. When we see pain, we yearn. When we see hunger, we question why. Senseless deaths. Endless tears, needless loss …

We have our moments. The newborn on our breast, the bride on our arm, the sunshine on our back. But even those moments are simply slivers of light breaking through heaven’s window. God flirts with us. He tantalizes us. He romances us. Those moments are appetizers for the dish that is to come.

“No one has ever imagined what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9).

What a breathtaking verse! Do you see what it says? Heaven is beyond our imagination … At our most creative moment, at our deepest thought, at our highest level, we still cannot fathom eternity.

from WHEN GOD WHISPERS YOUR NAME

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Responding to Closed Doors

Philippians 4:6-7

Disappointments can be hard to bear. One minute life seems to be on track for what we hope and dream. The next moment our way is blocked. How do we respond when facing closed doors?

If our hearts are set on a certain course of action, we may convince ourselves it is God’s will and push ahead regardless. We might send up a quick prayer asking for His help or blessing, but mostly we just move forward. By manipulating people or circumstances, we could get what we want but be outside of God’s plan.

Another response to a blocked path is to become emotionally upset. Then we face the danger of operating out of our feelings and replacing a Christ-centered perspective with a self-centered one. Strong emotions can be a temptation to blame others—including the Lord. Anger toward Him can, in turn, lead us to rebel against Him and His ways.

Godly responses, on the other hand, start with waiting and trusting. When the Lord blocks our way, we are to have faith in Him, taking time to assess the situation, and praying for guidance. By asking the Spirit to increase our sensitivity to the events around us, we will be able to notice any open doors. Even if we find none, we are to live with hope, anticipating other doors of opportunity in His perfect time. Thanking God for His work on our behalf is essential, even at times when we lack understanding. Finally, remaining faithful to what the Lord has called us to do is an important part of our wait.

Wait. Trust. Pray. Obey. This is God’s prescription for handling closed doors.

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The Danger of Diluting Scripture

“And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” (Revelation 22:19)

This final testimony and warning of Christ to those who profess to be His followers is a clear command not to either augment (Revelation 22:18) or dilute the inspired “words” (not just “thoughts”) of the Bible. There are many people in the various cults following some leader who thinks he or she has received some new inspired word from God. That is very unwise. But it is usually certain leaders in the mainline denominations who presumptuously either cull out or explain away those Bible verses they consider unscientific or offensive in some way. That is even more dangerous, for those whose names are not found “in the book of life” will be “cast into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:15).

Whether men believe it or not, the Bible is the inerrant Word of God. It is true that any two Christians may interpret certain passages in different ways. But they won’t be too far apart if they believe the Bible to be the inerrant, understandable, inspired Word of God, especially if they really believe that God is able to say what He means. The Bible authors do occasionally use figurative language, of course, in which case any symbols are usually explained in context. When the writer clearly intends to be understood literally, as in the first chapter of Genesis for example, it is dangerous to impose some metaphorical meaning on the passage because of outside considerations. This seems to be what Paul called “handling the word of God deceitfully” (2 Corinthians 4:2) and can become a very slippery slope for those who choose that broad and easy way. It will be easier at Christ’s judgment seat to explain why we believed God than why we believed men who questioned God. HMM

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He took him aside from the multitude

“And he took him aside from the multitude.” (Mark 7:33.)

PAUL not only stood the tests in Christian activity, but in the solitude of captivity. You may stand the strain of the most intense labor, coupled with severe suffering, and yet break down utterly when laid aside from all religious activities; when forced into close confinement in some prison house.

That noble bird, soaring the highest above the clouds and enduring the longest flights, sinks into despair when in a cage where it is forced to beat its helpless wings against its prison bars. You have seen the great eagle languish in its narrow cell with bowed head and drooping wings. What a picture of the sorrow of inactivity.

Paul in prison. That was another side of life. Do you want to see how he takes it? I see him looking out over the top of his prison wall and over the heads of his enemies. I see him write a document and sign his name—not the prisoner of Festus, nor of Caesar; not the victim of the Sanhedrin; but the—”prisoner of the Lord.” He saw only the hand of God in it all. To him the prison becomes a palace. Its corridors ring with shouts of triumphant praise and joy.

Restrained from the missionary work he loved so well, he now built a new pulpit—a new witness stand—and from that place of bondage come some of the sweetest and most helpful ministries of Christian liberty. What precious messages of light come from those dark shadows of captivity.

