(Ps.48:14)
“God is great in great things, but very in little things,” says Henry Dyer.
A party stood on the
A doubting soul beheld a robin’s nest in a gigantic elm and heard a still small voice saying, “If God spent a hundred years in creating a tree like that for a bird, He will surely take care of you.” God is so interested, that he takes us one by one and arranges for every detail of our life. To Him, there are no little things.
“The God of the infinite is the God of the infinitesimal.”
“I saw a human life ablaze with God,
I felt a power divine
As through an empty vessel of frail clay
I saw God’s glory shine.
“Then woke I from a dream, and cried aloud:
‘My Father, give to me
The blessing of a life consumed by God
That I may live for Thee.’”
(2) “I did see God on His throne.”
“Lo, I am with you always, even to the close of the age.” (Matt.28:20)
Many with lacerated feet have come back to tell the story and to testify that when the very foundations of earth seemed giving way, He remained Whom no accident could take away, no chance ever change. This is the power of the Great Companionship.
Stretched on a rack, where they were torturing him piteously, one of the martyrs saw with cleansed and opened eyes, a Young Man by his side – not yet fifty years old – Who kept wiping the beads of sweat from his brow.
When the fire is hottest, He is there. “And the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.” (Daniel 3:25). “He that is near me is near the fire.” That is why the heart of the divine furnace is the place of the soul’s deepest peace. There is always One beside us when we go through the fire.
When John G.Paton stood beside
that lonely grave in the
Sir Earnest Shackleton and two of
his companions spent thirty-six hours among the snow mountains of New Georgia,
seeking for a station that meant life or death to them and their waiting crew
on
Paul was not peculiarly
privileged when he saw the Living One while en route to
Kahil Gibran, the Syrian, explaining his remarkable modern painting of Jesus, said: “Last night I saw His face again, clearer than I have ever seen it.”
Handel, composer of the Hallelujha Chorus, declared: “I did see God on His throne.”
During the terrible stress of war many affirmed positively that they saw “The White Comrade.”
Philips Brooks testified, “He is here. I know Him. He knows me. It is not figure of speech. It is the realest thing in the world.”
No distant Lord have I,
Loving afar to be;
Made flesh for me, He cannot
rest
Until He rests in me.
Brother in joy or pain,
Bone of my bone was He;
Now – intimacy closer still –
He dwells Himself in me.
I need not journey far,
This dearest Friend to see;
Companionship is always mine,
He makes His home with me. – Maltbie Babcock
“When I was hemmed in, Thou hast freed me often.” (Ps.4:1)
It is a little thing to trust God as far as we can see Him, as far as the way lies open before us; but to trust Him when we are hedged in on every side and can see no way to escape, this is good and acceptable with God. This is the faith of Abraham, our father.
“Under hopeless circumstances, he hopefully believed.”
Abraham Lincoln, during the Civil War, once said: “I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for the day.”
The greatest men, without God, are nothing but dismal failures.
The devil may wall you ‘round
But he cannot roof you in;
He may fetter your feet and tie your
hands
And strive to hamper your soul with
bands
As his way has ever been;
But he cannot hide the face of God
And the Lord shall be your light,
And your eyes and your thoughts can
rise to the sky,
Where His clouds and His winds and
His birds go by,
And His stars shine out at night.
The devil may wall you ‘round;
He may rob you of all things dear,
He may bring his hardest and
roughest stone
And thinks to cage you and keep you
alone,
But he may not press too near;
For the Lord has planted a hedge
inside,
And has made it strong and tall,
A hedge of living and growing green;
And ever it mounts and keeps between
The trusting soul and the devil’s
wall.
The devil may all you ‘round,
But the Lord’s hand covers you,
And His hedge is a thick and thorny
hedge,
And the devil can find no entering
wedge
Nor get his finger through;
He may circle about you all day
long,
But he cannot work as he would,
For the will of the Lord restrains
his hand,
And he cannot work as he would,
For the will of the Lord restrains
his hand,
And he cannot pass the Lord’s
command
And his evil turns to good.
