(1) Go and lay
your matter before the Lord!
“Hezekiah went up unto
the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord.” (Is.37:14)
Does it not often happen that you are in great difficulty how to act in some particular case? Your course if not plain; your way is not open: each side seems equally balanced, and you cannot tell which to choose. Your wishes, perhaps, point one way; your fears, another. You are afraid lest you should decide wrongly; lest you should take what, in the end, may prove hurtful to you.
It is very trying to be brought into this painful conflict. And it adds to our distress if we are forced to go forward at once, and take one course of the other. Shall I tell you how you may be sure to find unspeakable relief?
Go and lay your matter before the
Lord, as Hezekiah did with the king of
“Confide all your works to the Lord, and
He will arrange for all your plans.” (Pro.16:3)
(2) Protection of
a missionary by the angel
“The angel of the LORD encampeth round about
them that fear him, and delivereth them.” (Psalm
34:7)
WONDERFUL story is told by a Moravian missionary in connection with angelic protection.
An American missionary and his wife bravely went to their station, where, twenty years before, two missionaries had been killed and eaten by the natives. They said as they took up their work it seemed as it often they were surrounded not only by the hostile natives, but by the very powers of darkness. These latter were so real, that night after night they were forced to get up and strengthen their hearts by reading the Word of God. Again, they would pray.
One day a man came and said, “I would like to see your watchmen close at hand.”
The missionary replied: “I have no watchmen; I have only a cook and a little herd boy. What watchmen do you mean?”
The man asked permission to look through the missionaries’ home. Every corner of the house was carefully searched, and the man came out of the house greatly disappointed.
Then the missionary asked the man to tell him about the watchmen to whom he referred. Here is the man’s answer :
“When you and your wife came here, we determined to kill you as we did the missionaries twenty years ago. Night after night we came to carry out our intentions, but there always stood around your house a double row of watchmen with glittering weapons, and we dared not come near. At last we hired a professional assassin, who said he feared neither God nor devil. Last night he came close to your house – we followed at a distance – brandishing his spear. There stood the shining watchmen, and the killer fled in terror. So we have given up our purpose to kill you, but tell me, who are the watchmen?”
The missionary opened the Word of God and read: “The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear Him and delivereth them.”
“The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by him.” (Deut. 33:12.)
“The LORD hid them.” (Jer.36:26.)
(3) Turn thy
sorrows into song!
“He mounts me upon high places, that I may
conquer by song.” (Habakkuk 3:19, Trans.)
In “Marble Faun” Miriam, the broken-hearted singer, puts into a burst of song the pent-up grief of her soul. This was better, surely, than if she had let forth a wild shriek of pain.
It is nobler to sing a victorious song in time of trial than to lie crushed in grief. Songs bless the world more than wails. It is better for our own heart, too to put our sorrows and pains into songs. “We shall conquer by song.”
“Our minister is a skylark Christian,”
boasted one of his people. Fine
bird! It sings morning,
If we could only realize the full truth and blessedness of our faith we should continually go up and down singing, until one find day we would go up singing – up, up, beyond the sun – and come down no more, lost in the eternal light!
“Help me to make of all my sorrows music for the world!”
Turn your troubles into treasure,
Turn your sorrows into song;
Then all men will know the measure,
In which you to Christ belong.
When they see your bright behaviour
Under provocation great,
They may ask what mighty Saviour.
Can impart that happy state.
Paul and Silas in the prison,
With their feet fast in the stocks,
Praised their glorious Lord, arisen,
Till the earthquake rent the rocks.
There was none to join their singing,
So the earthquake roared “Amen!”
And glad chains fell down a-ringing,
As their voices rang again!
O, then sing with us His praises
When there seems least cause to praise;
Faith the sweetest anthem raises
When the darkness hides God’s ways;
He brings forth His “New creation”
Only there where ends “the old.”
Let us praise Him for salvation,
When all feels most dead and cold.
My soul, keep up thy singing,
Turn thy sorrows into song.
--Arthur S. Booth-Clibborn.
Let every sigh be changed into a Hallelujah! –Stockmayer.
“None might enter into the king’s gate clothed in sackcloth.”
(4) Clouds pass;
stars remain!
