42. Hymn: Waiting

Waiting

Author: Karl Johann Philipp Spitta

Mine hour is not yet come. (John 2:4)

1. "Jesus' hour is not yet come;"—

    Let this word thine answer be.

    Pilgrim, asking for thy home,

    Longing to be blest and free.

    Yet a season tarry on—

    Nobly borne, is nobly done.

2. While oppressing cares and fears

    Night and day no respite leave,

    Still prolonged through many years.

    None to help thee or relieve;

    Hold the word of promise fast,

    Till deliverance comes at last.

3. Every creature-hope and trust,

    Every earthly prop or stay,

    May lie prostrate in the dust,

    May have failed or passed away;—

    Then, when darkness falls the night,

    Jesus comes, and all is light.

4. Yes, the Comforter draws nigh

    To the breaking, bursting heart,

    For, with tender sympathy,

    He has seen and felt its smart:

    Through its darkest hours of ill,

    He is waiting, watching still.

5. Dost thou ask, When comes His hour?

    Then, when it shall aid thee best.

    Trust His faithfulness and power,

    Trust in Him, and quietly rest.

    Suffer on, and hope, and wait,—

    Jesus never comes too late.

6. Blessed day, which hastens fast,

    End of conflict and of sin!

    Death itself shall die at last,

    Heaven's eternal joys begin.

    Then eternity shall prove,

    God is Light, and God is Love.

41. Gleaning: We Learn By Suffering...

    "We learn by suffering what we teach in song," the poet says. It would be truer to say that we learn by suffering what we teach in our lives. When the great violin-makers of the middle ages wished to form a perfect instrument, they caused the tree to be felled at a particular period of its growth. The wood was then planed and cut into small pieces. These were exposed to the heat of the sun and the winter's storms; were bent, rubbed, polished, and finally fastened together with incomparable skill. If the wood could have found a tongue, doubtless it would have begged to grow in the forest, to rustle its branches and bear its fruit as its companions were left to do, becoming at last a part of the sodden earth. But it was this harsh treatment that made one of its common boards the Stradivari violin, whose music still charms the world. So, by countless touches of pain and loss, God fits us to bear our part in the great harmony with which true and earnest souls shall ultimately fill the world. "  

- Selected

    By patience man becomes more excellent,
    Fairer than gold, clear as the firmament,
    More pure from each vile element,
    In every grace more eminent,

    To Jesus more acceptable,
    More like to saints unblamable,
    To enemies more terrible,
    And to his friends more lovable.
                                                        - Thomas A. Kempis

40. Devotional: Gain Through Loss

Gain Through Loss

Edited by Miles J. Stanford

But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
(Philippians 3:7)

    As far as our Father is concerned, the early and middle years of the Christian life have to do primarily with our spiritual development. Maturity must underlie all abiding effectiveness. Most of our service during this time is learning how not to do it.  

    “Incalculable harm has been done to the deeper spirituality of the Church, by the idea that when once we are saved the using of the gifts in His service follows as a matter of course. No; for this there is indeed needed very special grace. And the way in which the grace comes is again that of sacrifice and surrender. We must see how all our gifts and powers are, even though we be children of God, still defiled by sin, and under the power of the old nature. We must feel that we cannot at once proceed to use them for God’s glory. We must first lay them at Christ’s feet, to be accepted and cleansed by Him.

    “We must feel ourselves utterly powerless to use them aright. We must see that they are most dangerous to us, because through them the flesh, the old nature, will so easily exert its power. In this conviction we must part with them, giving them entirely to the Lord. When He has accepted them, and set His stamp upon them, we receive them back, to hold them as His property, to wait on Him for the grace to daily use them aright, and to have them act only under His influence.” -A.M.  

    “Above all the difficulty which Paul had to meet in his care of the churches, that which arose from our disposition to return to the law, or to ‘confidence in the flesh,’ was the most frequent and the greatest.”

39. Devotional: Careful Unreasonableness

Careful Unreasonableness

by Oswald Chambers

"Behold the fowls of the air." . . . "Consider the lilies of the field."
(Matthew 6:26, 28)

    Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they simply are! Think of the sea, the air, the sun, the stars and the moon - all these are, and what a ministration they exert. So often we mar God's designed influence through us by our self-conscious effort to be consistent and useful. Jesus says that there is only one way to develop spiritually, and that is by concentration on God. "Do not bother about being of use to others; believe on Me" - pay attention to the Source, and out of you will flow rivers of living water. We cannot get at the springs of our natural life by common sense, and Jesus is teaching that growth in spiritual life does not depend on our watching it, but on concentration on our Father in heaven. Our heavenly Father knows the circumstances we are in, and if we keep concentrated on Him we will grow spiritually as the lilies. 

    The people who influence us most are not those who buttonhole us and talk to us, but those who live their lives like the stars in heaven and the lilies in the field, perfectly simply and unaffectedly. Those are the lives that mould us. If you want to be of use to God, get rightly related to Jesus Christ and He will make you of use unconsciously every minute you live.

38. Select Article: Conformed To The Image Of His Son

Conformed To The Image Of His Son  

by T. Austin-Sparks

Romans 8:15-30

    I want to speak to you in a general and simple way on what seems to me to be so evident in this portion of Scripture, as related particularly to the time in which we live. I think you will agree that the people of God in this time, as in many past times of severe pressure and trial and suffering, need delivering thoughts, which lift up and out and re-assure the heart and make steady the going; and I do not know of anything in the Word of God more calculated to perform that function than this familiar passage. It brings us right back to the foundation of all things with some mighty affirmations, some tremendous statements — into the eternal and establishing thoughts of God concerning His own people in all times. It is in those thoughts of God, as we recognize them, that we find our strength in times of special stress.

God’s Purpose, Focused in His People, Explains World Events

    The first and basic thought here is this. God has a fixed, determined purpose. He has His thoughts from eternity clearly and perfectly defined. The world is not in a jumble; things are not, from God's standpoint, in chaos. They may be from man's point of view, but from God's they are not. One clear, sure thought and purpose is actively at work in all these things which are going on as they affect and touch the life of the people of God, and we must remember that, at the heart of the universe, are the elect; the very core of everything is the people of God, the "called according to his purpose." That is why they are never exempt from the things which go on in the world; God never puts them into positions isolated from world happenings, never sets them aside in some place where they are untouched and unaffected. There is a sense in which the people of God register the happenings in the cosmos more than others do, and suffer more. The Lord's people are the heart of things and God's fullest thought is centred in them; and around that people, embodying that thought of God, the whole creation is gathered, according to this Scripture, and is said to be groaning in travail in direct relation to this thought of God which is to emerge ultimately in the manifestation of the sons of God.