The devil may wall you ‘round,
With his gray stones, row on row,
But the green of the hedge is fresh
and fair,
And within its circle is space to
spare,
And room for your soul to grow;
The wall that shuts you in
May be hard and high and stout,
But the Lord is sun and the Lord is
dew,
And His hedge is coolness and shade
for you,
And no wall can shut Him out. – Annie Johnson Flint.
“By Me if any man enter in, he shall….find pasture.” (John 10:9)
The shepherd takes care that his sheep are well fed. Christ also feeds His people, and leads them out to find pasture. The Bible is His pasture-land, and the pasturage there is always good. Every chapter is a field of rich grass. Some of these fields seem at first to be bare and sterile; but even in the barest there is enough pasture to feed a hungry soul.
Then there are the pasture-fields of prayer. These lie very close to the border of heaven. They are always up in the quiet valleys among the mountains. The Good Shepherd leads us to them through the gates of prayer. We bow down in lowly humility, and enter with Him into the green pastures, and feed our souls until their hunger is satisfied.
The Church is another of our Shepherd’s pasture-fields. We enter the gates of the sanctuary, and at once we find spiritual food. We find it in the services, in the ordinances, and in the sacraments.
In our common life in this world, if we are faithfully following Christ, we are continually in fields of rich pasture. Christ never leads us into any places in which there is nothing to feed us. Even in the hot plains of trial and sorrow there is food. We sometimes think there is only barrenness in our toilsome life, filled with temptations, cares, and sacrifices; but the Good Shepherd is ever with us, and there is always pasture.
Thus the whole world is a rich field when Jesus leads His flock. If any Christians are not well fed, it is because they will not feed. The trouble must be that they do not hunger for spiritual food. The saddest thing in his world is not a passionate cry for bread, but a soul that has no hunger. Many souls die in the midst of the provision made by the Good Shepherd, not for want of food, but for want of appetite. - J.R.Miller
"If thou lift up thy tool
upon it, thou hast polluted it."(Exodus 20:25)
God's altar was to be built of unhewn stones, that no trace of human skill or
labour might be seen upon it. Human wisdom delights to trim and arrange the
doctrines of the cross into a system more artificial and more congenial with
the depraved tastes of fallen nature; instead, however, of improving the gospel
carnal wisdom pollutes it, until it becomes another gospel, and not the truth
of God at all.
All alterations and amendments of the Lord's own Word are defilements and
pollutions. The proud heart of man is very anxious to have a hand in the
justification of the soul before God; preparations for Christ are dreamed of,
humblings and repentings are trusted in, good works are cried up, natural
ability is much vaunted, and by all means the attempt is made to lift up human
tools upon the divine altar.
It were well if sinners would remember that so far from perfecting the
Saviour's work, their carnal confidences only pollute and dishonour it.
The Lord alone must be exalted in the work of atonement, and not a single mark
of man's chisel or hammer will be endured.
There is an inherent blasphemy in seeking to add to what Christ Jesus in His
dying moments declared to be finished, or to improve that in which the Lord
Jehovah finds perfect satisfaction.
Trembling sinner, away with thy tools, and fall upon thy knees in humble
supplication; and accept the Lord Jesus to be the altar of thine atonement, and
rest in Him alone.
Many professors may take warning from this morning's text as to the doctrines
which they believe. There is among Christians far too much inclination to
square and reconcile the truths of revelation; this is a form of irreverence
and unbelief, let us strive against it, and receive truth as we find it;
rejoicing that the doctrines of the Word are unhewn stones, and so are all the
more fit to build an altar for the Lord. – C.H.Spurgeon
(6) In deeds of grace none of the Persons
of the Trinity act apart from the rest!
"Sanctified in
Christ Jesus."-1 Corinthians 1:2
"Through sanctification of the Spirit."-1 Peter 1:2
Mark the union of the Three Divine Persons in all their gracious acts. How
unwisely do those believers talk who make preferences in the Persons of the
Trinity; who think of Jesus as if He were the embodiment of everything lovely
and gracious, while the Father they regard as severely just, but destitute of
kindness. Equally wrong are those who magnify the decree of the Father, and the
atonement of the Son, so as to depreciate the work of the Spirit.
In deeds of grace none of the Persons of the Trinity act apart from the rest.