“For thou art my lamp, O LORD: and the LORD will lighten my darkness.”
(2 Samuel 22:29.)
There are times when a Christian needs to lie still, when our only safety is doing nothing. The voice of our Saviour-God is heard beside many a Red-Sea difficulty – “Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord.” It is a hard thing to “stand still,” in the presence of opposing forces. Jehovah is the Living God. Cloud and storm are beneath His feet and His throne remains unmoved.
“Am I in the dark?” asks Chas. H. Spurgeon, “Then Thou, O Lord, ‘will lighten my darkness.’ Before long things will change. Affairs may grow worse and more dreary, and cloud upon cloud may be piled upon cloud; but if it grows so dark that I cannot see my own hand, still I shall see the Hand of the Lord.”
When I cannot find a light within me, or among my friends, or in the whole world, the Lord who said “Let there be light” and there was light, can say the same thing again. He will speak me into the sunshine yet. The day is already breaking. This sweet text shines like a morning star : “For thou art my lamp, O LORD: and the LORD will lighten my darkness.”
Clouds pass ; stars remain!
My lamp is shattered, I am deprived of light; my lamp is shattered, and
so dark the night. My lamp is shattered,
yet to my glad sight –a star shines on.
My lamp is shattered, but a star shines bright, and by its glowing I
can wend aright. My lamp is shattered,
but I still can fight – for a star shines on.
My lamp is shattered, sad indeed my plight. My lamp is shattered, yet I’ll reach the height – for a star shines on! - Wilhelmina Stitch
(5) Christian life
has its heights of vision!
“Jesus taketh Peter, James and John his
brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain
apart, And was transfigured before them………Then……Peter……..said unto Jesus, Lord,
it is good for us to be here.” (Mathew 17:1,2,4)
It is good to be the possessor of some mountain-top experience. Not to know life on the heights is to suffer an impoverishing in completeness.
Those times when the Lord’s presence is marvelously manifest to you –the moments of self-revelation – do not despise them. But beware of not acting upon what you see in your moments on the mount with God!
Horizons broaden when we stand on the heights. There is always, we find, the danger that we will make of life too much of a dead-level existence; a monotonous tread of beaten paths; a matter of absorbing, spiritless, deadening routine.
Do not drop your life into the passing current, to be steadily going you scarcely know where, or why.
Christian life, writes one, is not all a valley of humiliation. It has its heights of vision.
Abraham saw in the glorious depths of the starry firmament visions that no telescope could ever have revealed!
Jacob’s stony pillow led up to the ladder of vision!
Joseph’s early dreams kept him from the hours of discouragement and despair that followed!
Moses, who spend one-third of his life in the desert, we find crying out: “I beseech Thee, show me Thy glory!”
Job’s vision showed him God and lifted him out of himself!
The mariner does not expect to see the sun and stars every day, but when he does, he takes his observations and sails by their light for many days to come.
God gives days of special
illumination that we may be able to call to memory in the days of shadow, and
say: “Therefore will I remember thee from the
In the life of Paul, we find a few of these blessed interludes –when the Lord gave to him words of promise to remember in his days of trial that followed.
If these special experiences came too often they would lose their flavor!
He walks in glory on the hills,
And longs for men to join Him there.
(6) “Peter went up
upon the housetop to pray”
(Acts 10:9)
He went up upon the housetop to pray, probably, for further light. What was to be next step in the fulfillment of his lifework? Was the cloud to move forward? Was some new development of the Divine pattern at hand which he must realize for himself? And for others?
While he prayed the heavens were opened, and God gave him a real vision of His will. Then when he was very much perplexed in himself at what the vision meant, the knocking at the gate, the voices of men that rose at noon-silence calling his name, together with the assurance of the Spirit that there was no need for fear or further hesitation – all indicated that the hour of Destiny had struck; that a new epoch was inaugurated; and that he was to lead the Church into the greatest revolution she had known since the Ascension of her Lord.
What a lesson for our perplexed and anxious hearts! We find it difficult to wait our Lord’s leisure; like imprisoned birds we beat our breasts against the wires of the cage. Though we pray, we do not trust. We find it hard to obey the injunction of our Lord – to roll our care, our way, ourselves, onto God.