    Now, I do want to put this as simply as possible. God's thoughts are very high but they are not beyond any who have the Holy Spirit. Right from the beginning, before the world was created, God had a definite thought. It was not an idea that He was going to try out, not something that had come into His mind and He was going to experiment with it to see if He could bring it to pass. When God thinks a thought it is as good as an act. "I know the thoughts that I think toward you... to give you an expected end" (Jer. 29:11); and who will for a moment allow room for God's thoughts to be ultimately defeated? No, God's thoughts are God's acts. So that He had a thought which was as good as an accomplishment from the beginning, and right through the ages He has been at work with that thought in relation to His own people; and in such times as this in which we are living, times of great trial for the people of God, that thought of God takes on a new meaning and His people ought to turn back to it in order that they may be saved.

Need for Spiritual Evaluation Above Earthly Happening

    I was talking to someone recently who is very much in the affairs of this world, and he said, 'Of course, this world is all upside down, everything is wrong, nothing is as it should be.' He was not talking religiously, but as a man of the world, without any knowledge whatever of God's thoughts. He went on to say, 'Of course, so far as our lifetime is concerned, we shall never see recovery, things will never be normal again' — and he spoke with a note which indicated that for him life and the world were all gone; everything for which we lived and hoped, our whole system of things, had gone, there was nothing left; we might just as well depart this life now. If we are going to live at all in relation to this world and this world order, we are going to be in a terrible tangle. To put it quite precisely in the light of present conditions, our essential need is for deliverance from looking for a change of circumstances and the return of conditions in which we can settle down and perhaps enjoy again all the old liberties. If we are from day to day hoping that there will be a complete change and that something will happen which will completely alter things for the better: if we are living in things as they are or as we would like them to be, the ups or the downs of these present world happenings: we are destined and doomed to despair and to live under a terrible strain. We have to get out of this somehow, we have to be above it. Of course, we shall be touched with the suffering and the sorrow and the conditions; we shall feel things in the realm of our souls; but in the innermost part of our being, in our spirit, we have to be free from this. We shall never be able to bear our testimony, fulfil our ministry, or be that for which God has chosen us unless we are in a position of spiritual detachment and ascendency above what is happening. We need deliverance, and we must have it. When we take up our morning paper and read of the course of this world's affairs, we can become terribly involved in it, and the shadow be over us for the rest of the day. That will not do, and if things do go from bad to worse in the realm of earthly things, we have to find a place where still we are outside of it. The same holds good in the matter of elation because of good news, and the apparent improvement of conditions. Disillusionment may cast us down, sooner or later. We must be above this world.

    What is it, then, that will secure us there? What will deliver us? It will be the basic and all-governing thought of God. If only you can be assured that God is definitely giving Himself to something, and can see what that something is, and can have, by the Holy Spirit, the witness in your own being that He is doing that in your case, you are delivered. Otherwise you are in chaos and you will soon be in despair. That is where the world is. It is indeed "having no hope and without God in the world."

God’s Thought – A People Conformed to the Image of His Son

    What is this basic thought? The words are so familiar, but I believe everything in history from the beginning to the end in relation to the people of God turns upon this one familiar fragment — "Whom he foreknew, he also foreordained to be conformed to the image of his Son" (Rom 8:29).

    "Conformed to the image of his Son" — that is the basic, all-governing thought of God where His people are concerned. That is what He has been at work upon from the beginning with His people. That is at the very heart and root of our present experiences, our trials, our suffering. God is at work upon you and me with this one thing in view — conformity to the image of His Son. That means many things, which we do not now stay to consider, but we take fresh note of it as the underlying, undergirding fact. Going right back before time, "foreknown, foreordained," on to "the ages of the ages," the realization; "conformed to the image of his Son." The previous verse (v. 28) expresses this — God is working all things for good with those who are called according to His purpose.

    What good? What is the good of the suffering and trial that we go through? It is this — that God is (may I use the word?) reproducing His Son in us; and His Son is His hope, and His ultimate glory is to be revealed manifestly in the saints in terms of sonship. It is the hope for the whole creation — "subjected to vanity... in hope." We are travailing in hope. The hope is in God's Son, and the hope is the manifestation of that Son in the saints. "Christ in you the hope of glory."

Conformity to Christ Wrought through Common Trials

    Now to bring that down again to very simple terms. Go back to the place where, for the time being, the Lord has put you, where He has called you to live your life and do your work in all the trial and difficulty and suffering of it, and do not strain to get out of it. Do not lose the present value of it by always living mentally or hopefully in a time when you will be out of it, but go back there and recognize that if you are the Lord's, if you love God and are called according to purpose (as you are if you are in Christ), God is seeking to do something with you and in you by means of the conditions of your present situation. You will only defeat God's end if you try to get out, and will fail to recognize and accept what He is seeking to do. I can think of few things more regrettable and grievous than that we should look back upon any part of our life and have to say, 'I might have realized some great purpose of God in that period of my life if only I had taken another attitude toward it than the one I did take; I was chafing, impatient, all the time looking for a way of escape; I was rebellious, living in another mental world of my own creating, in which I would do and be this and that; and I missed all that God intended at that time.' I say, there can be few things more grievous than that.

    So we must go back to the sphere and conditions in which the Lord has placed us, with this attitude — God has a thought which relates to me as one of His Own; and that thought is, that through the conditions and sufferings of my life He should develop in me the features of His Son. On the one hand, the features of the old creation may be seen to be more and more terrible and horrible, as I recognize them in myself; but over against that God is doing something which is other than myself, not me at all. He is bringing into being Another, altogether other, and that is His Son. Slowly, all too slowly; nevertheless something is happening. That sonship is not very much manifested yet, but it is going to be manifested. What God has been doing will come out into the light eventually — conformity to the image of His Son; "that he might be the firstborn among many brethren."

    So we look out upon the people of God on the earth amongst whom we are included, and we have to adjust our ideas as to why we are here. There may be things to do, but God is far more concerned with the being than with the doing, and we have to learn all over again what service is. I am not going to pursue that at the moment, but I would say this — service to God is essentially spiritual, or, in other words, it is the measure in which Christ Himself is brought into God's universe for God's satisfaction; and we know that we can never bring Christ into anyone's life by preaching. Have you learned that yet? How much of Christ has resulted from all the conferences you have attended? I am under no delusion that what I am saying to you can reproduce Christ in you. We may talk to the end of our days, but all our preaching is not going to produce Him. We can only help one another in this matter to understand what God is seeking to do.

Only God’s Spirit can Conform us to Christ

    And so we come back to this second thing in relation to purpose. There is the thought, the purpose, which God has in view, upon which He is at work, but the Holy Spirit is brought in here so definitely and fully as the indispensable agent. "The Spirit... maketh intercession... according to God."