They are as united in their deeds as in their essence. In their love towards
the chosen they are one, and in the actions which flow from that great central
source they are still undivided. Specially notice this in the matter of
sanctification.
While we may without mistake speak of sanctification as the work of the Spirit,
yet we must take heed that we do not view it as if the Father and the Son had
no part therein. It is correct to speak of sanctification as the work of the
Father, of the Son, and of the Spirit.
Still doth Jehovah say, "Let us make man in our own image after our
likeness," and thus we are "his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus
unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in
them."
See the value which God sets upon real holiness, since the Three Persons in the
Trinity are represented as co-working to produce a Church without "spot,
or wrinkle, or any such thing." And you, believer, as the follower of
Christ, must also set a high value on holiness-upon purity of life and
godliness of conversation. Value the blood of Christ as the foundation of your
hope, but never speak disparagingly of the work of the Spirit which is your
meetness for the inheritance of the saints in light. This day let us so live as
to manifest the work of the Triune God in us.-
C.H.Spurgeon
(7) Turn my unsanctified nature to the fire
of Thy love!
"Ephraim is a cake not
turned."-Hosea 7:8
A cake not turned is uncooked on one side; and so Ephraim was, in many
respects, untouched by divine grace: though there was some partial obedience,
there was very much rebellion left.
My soul, I charge thee, see whether this be thy case. Art thou thorough in the
things of God? Has grace gone through the very centre of thy being so as to be
felt in its divine operations in all thy powers, thy actions, thy words, and
thy thoughts? To be sanctified, spirit, soul, and body, should be thine aim and
prayer; and although sanctification may not be perfect in thee anywhere in
degree, yet it must be universal in its action; there must not be the
appearance of holiness in one place and reigning sin in another, else thou,
too, wilt be a cake not turned.
A cake not turned is soon burnt on the side nearest the fire, and although no
man can have too much religion, there are some who seem burnt black with
bigoted zeal for that part of truth which they have received, or are charred to
a cinder with a vainglorious Pharisaic ostentation of those religious
performances which suit their humour. The assumed appearance of superior
sanctity frequently accompanies a total absence of all vital godliness. The
saint in public is a devil in private. He deals in flour by day and in soot by
night. The cake which is burned on one side, is dough on the other.
If it be so with me, O Lord, turn me! Turn my unsanctified nature to the fire
of Thy love and let it feel the sacred glow, and let my burnt side cool a
little while I learn my own weakness and want of heat when I am removed from
Thy heavenly flame. Let me not be found a double-minded man, but one entirely
under the powerful influence of reigning grace; for well I know if I am left
like a cake unturned, and am not on both sides the subject of Thy grace, I must
be consumed for ever amid everlasting burnings. – C.H.Spureon
(8) "Sanctify them through Thy truth"(John
Sanctification begins in regeneration. The Spirit of God infuses into man that
new living principle by which he becomes "a new creature" in Christ
Jesus.
This work, which begins in the new
birth, is carried on in two ways-mortification, whereby the lusts of the flesh
are subdued and kept under; and vivification, by which the life which God has
put within us is made to be a well of water springing up unto everlasting life.
This is carried on every day in what is called "perseverance," by
which the Christian is preserved and continued in a gracious state, and is made
to abound in good works unto the praise and glory of God; and it culminates or
comes to perfection, in "glory," when the soul, being thoroughly
purged, is caught up to dwell with holy beings at the right hand of the Majesty
on high. But while the Spirit of God is thus the author of sanctification, yet
there is a visible agency employed which must not be forgotten. "Sanctify
them," said Jesus, "through thy truth: thy word is truth."
The passages of Scripture which prove that the instrument of our sanctification
is the Word of God are very many. The Spirit of God brings to our minds the
precepts and doctrines of truth, and applies them with power. These are heard
in the ear, and being received in the heart, they work in us to will and to do
of God's good pleasure. The truth is the sanctifier, and if we do not hear or
read the truth, we shall not grow in sanctification. We only progress in sound
living as we progress in sound understanding.
"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." Do not
say of any error, "It is a mere matter of opinion." No man indulges
an error of judgment, without sooner or later tolerating an error in practice.