“Give to the winds thy fears; hope and be undismayed; God hears thy
sighs, and counts thy tears; God shall lift up thy head.
“Leave to His sovereign sway to choose and to command;
With wonder filled, thou soon shall own how wise, how strong His Hand!
“Though waves and clouds and storms, He gently clears thy way.
Wait thou His time, so shall thy night soon end in joyous day.
“He everywhere hath sway, and all things serve His might.
His every act pure blessing is, His path
unsullied light.”
“Jesus Himself drew near and went with them” (Luke 24:15)
A night in Spring…and two men walking the Emmaus road – saddened by their Master’s death – bowed down beneath their load, when suddenly Another overtakes them as they walk. A Stranger falls in step with them, and earnestly they talk – of what is in their hearts – moved by a warm soul-stirring glow – and when they reach Emmaus they are loth to let Him go; and so they bid Him stay awhile and share their simple board. And as He breaks the bread…they know. They know it is the Lord.
Oh, may He overtake us as the Path of Life we tread! Along our way of sorrow may His radiant Light be shed….Oh, may he come to warm the heart and ease the heavy load – and walk with us as long ago he walked the Emmaus Road.
Take the road.. the lonely road – courageous, unafraid; ready for the journey when the twilight shadows fade….God whose Love is Omnipresent – will He fail us then? – or forget the covenant that He has made with men? – Patience Strong
Jesus never sends a man ahead alone. He blazes a clear way through every thicket and woods, and then softly calls, “Follow Me. Let us go on together, you and I.” He has been everywhere that we are called to go. His feet have trodden down smooth a path through every experience that comes to us. He knows each road, and knows it well: the valley road of disappointment with its dark shadows; the steep path of temptation down through the rocky ravines and slippery gullies; the narrow path of pain, with the brambly thorn bushes so close on each side, with their slash and sting; the dizzy road along the heights of victory; the old beaten road of commonplace daily routine. Everyday paths He has trodden and glorified, and will walk anew with each of us. The only safe way to travel is with Him alongside and in control. - Dr.S.D.Gordon
Come, share the road with Me, My own,
Through good land evil weather;
Two better speed than one alone,
So let us go together.
Come, share the road with Me, My own,
You know I will never fail you,
And doubts and fears of the unknown
Shall never more assail you.
Come, share the road with Me, My own,
I will share your joys and sorrows.
And hand in hand we will seek the throne
And God’s great glad tomorrows.
Come, share the road with Me, My own,
And where the black clouds gather,
I will share thy load with thee, My son,
And we will press on together.
And as we go we will share also
With all who travel on it.
For all who share the road with Me
Must share with all upon it.
So make we – all one company,
Love’s golden cord our tether,
And, come what may, we will climb the way
Together – aye, together! - “Roadmates” by John Oxenham
After a long trying march over perilous Antarctic mountains and glaciers a South Pole explorer said to his leader, “I had a curious feeling on the march that there was another Person with us!”
Another Person! He is every there to march side by side with those who trust Him!
Take His Hand and walk with Him!
“He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.” (Psalm 23:2.)
There
are times when a Christian needs to lie still, like the earth under the spring rain,
letting the lesson of experience and the memories of the Word of God sink down
to the very roots of his life and fill the deep reservoirs of his soul.
Those are not always lost days when his hands are not busy, any more than rainy days in summer are lost because they keep the farmer indoors. The Great Shepherd makes his servant to lie down there.
There are times when men say they are too busy to stop; when they think they are doing God service by going on. Now and then God makes such a one to lie down. He has been driving through the pastures so fast that he has not known their greenness, nor apprehended their sweet savor; and God does not mean that he shall lose all that, and so He makes him lie down.
Many a man has had to thank God for some such enforced season of rest, in which he first learned the sweetness of meditation on the Word, in which he first learned the sweetness of meditation on the Word, and of lying still in God’s hands and waiting God’s pleasure.
The soul cannot be hurried!
God is not in a hurry, dear!
The work He chose for you
Can wait, if He is giving you another
Task to do,
Or if He call you from your work
To quietness and rest,
Be sure that in the silence
You may do His bidding best.
You cannot be a joy to Him,
If thus with frown and fret
You turn at each new call of His,
To find new lessons set.