    The words — 'the will of' God — are printed in italics in the Bible; they are not in the original. The Spirit Who knows God, God's thoughts, God's mind, is working according to God and working in us. We have received the Spirit of sonship, adoption, by which we cry, Father! We are children of God to be manifested as the sons of God, but all this is because the Holy Spirit is operating, making intercession with, groanings which cannot be uttered. "The Spirit helpeth our infirmity." He comes alongside. He alone can reproduce Christ, conform us to His image. And yet we have thought that service was preaching, teaching, doing this or that or a hundred and one things! Oh, that is only the vehicle of the Spirit. Let us be undeceived about this matter. You are not going to be one whit better spiritually for attending meetings unless the Holy Spirit does something. All that is said may be very true, but your knowing it all will not reach the end of God. We are wrecked upon the Holy Spirit in this matter. Therein is the need for real exercise over everything that we hear.

    The fact is this, that we may advance a long way in spiritual knowledge (I mean in information, the knowledge of the truth) beyond our own real measure, and then have the shock, under terrible conditions, of discovering that all that we have accumulated through the years does not help us. We are right up against things and have to say, 'I have not got the realities I thought I had, they are not helping me; I am being brought right back to foundations in my real, personal, living knowledge of the Lord Himself.' The peril then, of course, is to jettison all the teaching we have had and to say that it is a valueless thing. It is not valueless; but we must recognize that there is all the difference between knowing the thoughts of God in our minds, and the Holy Spirit's using that knowledge to accomplish God's ends. Thus we have to come back with every fragment and have very real dealings with the Lord. Our attitude every time must be, 'Lord, do save me from ever coming to the time when what I have heard proves only to have been a thing heard; make it a basis of Holy Spirit activity to reach the Divine end.'

    Now, if you can grasp this, it is going to be a great deliverance. Why are the people of God suffering? — that they may be conformed to the image of His Son. Of course, we may not need a world upheaval to do that, but God is going to use all conditions to that end, and, tragically enough, there are multitudes of the Lord's people who do need a world shaking. They are so bound up with the externalities of Christianity, with its whole structure and system, that nothing but that which will overthrow, disintegrate, destroy, and raise tremendous questions about the whole business, will bring them to the place where the Spirit of God can begin really to do the work which He has come to do in them.

Need for Inwrought Knowledge of the Lord

    I do not want to speak too much about work and service at this time, but we are all conscious how very testing are the limitations that growingly bear down upon us as those who would serve the Lord. They raise many questions and problems in our minds, so far as concerns the fulfilment of what we have thought to be our ministry. The situation is a very trying one. We have to look deeper, still more inward, as to God's thought.

    This is a fact borne out in the case of every servant of God in history who has really come under the hand of God — that the real values of their lives for all time have been those which correspond to the wine of the grape, the thing trodden out in the winepress, the agony of the heart; and you know that it is true in your case that if ever you have had anything at all which you knew to be worth while and which has really helped someone else, it has been born out of some travail in your own experience. You have gone into the winepress, through an agony, to produce it and that is the nature of real service to God.

    How do we know? — not have information, but know? We only know anything in that deepest sense by going into a situation where we are stripped of everything in order to prove that one thing, and to find in knowing it our deliverance, our salvation. That is the way in which we learn, and there is no gap whatever between that kind of knowledge and our very being. That knowledge is not objective to ourselves, it is ourselves, and when we give that we give ourselves. We cannot stand back from that and say, 'I believed that once but I do not believe it any longer; I had those ideas, but I do not hold them now.' Oh, God could never be satisfied with anything like that. There may be sifting and adjustment as to our ideas, but the Lord is after 'true knowledge.' We stand or fall by our knowledge, because true knowledge is life, is being, and it is what God Himself is in us.

Perfected through Sufferings

    I wonder if you grasp the point. What is God doing with His people? He is using all these things which are happening, primarily to bring about in His people that conformity to the image of His Son which is to mean Christ in manifestation in an elect people — a people foreordained because foreknown for this very thing. This thought of God is a delivering thought. How do you pray for the Lord's people in times of trouble? Of course, we are all tempted to pray for their deliverance, to cry to the Lord that they may escape. It may be right at times to pray thus, but suppose the Lord does not deliver? He does not always deliver at once. He allows the situation to continue, to become long drawn out. The enemy will encamp upon that fact and give it his own twist and interpretation — 'God is not doing anything; He has left His people, is standing back, is not concerned.' There is no answering voice, no slightest indication that He is taking any account at all. It is like that very often, and that is a real playground for the enemy. God apparently makes no response. How shall we be delivered from going to pieces, from being overwhelmed in such a time and under such conditions? Only by grasping this thought of God; and then we have to begin to pray along other lines. If God does not act to deliver His people, there is a deeper and a higher thought and purpose than their deliverance, and He is at work upon that; and deeply in them He is going to reproduce the patience, the endurance, the longsuffering of Jesus Christ. If you go right over the whole ground of God's Son perfected through sufferings and can read your Gospels anew and understand Him as He differs so utterly from the standards of men, you can see what God is doing with us His people. Meekness and gentleness — these are foreign things to our natures; under stress, under adversity, under the cruel hand of tyrannical men, to say, 'Father, forgive'! He could say "I am meek and lowly in heart." Oh, you see — the image of His Son. Such testing conditions are a terrible challenge to our natural dispositions. Our whole nature revolts against meekness and lowliness and wants to rise up and be even with the other one, or be the master. Our nature does not accept and delight in opposition, antagonism, frustration, persecution, and all such things.

    But think — and this is the marvel of Christ in Pilate's hall and before the High Priest — think again. Spat upon, mocked, struck, in every way degraded — and He is almighty and infinite God incarnate Who, with the parting of His lips, the silent lifting of His hand, could have smitten that crowd out of existence! The centurion was right; when he saw what had happened he was filled with fear and said, Truly this was the Son of God. We have heard of people suddenly discovering their awful mistake and dying of heart failure on the spot. Think of the shock that has to come yet to those who treated Him as He was treated — when they see Him. You can understand something of what took place in Saul of Tarsus (who knew all about what had happened in Jerusalem) when he saw Him — "I am Jesus" — saw Him in a brightness above that of the noonday sun.

    But my point is this, He accepted and endured all that, going through to the bitter end, letting them hammer nails through His hands and feet and fix Him to the Cross, with all the deriding — "He saved others; himself he cannot save... Let (God) deliver him now, if he desireth him: for he said, I am the Son of God." And He did not stir a finger or utter a word, when twelve legions of angels were standing ready for His aid. (If one angel could smite the host of Sennacherib, what would twelve legions do?)
    That is meekness and lowliness of heart, and that is what God is trying to effect in us. That is the thought of God; that is going to be glory in God's universe; that will make a world worth living in, and a universe of that nature will be bearable. God thus works in us; and so the portion we read finds early in it these words — "I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us."