Hold fast the truth, for by so holding the truth shall you be sanctified by the
Spirit of God.- C.H.Spurgeon.
(9) “He hath
commanded His covenant for ever”
(Psalm 111:9)
The Lord’s people delight in the covenant itself. It is an unfailing source of
consolation to them so often as the Holy Spirit leads them into its banqueting
house and waves its banner of love. They delight to contemplate the antiquity
of that covenant, remembering that before the day-star knew its place, or
planets ran their round, the interests of the saints were made secure in Christ
Jesus.
It is
peculiarly pleasing to them to remember the sureness of the covenant, while
meditating upon “the sure mercies of David.” They delight to celebrate it as
“signed, and sealed, and ratified, in all things ordered well.” It often makes
their hearts dilate with joy to think of its immutability, as a covenant which
neither time nor eternity, life nor death, shall ever be able to violate-a
covenant as old as eternity and as everlasting as the Rock of ages.
They
rejoice also to feast upon the fullness of this covenant, for they see in it
all things provided for them. God is their portion, Christ their companion, the
Spirit their Comforter, earth their lodge, and heaven their home. They see in
it an inheritance reserved and entailed to every soul possessing an interest in
its ancient and eternal deed of gift. Their eyes sparkled when they saw it as a
treasure-trove in the Bible; but oh! How their souls were gladdened when they
saw in the last will and testament of their divine kinsman, that it was
bequeathed to them! More especially it is the pleasure of God’s people to
contemplate the graciousness of this covenant.
They
see that the law was made void because it was a covenant of works and depended
upon merit, but this they perceive to be enduring because grace is the basis,
grace the condition, grace the strain, grace the bulwark, grace the foundation,
grace the topstone. The covenant is a treasury of wealth, a granary of food, a
fountain of life, a store-house of salvation, a charter of peace, and a haven
of joy.- C.H.Spurgeon
(10) “How long
will it be ere they believe Me?"
(Numbers
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 fullness, 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.- C.H.Spurgeon.
(11) "Oil
for the light" (Exodus 25:6)
My soul, how much thou needest this, for thy lamp will not long continue to
burn without it. Thy snuff will smoke and become an offence if light be gone,
and gone it will be if oil be absent. Thou hast no oil well springing up in thy
human nature, and therefore thou must go to them that sell and buy for thyself,
or like the foolish virgins, thou wilt have to cry, "My lamp is gone
out." Even the consecrated lamps could not give light without oil; though
they shone in the tabernacle they needed to be fed, though no rough winds blew
upon them they required to be trimmed, and thy need is equally as great. Under
the most happy circumstances thou canst not give light for another hour unless
fresh oil of grace
be given thee.
It was not every oil that might be used in the Lord's service; neither the
petroleum which exudes so plentifully from the earth, nor the produce of
fishes, nor that extracted from nuts would be accepted; one oil only was
selected, and that the best olive oil.
Pretended
grace from natural goodness, fancied grace from priestly hands, or imaginary
grace from outward ceremonies will never serve the true saint of God; he knows
that the Lord would not be pleased with rivers of such oil. He goes to the
olive-press of
The oil of gospel grace is pure and free from lees and dregs, and hence the light which is fed thereon is clear and bright. Our churches are the Saviour's golden candelabra, and if they are to be lights in this dark world, they must have much holy oil. Let us pray for ourselves, our ministers, and our churches, that they may never lack oil for the light. Truth, holiness, joy, knowledge, love, these are all beams of the sacred light, but we cannot give them forth unless in private we receive oil from God the Holy Ghost.- C.H.Spurgeon
(12) "Thou
shalt guide me with Thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory”
(Psalm 73:24)
The Psalmist felt his need of divine guidance. He had just been
discovering the foolishness of his own heart, and lest he should be constantly
led astray by it, he resolved that God's counsel should henceforth guide him. A
sense of our own folly is a great step towards being wise, when it leads us to
rely on the wisdom of the Lord. The blind man leans on his friend's arm and
reaches home in safety, and so would we give ourselves up implicitly to divine
guidance, nothing doubting; assured that though we cannot see, it is always
safe to trust the All-seeing God.