The old familiar tasks were dear,
And ordered by His hand;
But come and tread another way:
It is as He has planned.
And yesterday He led you there;
And now He wants you here;
And what shall be tomorrow’s work,
Tomorrow shall make clear.
So patiently and faithfully let each
day’s course be run;
God is not in a hurry, dear,
His work will all be done
-Edith Hickman Divall.
There must be a Selah!
(9) The Great Weaver is busy with His plan!
“And we know that all
things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called
according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)
He was weaving.
“That is a strange-looking carpet you are making!” said the visitor.
“Just stoop down and look underneath,” was the reply.
The man stooped. The plan was on the other side, and in that moment a light broke upon his mind.
The Great Weaver is busy with His plan. Do not be impatient; suffice to know that you are part of the plan and that He never errs. Wait for the light of the later years, and the peep at the other side. Hope on!
White and black, and hodden-gray,
Weavers
of webs are we;
To every
weaver one golden strand
Is given
in trust by the Master-Hand;
Weavers
of webs are we.
And that we weave, we know not,
Weavers of webs are we.
The thread we see, but the pattern is known
To the Master-weaver alone, alone;
Weavers of webs are we.
--John Oxenham.
Of many of the beautiful carpets
made in
The story makes us think of our own life web. We are all weavers and day by day we work in the threads – now dark, now bright – that are to go into the finisshed pattern; who hear and trust the directing Voice, and so weave the changing threads to music.
--W. J. Hart.
Fallen
threads I will not search for – I will weave.
--George MacDonald.
(10) “Upon God’s will I lay me down..”
“My presence shall go
with thee, and I will give thee rest.” (Exodus 33:14)
What is rest?
To step out of self life into Christ-life; to lie still, and let him lift you out of it; to fold your hands close, and hide your face on the hem of his garment; to let him lay his cooling, soothing, healing hands upon your soul, and draw all the hurry and fever from its veins; to realize that you are not a mighty messenger, and important worker of His, full of care and responsibility, but only a little child, with a Father’s gentle bidding to heed and fulfill; to lay your busy plans and ambitions confidently in his hands, as a child brings its broken toys at its mother’s call; to serve him by waiting; to praise him by saying, “Holy, Holy, Holy;” to cease to hurry, so you may not lose sight of his face; to learn to follow him, and not to run ahead of orders! To cease to live in self and for self, and to live in him and for him; to love his honor more than your own; to be a clear medium for his life-tide to shine and glow through. This is consecration, this is rest.
Thou sweet, beloved will of God,
My anchor ground, my fortress hill,
My spirit’s silent, fair abode,
In Thee I hide me and am still.
Thy beautiful sweet will, my God,
Holds fast in its sublime embrace
My captive will, a gladsome bird,
Prison’d in such a realm of grace.
Upon God’s will I lay me down,
As child upon its mother’s breast,
No silken couch, nor softest bed,
Could ever give me such deep rest.
-Tersteegen
(11) He has waited for ages for a person just like you!
God does not ask for personalities; persons will do. That is, God does not ask for exceptional people. But He needs tem, and can do no great things without them. They why does He ask for persons when He wants personalities? Because the power of Pentecost turns persons into personalities. By the Holy Spirit’s indwelling the most ordinary can become extraordinary. All God asks for is you; he will see to the rest.
Two famous men have spoken to youth. Winston Churchill says: “This is a time when the voice of youth will be welcomed in the world.” In what accents will that voice speak? Will it take the counsel of Field Marshal Montogomery, who says: “Learn to build the framework of our life on a Christian foundation”?
Do we need to be reminded of what happens when the religious foundations – the Christian foundations – are destroyed?
“Mourn not for the vanquished ages
With their great historic men,
Who dealt in history’s pages And lie in the poet’s pen
For the grandest days are before us,
And the world is yet to see
The noblest work of this whole earth
Is the men and women that are to be.”
“The tools to him that can use them!”
You are God’s opportunity in your day. He has waited for ages for a person just like you. If you refuse Him, then God loses His opportunity which He sought through you, and He will never have another, for there will never be another person on the earth just like you.
Bring to God your gift, my brother,
He will not need to call another,
You will do;
He will add His blessing to it’
And the two of you will do it,
God and you.
- R.E.Neighbour