37. Devotional: God's Music Lesson

God's Music Lesson

by George Matheson 

And no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. (Revelation 14:3)

    There are songs which can only be learned in the valley. No art can teach them; no master of music can convey them; no rules of voice can make them perfectly sung. Their music is in the heart. They are songs of memory, of personal experience. They bring out their burden from the shadows of the past; they mount on the wings of yesterday. What race that never felt the pains of exile could sing that old Scottish song, "Oh why left I my hame!" It could only come from the memory of storm and stress driving the wanderer across many a sea.

    St. John says that even in heaven there will be a song that can only be fully sung by the sons of earth—the strain of redemption. Doubtless it is a song of triumph—a hymn of victory to the Christ who has made us free. But the sense of triumph must come from the memory ot the chain. No angel, no archangel, can sing it so sweetly as my soul. To sing it as I sing it they must pass through my exile, and this they cannot do. None can learn it but the children of the Cross.   

    And so, my soul, thou art receiving a music lesson from thy Father. Thou art being educated for the choir invisible. There are parts of the symphony that none can take but thee. There are chords too minor for the angels. There may be heights in the symphony which are beyond thy scale—heights which the angels alone can reach. But there are depths which belong to thee, and can only be touched by thee. Thy Father is training thee for the part the angels cannot sing ; and the school is sorrow. I have heard men say that He sends thy sorrow to prove thee; nay, He sends thy sorrow to educate thee, to train thee for the choir invisible.   

    In the night He is preparing thy song. In the valley He is tuning thy voice. In the cloud He is deepening thy chords. In the storm He is enriching thy pathos. In the rain He is sweetening thy melody. In the cold He is moulding thine expression. In the transition from hope to fear He is perfecting thy lights and shades. Despise not thy school of sorrow, O my soul; it will give thee a unique part in the universal song.

36. Hymn: In Heavenly Love Abiding

In Heavenly Love Abiding

Author: Anna Letitia Waring

Tune: SEASONS, by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy

(Vocal)

1. In heavenly love abiding, 

    No change my heart shall fear; 

    And safe is such confiding, 

    For nothing changes here. 

    The storm may roar without me, 

    My heart may low be laid, 

    But God is round about me, 

    And can I be dismayed?  

2. Wherever He may guide me, 

    No want shall turn me back; 

    My Shepherd is beside me, 

    And nothing can I lack. 

    His wisdom ever waketh, 

    His sight is never dim, 

    He knows the way He taketh, 

    And I will walk with Him.  

3. Green pastures are before me, 

    Which yet I have not seen; 

    Bright skies will soon be o'er me, 

    Where the dark clouds have been. 

    My hope I cannot measure, 

    The path to life is free, 

    My Savior has my treasure, 

    And He will walk with me.

35. Hymn: Commit Thy Way To God

Commit Thy Way To God

Author: Paul Gerhardt

1. Commit thy way to God;
    The weight which makes thee faint,
    Worlds are to Him no load!
    To Him breathe thy complaint.
    He who for winds and clouds
    Maketh a pathway free,
    Through wastes or hostile crowds
    Can make a way for thee.

2. Hope, then, tho' woes be doubled,
    Hope, and be undismayed;
    Let not thine heart be troubled,
    Nor let it be afraid.
    This prison where thou art,
    Thy God will break it soon,
    And flood with light thy heart,
    In His own blessed noon.

3. Up, up, the day is breaking,
    Say to thy cares, Good night!
    Thy troubles from thee shaking
    Like dreams in day's fresh light.
    Thou wearest not the crown,
    Nor the best course can'st tell;
    God sitteth on the throne,
    And guideth all things well.

4. Trust Him to govern, then:
    No king can rule like Him.
    How wilt thou wonder when
    Thine eyes no more see dim,
    To see those paths which vex thee,
    How wise they were and meet;
    The works which now perplex thee
    How beautiful, complete!

5. Faithful the love thou sharest;
    All, all is well with thee;
    The crown from hence thou bearest
    With shouts of victory.
    In thy right hand to-morrow
    Thy God shall place the palms.
    To Him who chased thy sorrow,
    How glad will be thy psalms!

34. Hymn: There Is Never A Day So Dreary

There Is Never A Day So Dreary

Author: Anna B. Russell

Tune: NEW ORLEANS, by Ernest O. Sellers

(Vocal)

1. There is never a day so dreary,
    There is never a night so long,
    But the soul that is trusting Jesus
    Will somewhere find a song.

Refrain: 

Wonderful, wonderful Jesus, 

In the heart He implanteth a song; 

A song of deliv'rance, of courage, of strength, 

In the heart He implanteth a song.  

2. There is never a cross so heavy,
    There is never a weight of woe,
    But that Jesus will help to carry
    Because He loveth so.

3. There is never a care or burden,
    There is never a grief or loss,
    But that Jesus in love will lighten
    When carried to the cross.

4. There is never a guilty sinner,
    There is never a wand'ring one,
    But that God can in mercy pardon
    Thro' Jesus Christ, His Son.

33. Devotional: The Light Of Your Countenance

The Light Of Your Countenance

by J. C. Philpot 

Lord, lift up the light of your countenance upon us. (Psalm 4:6)

    The cry of the Church has always been, "Lord, lift up the light of your countenance upon us." You may often feel as if immersed in the very shadow of death, and say with Heman, "I am counted with those who go down into the pit; I am as a man that has no strength" (Psalm 88:4); but the very feelings of death, the chill at your heart, and the cold sweat upon your brow, make you long for the appearance of him who is the Resurrection and the Life; and who can in one moment whisper, "Fear not; I am alive for evermore, and have the keys of hell and of death." 

    You may be pressed down at times with the power of unbelief, and think and say there never was a heart like yours, so unable to believe, so doubting at every step; but this deep conviction of your wretched unbelief, which is the Spirit's work to show (John 16:9), only makes you long for that living faith of which Christ himself is not only the Object, but the Author and Finisher. 

    You may be sunk at times in despondency, as to both your present and future state; but that makes you the more desire to have a good hope through grace, as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast. You may feel at times the guilt, and not only the guilt, but the dreadful power and prevalence of sin; but that only makes you long the more earnestly for manifestations of pardon and peace, and that no sin may have dominion over you. 