"Thou
shalt," is a blessed expression of confidence. He was sure that the Lord would
not decline the condescending task. There is a word for thee, O believer; rest
thou in it. Be assured that thy God will be thy counsellor and friend; He shall
guide thee; He will direct all thy ways. In His written Word thou hast this
assurance in part fulfilled, for holy Scripture is His counsel to thee.
Happy
are we to have God's Word always to guide us! What were the mariner without his
compass? And what were the Christian without the Bible? This is the unerring
chart, the map in which every shoal is described, and all the channels from the
quicksands of destruction to the haven of salvation mapped and marked by one
who knows all the way. Blessed be Thou, O God, that we may trust Thee to guide
us now, and guide us even to the end! After this guidance through life, the
Psalmist anticipates a divine reception at last-"and afterward receive me
to glory." What a thought for thee, believer! God Himself will receive
thee to glory-thee! Wandering, erring, straying, yet He will bring thee safe at
last to glory! This is thy portion; live on it this day, and if perplexities
should surround thee, go in the strength of this text straight to the throne. –
C.H.Spurgeon
(13) "But
Simon's wife's mother lay sick of a fever, and anon they tell Him of her"
(Mark
Very interesting is this little peep into the house of the Apostolic Fisherman.
We see at once that household joys and cares are no hindrance to the full
exercise of ministry, nay, that since they furnish an opportunity for
personally witnessing the Lord's gracious work upon one's own flesh and blood,
they may even instruct the teacher better than any other earthly discipline.
Papists and other sectaries may decry marriage, but true Christianity and
household life agree well together. Peter's house was probably a poor
fisherman's hut, but the Lord of Glory entered it, lodged in it, and wrought a
miracle in it. Should our little book be read this morning in some very humble
cottage, let this fact encourage the inmates to seek the company of King Jesus.
God is oftener in little huts than in rich palaces. Jesus is looking round your
room now, and is waiting to be gracious to you. Into Simon's house sickness had
entered, fever in a deadly form had prostrated his mother-in-law, and as soon
as Jesus came they told Him of the sad affliction, and He hastened to the
patient's bed.
Have
you any sickness in the house this morning? You will find Jesus by far the best
physician, go to Him at once and tell Him all about the matter. Immediately lay
the case before Him. It concerns one of His people, and therefore will not be
trivial to Him. Observe, that at once the Saviour restored the sick woman; none
can heal as He does. We may not make sure that the Lord will at once remove all
disease from those we love, but we may know that believing prayer for the sick
is far more likely to be followed by restoration than anything else in the
world; and where this avails not, we must meekly bow to His will by whom life
and death are determined. The tender heart of Jesus waits to hear our griefs,
let us pour them into His patient ear. – C.H.Spurgeon
“Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus.” (John 12:3).
We see Mary three times in the gospel, and each time she is in the same posture – at Jesus’ feet. When we have our first glimpse within the Bethany home, we find Martha in her characteristic attitude – serving; and Mary we see sitting at the Master’s feet, eagerly listening to His words. Our next view of Mary is when Jesus came back to Bethany after the death of Lazarus, and the sisters went out to meet Him. Again she is at the feet of Christ, this time in deep sorrow, seeking comfort. Here a third time we find her at Christ’s feet, and now it is in honouring her Lord.
We think of Mary, therefore, as a woman who was always at Christ’s feet. In the bright, common days she sat there as a learner, looking up into His face, drinking in His words and absorbing His Spirit into her soul. When grief came she went to his feet for comfort, pouring out her sorrow there, looking up into His face for consolation. Then, when the trouble was over, and there were joy and victory instead, we find her again in her wonted place, honouring Jesus with her heart’s richest gifts. There is no fitter place for the redeemed life than at the Saviour’s feet.
In May’s gift she brought the best she had, the richest gift in all her possession. We should always bring out best to Christ. No ointment in the world is half so precious to Him as the love of human hearts; we should bring Him our best love, giving Him the first place in our affections. We should give Him the best of our lives, our youth in all its freshness and purity, our body and mind when they are at their best. We should give Him the best of our time, not the weary moments of languor only, but the hours when we are most alert. We should give Him the best of our services, doing our finest work of all kinds for Him. – J.R.Miller.