Think of the long train of imprisoned saints who have followed in Paul’s wake. For twelve long years Bunyan’s lips were silenced in Bedford jail. It was there that he did the greatest and best work of his life. There he wrote the book that has been read next to the Bible. He says, “I was at home in prison and I sat me down and wrote, and wrote, for joy did make me write.”

The wonderful dream of that long night has lighted the pathway of millions of weary pilgrims. That sweet-spirited French lady, Madam Guyon, lay long between prison walls. like some caged birds that sing the sweeter for their confinement, the music of her soul has gone out far beyond the dungeon walls and scattered the desolation of many drooping hearts. Oh, the heavenly consolation that has poured forth from places of solitude!—S. C. Rees.

“Taken aside by Jesus,
To feel the touch of His hand;
To rest for a while in the shadow
Of the Rock in a weary land.

“Taken aside by Jesus,
In the loneliness dark and drear,
Where no other comfort may reach me,
Than His voice to my heart so dear.

“Taken aside by Jesus,
To be quite alone with Him,
To hear His wonderful tones of love
‘Mid the silence and shadows dim.

“Taken aside by Jesus,
Shall I shrink from the desert place;
When I hear as I never heard before,
And see Him ‘face to face’?”

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Into Thine hand I commit my spirit

“Into Thine hand I commit my spirit: Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth.” Psalm 31:5

These words have been frequently used by holy men in their hour of departure. We may profitably consider them this evening. The object of the faithful man’s solicitude in life and death is not his body or his estate, but his spirit; this is his choice treasure—if this be safe, all is well.

What is this mortal state compared with the soul? The believer commits his soul to the hand of his God; it came from Him, it is His own, He has aforetime sustained it, He is able to keep it, and it is most fit that He should receive it. All things are safe in Jehovah’s hands; what we entrust to the Lord will be secure, both now and in that day of days towards which we are hastening. It is peaceful living, and glorious dying, to repose in the care of heaven. At all times we should commit our all to Jesus’ faithful hand; then, though life may hang on a thread, and adversities may multiply as the sands of the sea, our soul shall dwell at ease, and delight itself in quiet resting places.

“Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth.” Redemption is a solid basis for confidence. David had not known Calvary as we have done, but temporal redemption cheered him; and shall not eternal redemption yet more sweetly console us? Past deliverances are strong pleas for present assistance. What the Lord has done He will do again, for He changes not. He is faithful to His promises, and gracious to His saints; He will not turn away from His people.

“Though Thou slay me I will trust,
Praise Thee even from the dust,
Prove, and tell it as I prove,
Thine unutterable love.

Thou mayst chasten and correct,
But Thou never canst neglect;
Since the ransom price is paid,
On Thy love my hope is stay’d.”

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How long will it be ere they believe me?

“How long will it be ere they believe me?” Numbers 14:11

Strive with all diligence to keep out that monster unbelief. It so dishonours Christ, that He will withdraw His visible presence if we insult Him by indulging it. It is true it is a weed, the seeds of which we an never entirely extract from the soil, but we must aim at its root with zeal and perseverance. Among hateful things it is the most to be abhorred. Its injurious nature is so venomous that he that exerciseth it and he upon whom it is exercised are both hurt thereby. In thy case, O believer! it is most wicked, for the mercies of thy Lord in the past, increase thy guilt in doubting Him now.

When thou dost distrust the Lord Jesus, He may well cry out, “Behold I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves.” This is crowning His head with thorns of the sharpest kind. It is very cruel for a well-beloved wife to mistrust a kind and faithful husband. The sin is needless, foolish, and unwarranted. Jesus has never given the slightest ground for suspicion, and it is hard to be doubted by those to whom our conduct is uniformly affectionate and true. Jesus is the Son of the Highest, and has unbounded wealth; it is shameful to doubt Omnipotence and distrust all-sufficiency.

The cattle on a thousand hills will suffice for our most hungry feeding, and the granaries of heaven are not likely to be emptied by our eating. If Christ were only a cistern, we might soon exhaust His fulness, but who can drain a fountain? Myriads of spirits have drawn their supplies from Him, and not one of them has murmured at the scantiness of His resources. Away, then, with this lying traitor unbelief, for his only errand is to cut the bonds of communion and make us mourn an absent Saviour.

Bunyan tells us that unbelief has “as many lives as a cat:” if so, let us kill one life now, and continue the work till the whole nine are gone. Down with thee, thou traitor, my heart abhors thee.