    "The mouth of the Lord has spoken it," that sooner or later you shall have every needful blessing. The valley you now feel to be in shall be exalted; the mountain and hill shall be made low; the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain, and your eye shall see the glory of the Lord; Christ shall be made precious to your heart; he will come sooner or later into your soul; and then when he comes he will manifest himself as your Lord and your God. And so you keep hanging, and hoping, and looking up until he appears; for your heart is still ever saying, "None but Jesus, can do helpless sinners good."

32. Hymn: Come, Jesus, With The Coming Night

Come, Jesus, With The Coming Night

Author: Ray Palmer

At evening time it shall be light. (Zechariah 14:7)

1. Come, Jesus, with the coming night,
    Refresh and cheer my weary heart;
    At evening-time it shall be light,
    If thou art near, though day depart.

2. Welcome this shade that brings release
    From hurrying labour's noise and strife;
    That calls from restless thought to cease,
    And calms the throbbing pulse of life.

3. From tedious toil, from anxious care,
    Dear Lord, I turn again to thee;
    Thy presence and thy smile to share
    Makes every burden light to me.

4. With thee, of all sad thoughts beguiled,
    Peace nestles in my tranquil breast;
    And, like a pleased and happy child,
    In thy kind arms I sink to rest.

5. Till night's dark watches all are gone,
    O faithful Shepherd, guard my sleep,
    And, when yon mountains greet the dawn,
    Give strength my heavenward way to keep.

31. Devotional: The Discipline Of Faith

The Discipline Of Faith  

All things are possible to him that believeth. (Mark 9:23) 

    The “all things” do not always come simply for the asking, for the reason that God is ever seeking to teach us the way of faith, and in our training in the faith life there must be room for the trial of faith, the discipline of faith, the patience of faith, the courage of faith, and often many stages are passed before we really realize what is the end of faith, namely, the victory of faith.  

    Real moral fibre is developed through discipline of faith. You have made your request of God, but the answer does not come. What are you to do? Keep on believing God’s Word; never be moved away from it by what you see or feel, and thus as you stand steady, enlarged power and experience is being developed. The fact of looking at the apparent contradiction as to God’s Word and being unmoved from your position of faith make you stronger on every other line.  

    Often God delays purposely, and the delay is just as much an answer to your prayer as is the fulfillment when it comes. In the lives of all the great Bible characters, God worked thus. Abraham, Moses and Elijah were not great in the beginning, but were made great through the discipline of their faith, and only thus were they fitted for the positions to which God had called them. 

    For example, in the case of Joseph whom the Lord was training for the throne of Egypt, we read in the Psalms: “The word of the Lord tried him.” It was not the prison life with its hard beds or poor food that tried him, but it was the word God had spoken into his heart in the early years concerning elevation and honor which were greater than his brethren were to receive; it was this which was ever before him, when every step in his career made it seem more and more impossible of fulfillment, until he was there imprisoned, and all in innocency, while others who were perhaps justly incarcerated, were released, and he was left to languish alone. These were hours that tried his soul, but hours of spiritual growth and development, that, “when his word came” (the word of release), found him fitted for the delicate task of dealing with his wayward brethren, with a love and patience only surpassed by God Himself.  

    No amount of persecution tries like such experiences as these. When God has spoken of His purpose to do, and yet the days go on and He does not do it, that is truly hard; but it is a discipline of faith that will bring us into a knowledge of God which would otherwise be impossible.

-Selected

30. Hymn: Where'er I Go, Whate'er My Task

Where'er I Go, Whate'er My Task

Author: Paul Flemming

Where'er I go, whate'er my task, 

The counsel of my God I ask, 

Who all things hath and can; 

Unless He give both thought and deed 

The utmost pains can ne'er succeed, 

And vain the wisest plan.     

For what can all my toil avail? 

My care, my watching all must fail, 

Unless my God is there; 

Then let Him order all for me 

As He in wisdom shall decree; 

On Him I cast my care.     

For nought can come, as nought hath been, 

But what my Father hath foreseen, 

And what shall work my good; 

Whate'er He gives me I will take, 

Whate'er He chooses I will make 

My choice with thankful mood.     

I lean upon His mighty arm, 

It shields me well from every harm, 

All evil shall avert; 

If by His precepts still I live 

Whate'er is useful He will give, 

And nought shall do me hurt.     

But only may He of His grace 

The record of my guilt efface, 

And wipe out all my debt; 

Though I have sinn'd He will not straight 

Pronounce His judgment, He will wait, 

Have patience with me yet.     

I travel to a distant land 

To serve the post wherein I stand, 

Which He hath bade me fill; 

And He will bless me with His light, 

That I may serve His world aright, 

And make me know His will.     

And though through desert wilds I fare, 

Yet Christian friends are with me there, 

And Christ Himself is near; 

In all our dangers He will come, 

And He who kept me safe at home, 

Can keep me safely here.     

Yes, He will speed us on our way,
And point us where to go and stay,
And help us still and lead;
Let us in health and safety live,
And time and wind and weather give,
And whatsoe'er we need.     

When late at night my rest I take,
When early in the morn I wake,
Halting or on my way,
In hours of weakness or in bonds,
When vex'd with fears my heart desponds,
His promise is my stay.     

Since then my course is traced by Him
I will not fear that future dim,
But go to meet my doom,
Well knowing nought can wait me there
Too hard for me through Him to bear;
I yet shall overcome.     

To Him myself I wholly give,
At His command I die or live,
I trust His love and power:
Whether to-morrow or to-day
His summons come, I will obey,
He knows the proper hour.

But if it please that love most kind,
And if this voice within my mind
Be whispering not in vain,
I yet shall praise my God ere long
In many a sweet and joyful song,
In peace at home again.     

To those I love will He be near,
With His consoling light appear,
Who is my shield and theirs;
And He will grant beyond our thought
What they and I alike have sought
With many tearful prayers.     

Then, O my soul, be ne'er afraid,
On Him who thee and all things made
With calm reliance rest;
Whate'er may come, where'er we go,
Our Father in the heavens must know
In all things what is best.

29. Devotional: Be Strong And Courageous

Be Strong And Courageous

by C. H. Spurgeon 

Only be thou strong and very courageous. (Josh 1:7)

    Our God’s tender love for His servants makes Him concerned for the state of their inward feelings. He desires them to be of good courage. Some esteem it a small thing for a believer to be vexed with doubts and fears, but God does not think so. From this text, it is plain that our Master would not have us entangled with fears. He would have us without worry, without doubt, without cowardice. Our Master does not think so lightly of our unbelief as we do. When we are desponding we are subject to a grievous malady, not to be trifled with, but to be carried at once to the beloved Physician. Our Lord does not like to see our countenance sad. It was a law of Ahasuerus that no one could come into the king’s court dressed in mourning, this is not the law of the King of kings, for we may come mourning as we are; but still He would have us put off the garment of heaviness, and put on the garment of praise, for there is much reason to rejoice.  

    The Christian man ought to be of a courageous spirit, in order that he may glorify the Lord by enduring trials in an heroic manner. If he is fearful and fainthearted, it will dishonor his God. Besides, what a bad example it is! This disease of doubtfulness and discouragement is an epidemic which soon spreads among the Lord’s flock. One downcast believer makes twenty souls sad. Moreover, unless your courage is kept up, Satan will be too much for you. Let your spirit be joyful in God your Savior, the joy of the Lord shall be your strength, and no fiend of hell shall make headway against you, but cowardice throws down the banner. Moreover, labor is light to a man of cheerful spirit; and success follows upon cheerfulness. The man who toils, rejoicing in his God, believing with all his heart, has success guaranteed. He who sows in hope shall reap in joy. Therefore, dear reader, “be strong, and very courageous.”

28. Devotional: Faint Not!

Faint Not!

by James H. McConkey

    How great is the temptation at this point! How the soul sinks, the heart grows sick, and the faith staggers under the keen trials and testings which come into our lives in times of special bereavement and suffering. "I cannot bear up any longer; I am fainting under this providence. What shall I do? God tells me not to faint. But what can one do when he is fainting?" What do you do when you are about to faint physically? You cannot do anything. You cease from your own doing. In your faintness, you fall upon the shoulder of some strong loved one. You lean hard. You rest. You lie still and trust, until your fainting soul comes back to its own. It is so when we are tempted to faint under affliction. God's message to us is not "Be strong, and of good courage," for he knows our strength and courage have fled away. But it is that sweet word: "Be still, and know that I am God." Hudson Taylor was so feeble in the closing months of his life, that he wrote a dear friend, "I am so weak I cannot work; I cannot read my Bible; I cannot even pray. I can only lie still in God's arms like a little child, and trust." This wondrous man of God with all his spiritual power came to a place of physical suffering and weakness where he could only lie still and trust. And that is all God asks of you. His dear child, when you grow faint in the fierce fires of affliction. Do not try to be strong. Just be still, and know that He is God and will sustain you, and bring you through.

27. Hymn: Thy Way, Not Mine, O Lord

Thy Way, Not Mine, O Lord

Author: Horatius Bonar

1. Thy way, not mine, O Lord,
    However dark it be:
    Lead me by Thine own hand,
    Choose out the path for me.
    Smooth let it be or rough,
    It will be still the best;
    Winding or straight, it leads
    Right onward to Thy Rest

2. I dare not choose my lot;
    I would not if I might:
    Choose Thou for me, my God;
    So shall I walk aright.
    Take Thou my cup, and it
    With joy or sorrow fill
    As best to Thee may seem;
    Choose Thou my good and ill.

3. Choose Thou for me my friends,
    My sickness or my health;
    Choose Thou my cares for me,
    My poverty or wealth.
    Not mine, not mine the choice
    In things or great or small;
    Be Thou my guide, my strength,
    My wisdom, and my all.

26. Devotional: God’s Deliverance

God’s Deliverance

by F. B. Meyer   

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. (Matthew 6:13)  

    Our Lord couples His own prayer with ours when He says, pray: “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” We remember that He was led into the wilderness by the Spirit, that He might be tempted, and that “in all points” He was tempted like as we are, though in His case there was no sin. It is wonderful to know that by some marvellous oneness of nature the Son of God Himself pursued the dreaded track of temptation.  

    And while we have this moral nature which links us, upon the one hand, to the eternal Christ, our Captain, who has gone through the same ordeal, we are also linked to every other man, woman, and child the world over. For, though we might suppose that there were such diversities of life that some might be secure of an immunity from temptation, yet a closer inspection of our common lot reveals the fact that it is inevitable to us all.  

    Temptation creeps into the sick-chamber equally as into the heyday of our health. It finds its way into the seclusion of the student even as it dogs the steps of the man of the world doing his business. It comes to the minister, with its tendency to elation or despondency, as well as to the criminal; to the poor as well as to the rich. There is no life, however guarded, that is not exposed to the blast and sirocco of temptation. Therefore we utter this prayer as one—“as.”  

    But let us take heart! Remember it is the Father to whom this prayer is addressed. He made us, and knows just what we can stand; He loves us, and His tender succour is always by our side. He draws near, saying, “I am with you in this dark valley, and am able to make you stand; I would not have brought you here had I not counted the cost. I am able to be a very present help in this time of trouble. I have carried others through this ordeal, and I can carry you; only keep near my side; look away from the tempter to my face; cease to trust yourself and depend absolutely upon Me, and I, who brought you to this testing-place, will lead you out. Be of good cheer! See, there awaits you the crown which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give to each soldier who has stood true to Him in the hour of trial, and you could not get that if you did not bear this. It is because I want you to win that I am giving you the chance of this hard fight.”

    Prayer: Father, be it so; my heart and my flesh fail, but Thou art the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. Forbid that we should be overcome with evil, help us to overcome evil with good. Amen.

25. Gleaning: Stars May Be...

    Stars may be seen from the bottom of a deep well when they cannot be discerned from the top of a mountain: so are many things learned in adversity which the prosperous man dreams not of. We need affliction as the trees need winter, that we may collect sap and nourishment for future blossoms and fruit. Sorrow is as necessary for the soul as medicine is to the body:
    "The path of sorrow, and that path alone,
    Leads to the land where sorrow is unknown."
    The adversities of to-day are a preparatory school for the higher learning.

- C. H. Spurgeon 

                                                                                                                

    Back and forth the plow was driven. The field was covered with grasses and lovely flowers, but remorselessly through them all the share tore its way, cutting furrow after furrow. It seemed that all the beauty was being hopelessly destroyed. But by and by harvest time came, and the field waved with golden wheat. That was what the plowman's faith saw from the beginning. ​

    Sorrow seems to destroy the life of a child of God. Its rude share plows again and again through it, making many a deep furrow, gashing its beauty. But afterward a harvest of blessing and good grows up out of the crushed and broken life. That is what God intends always in trial and sorrow. Let us have the plowman's faith, and we shall not faint when the share is driven through our heart. Then by faith we shall see beyond the pain and trial the blessing of richer life, of whiter holiness, of larger fruitfulness. And to win that blessing will be worth all the pain and trial. - J. R. Miller                                                                                    

24. Hymn: Dear Refuge Of My Weary Soul

Dear Refuge Of My Weary Soul

Author: Anne Steele

(Vocal 1)

(Vocal 2)

1. Dear refuge of my weary soul, 

    On thee when sorrows rise; 

    On thee, when waves of trouble roll, 

    My fainting hope relies. 

2. While hope revives, though pressed with fears, 

    And I can say, "My God," 

    Beneath thy feet I spread my cares, 

    And pour my woes abroad. 

3. To thee I tell each rising grief, 

    For thou alone canst heal; 

    Thy word can bring a sweet relief, 

    For every pain I feel. 

4. But oh! when gloomy doubts prevail 

    I fear to call thee mine; 

    The springs of comfort seem to fail 

    And all my hopes decline. 

5. Yet gracious God, where shall I flee? 

    Thou art my only trust; 

    And still my soul would cleave to thee, 

    Though prostrate in the dust. 

6. Hast thou not bid me seek thy face? 

    And shall I seek in vain? 

    And can the ear of sovereign grace 

    Be deaf when I complain? 

7. No, still the ear of sovereign grace 

    Attends the mourner's prayer; 

    O may I ever find access, 

    To breathe my sorrows there. 

8. Thy mercy-seat is open still; 

    Here let my soul retreat, 

    With humble hope attend thy will, 

    And wait beneath thy feet.

23. Hymn Resource: Radio Hymn Station

1. FBC Radio
    http://www.fbcradio.org/listen/

2. Abiding Radio
    http://www.abidingradio.org

3. Word of Truth Radio
    http://www.wordoftruthradio.com/listen_wotr.php
 
4. Avinu - Sacred Hymns
    http://www.avinu.com

22. Devotional: Unanswered Yet?

Unanswered Yet?

by H. A. Ironside

Then said he unto me, “Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words”. (Daniel 10:12)

    A great mystery is unfolded here in regard to prayer. Daniel had been praying “three full weeks” about a certain matter, and when finally the answer came, he was told that at the beginning of his supplication God had heard, but an angel from Heaven had been twenty-one days fighting his way through the evil hosts of Satan in order to reach him. The prince of the kingdom of Persia referred to in verse 13 was one of these wicked spirits evidently seeking to hinder God’s plan. This should throw light on many delayed answers. God has not been indifferent, but a conflict is going on in the heavenlies (Ephesians 6:12), because of which there seems to be delay, but God’s purpose is sure and His plan will be carried out.

1. Unanswered yet? The pray'r your lips have pleaded 

    In agony of heart these many years? 

    Does faith begin to fail, is hope departing, 

    And think you all in vain those falling tears? 

    Say not the Father hath not heard your pray'r; 

    You shall have your desire, sometime, somewhere.

2. Unanswered yet? Tho' when you first presented 

    This one petition at the Father's throne, 

    It seemed you could not wait the time of asking, 

    So urgent was your heart to make it known. 

    Tho' years have passed since then, do not despair; 

    The Lord will answer you, sometime, somewhere.  

3. Unanswered yet? Nay, do not say ungranted; 

    Perhaps your part is not yet wholly done; 

    The work began when first your pray'r was uttered, 

    And God will finish what He has begun. 

    If you will keep the incense burning there, 

    His glory you shall see, sometime, somewhere, 

    His glory you shall see, sometime, somewhere.  

4. Unanswered yet? Faith cannot be unanswered; 

    Her feet were firmly planted on the Rock; 

    Amid the wildest storm pray'r stands undaunted, 

    Nor quails before the loudest thunder shock; 

    She knows Omnipotence has heard her pray'r, 

    And cries "It shall be done, sometime, somewhere."

                                                                                       - F. G. Burroughs

21. Devotional: Recover From The Past Sorrows

Recover From The Past Sorrows

by William MacDonald

How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel. (1 Samuel 16:1)

    There comes a time in life when we must stop mourning over the past and get on with the work of the present. God had rejected Saul from being king. The action was final, irreversible. But Samuel had difficulty in accepting it. He had been closely associated with Saul and he now wept to see his hopes disappointed. He continued to mourn a loss that would never be retrieved. God said, in effect, "Quit mourning. Go out and anoint Saul's successor. My program has not failed. I have a better man than Saul to step onto the stage of Israel's history."  

    We would like to think that Samuel not only learned the lesson for himself but that he passed it on to David, who took Saul's place as king. At any rate, David showed that he had learned the lesson well. As long as his baby was dying, he fasted and mourned, hoping that God would spare the child. But when the infant died, he bathed, changed his clothes, went to the Tabernacle to worship, then ate a meal. To those who questioned his realism, he said, "Now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him but he shall not return to me" (2 Sam. 12:23).  

    This has a voice for us in our Christian life and service. Sometime it may happen that a ministry might be wrenched away from us and given to someone else. We grieve over the death of an avenue of service. It may be that a friendship or a partnership is severed, and that, as a result, life seems empty and flat. Or that we have been cruelly disappointed by someone who was very dear to us. We mourn the death of a valued relationship. Or it may be that some lifelong dream is shattered or some ambition is frustrated. We mourn the death of a noble aspiration or vision.  

    There is nothing wrong about mourning, but it should not be prolonged to the extent that it cripples our effectiveness in meeting the challenges of the hour. E. Stanley Jones said he made it a point to "recover within the hour" from the grief and blows of life. An hour may not be long enough for most of us, but we must not be forever inconsolable over circumstances that cannot be changed.

20. Devotional: Trust Him Anyway

Trust Him Anyway

by H. A. Ironside

He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods.  (Daniel 8:17-18) 

    There is something very fine about the confidence expressed by these three young Hebrews. It was not necessary for God to deliver them from the furnace, if it were not His will. They could trust Him anyway. If He did not quench the flame He would give grace to endure, and they knew that in another world all would be appraised at its true value. It is a great lesson we all need to learn.  

A scoffing world is looking on,
The furnace glows with furious heat;
The test is real, the foe is near,
Waiting to witness my retreat.

Hosts of evil gather round me.
The Son of God seems lost to view.
Oh, for faith to meet the crisis;
Oh, for the courage to go through!

What, this sudden sweet empow’ring?
Whence, this strange, exultant cry?
If my God comes not, I’ll trust Him,
Though to trust Him means to die!

                                                        —Margaret Denison Armstrong

19. Devotional: Sing Praise To The Lord!

Sing Praise To The Lord!

by Henry Ward Beecher

When they began to sing and praise, the Lord set ambushments...and they were smitten. (2 Chr. 20:22)  

    Oh, that we could reason less about our troubles, and sing and praise more! There are thousands of things that we wear as shackles which we might use as instruments with music in them, if we only knew how. Those men that ponder, and meditate, and weigh the affairs of life, and study the mysterious developments of God’s providence, and wonder why they should be burdened and thwarted and hampered—how different and how much more joyful would be their lives, if, instead of forever indulging in self-revolving and inward thinking, they would take their experiences, day by day, and lift them up, and praise God for them. We can sing our cares away easier than we can reason them away. Sing in the morning. The birds are the earliest to sing, and birds are more without care than anything else that I know of. Sing at evening. Singing is the last thing that robins do. When they have done their daily work; when they have flown their last flight, and picked up their last morsel of food, then on a topmost twig, they sing one song of praise. Oh, that we might sing morning and evening, and let song touch song all the way through.

18. Hymn: Deck Thyself, My Soul, With Gladness

Deck Thyself, My Soul, With Gladness

Author: Johann Franck

Tune: SCHMÜCKE DICH, by Johann Crüger

(Vocal 1)
(Vocal 2)

1. Deck thyself, my soul, with gladness,
    Leave the gloomy haunts of sadness,
    Come into the daylight's splendour,
    There with joy thy praises render
    Unto Him whose grace unbounded
    Hath this wondrous banquet founded,
    High o'er all the heav'ns he reigneth,
    Yet to dwell with thee He deigneth.

2. Hasten as a Bride to meet Him,
    And with loving reverence greet Him,
    For with words of life immortal
    Now He knocketh at thy portal;
    Haste to ope the gates before Him,
    Saying, while thou dost adore Him,
    "Suffer, Lord, that I receive Thee,
    And I never more will leave Thee."

3. Ah how hungers all my spirit
    For the love I do not merit!
    Oft have I, with sighs fast thronging,
    Thought upon this food with longing,
    In the battle well-nigh worsted,
    For this cup of life have thirsted,
    For the Friend, who here invites us,
    And to God Himself unites us.

4. Now I sink before Thee lowly,
    Fill'd with joy most deep and holy,
    As with trembling awe and wonder
    On Thy mighty works I ponder,
    Now, by mystery surrounded,
    Depths no man hath ever sounded,
    None may dare to pierce unbidden
    Secrets that with Thee art hidden.

5. Sun, who all my life dost brighten,
    Light, who dost my soul enlighten,
    Joy, the sweetest man e'er knoweth,
    Fount, whence all my being floweth,
    At Thy feet I cry, my Maker,
    Let me be a fit partaker
    Of this blessed food from heaven,
    For our good, Thy glory, given.

6. Jesus, Bread of Life, I pray Thee,
    Let me gladly here obey Thee,
    Never to my hurt invited,
    Be Thy love with love requited;
    From this banquet let me measure,
    Lord, how vast and deep its treasure;
    Through the gifts Thou here dost give me
    As Thy guest in heaven receive me.

17. Hymn: Give To The Winds Thy Fears

Give To The Winds Thy Fears

Author: Paul Gerhardt

Tune: ST. BRIDE, by Samuel Howard

(Melody)

1. Give to the winds thy fears,
    Hope and be undismay'd,
    God hears thy sighs and counts thy tears,
    God shall lift up thy head.

2. Thro' waves and clouds and storms,
    He gently clears thy way;
    Wait thou his time, so shall this night
    Soon end in joyous day.

3. Still heavy is thy heart,
    Still sink thy spirits down;
    Cast off the weight, let fear depart,
    And every care be gone.

4. What tho' thou rulest not,
    Yet heav'n, and earth, and hell,
    Proclaim, God sitteth on the throne,
    And ruleth all things well.

5. Leave to his sov'reign sway
    To choose and to command,
    So shalt thou wond'ring own his way,
    How wise, how strong his hand!

6. Far, far above thy thought
    His counsel shall appear,
    When fully he the work that wrought,
    That caus'd thy needless fear.

7. Thou seest our weakness, Lord,
    Our hearts are known to thee;
    O lift thou up the sinking heart,
    Confirm the feeble knee.

8. Let us in life, in death,
    Thy stedfast truth declare,
    And publish with our latest breath
    Thy love and guardian care.

16. Devotional: Only What Is Of Christ Is Of Value

Only What Is Of Christ Is Of Value

by T. Austin-Sparks

    Sometimes we have to ask ourselves as we see personal desires being followed out, likes being served, preferences being manipulated, and it becomes so patent that there is something which is quite natural ruling decisions and making the plans: Where is the Cross, and where is the Holy Spirit working by the Cross? Therefore, you and I need to ask the Lord more every day to make these crises acute, that we shall have no blind spots on this matter, thinking that it is for the Lord when it is really for ourselves. Any measure of that ‘I’ is countering God’s end, and anything that is done, even though it be by a most devoted soul, for the Lord on that basis is bound to have in it that element which will limit its ETERNAL value.  

    The thing which is going to be wholly, utterly abiding, eternal, must be utterly Christ. It may, therefore, be necessary for a course of reduction to be followed by the Lord. The thing may seem small and it may seem to be very limited according to the world’s standards. What is going on can hardly be seen on the surface, but God is working right down at the bottom to build from the foundation, slowly, steadily, surely; and every fresh fragment that God adds to that work is sifted, purged, tested. It is as though God puts in something and then, before He adds to it, He tests it, proves it, tries it, sifts it, until the thing is, in its absolute purity, all of Christ and is established.  

    That seems to be God’s way with something that is going to be wholly of Christ. You can have, if you MUST, to gratify the old human desires to SEE, to POSSESS, to KNOW, to DO, to be active, something bigger. But when you look on toward the end, it will just be tested as to what is of Christ. All the other is waste. You have plenty of Scripture to bear that out. I am only putting my finger upon a central law. Is it not true that God has determined to have nothing in this universe eventually but what is Christ, and all else will be removed forever?

    It is a glorious prospect to know that the universe will be filled with Christ, and God is going to have His end. When the Lord gets hold of a life utterly, and when the Cross has really entered into that life, so that that life can say: “I have been crucified with Christ”, nothing passes, nothing gets through that is not Christ.

15. Devotional: Victory In Reverses

Victory In Reverses

by C. H. Spurgeon 

Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; 

when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me. (Micah 7:8)    

    This may express the feelings of a man or woman downtrodden and oppressed. Our enemy may put out our light for a season. There is sure hope for us in the LORD; and if we are trusting in Him and holding fast our integrity, our season of downcasting and darkness will soon be over. The insults of the foe are only for a moment. The LORD will soon turn their laughter into lamentation and our sighing into singing.          

    What if the great enemy of souls should for a while triumph over us, as he has triumphed over better men than we are; yet let us take heart, for we shall overcome him before long. We shall rise from our fall, for our God has not fallen, and He will lift us up. We shall not abide in darkness, although for the moment we sit in it; for our LORD is the fountain of light, and He will soon bring us a joyful day. Let us not despair or even doubt. One turn of the wheel, and the lowest will be at the top. Woe unto those who laugh now, for they shall mourn and weep when their boasting is turned into everlasting contempt. But blessed are all holy mourners, for they shall be divinely comforted.