8. Devotional: Suffer Patiently

Suffer Patiently

by C. H. Von Bogatzky

  In returning and rest shall ye be saved, in quietness and in confidence
    shall be your strength. (Isaiah 30:15)

  In your patience possess ye your souls. (Luke 21:19)

  Take heed, and be quiet; fear not, neither be faint-hearted. (Isaiah 7:4)

    Christians must suffer patiently, and patience is their armour, while God is fighting for them. But when we are unwilling to suffer, going about to make complaints everywhere, and to seek human comfort, or to rid ourselves by contrivances, we lose the comfort of the Lord's help, we are stirring up the wasp-nest of our unruly thoughts, and bring more trouble upon ourselves and others; nay, we are fighting against God, who hereby intends to cure our impatience, pride, and anger. For the more peevish and wild we are, the more desperate is our disease; and consequently we have so much more need of such sharp but wholesome trials of affliction to mortify those bad passions of the flesh. 

    Therefore, we must not presume to murmur and complain, which will only make bad worse; for he through impatience will flee from one trouble, may run into ten others; and though it is possible sometimes to rid ourselves out of trouble, yet the help is not so glorious and blessed as if we had waited for help of the Lord. Grant me to wait always on thy help; for the Lord's good time will come, though He tarry long.

Sure I must fight if I would reign,  

Increase my courage, Lord;  

I'll bear the toil, endure the pain,  

Supported by thy word.   

Must I be carried to the skies  

On flow'ry beds of ease,  

While others suffer'd for the prize,  

And sail'd through bloody seas.

7. Hymn: Workman Of God! O Lose Not Heart

Workman Of God! O Lose Not Heart

Author: F. W. Faber 

1. Workman of God! O lose not heart,
    But learn what God is like;
    And in the darkest battlefield
    Thou shalt know where to strike.

2. Thrice blest is he to whom is giv’n
    The instinct that can tell
    That God is on the field, when
    He Is most invisible.

3. Blest too is he who can divine
    Where real right doth lie,
    And dares to take the side that seems
    Wrong to man’s blindfold eye.

4. Then learn to scorn the praise of men,
    And learn to lose with God;
    For Jesus won the world through shame,
    And beckons thee His road.

5. For right is right, since God is God,
    And right the day must win;
    To doubt would be disloyalty,
    To falter would be sin.

6. Devotional: Attitude

Attitude

Edited by Miles J. Stanford

I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude...saying, 

Hallelujah! For the Lord God omnipotent REIGNETH. (Revelation 19:6)

    Once we become aware that our sovereign Father is reigning and is in full control, our faith becomes a set attitude and we are able to honor Him by resting in His faithfulness under all circumstances.  

    “Joseph gives a wonderful example of a man who does not know what God is doing and yet who by faith cooperates with Him at every step of the way. At each phase of his experience, even when perhaps he was most bewildered, Joseph gave God the cooperation which He requires for the fulfillment of His purpose. This relationship can only come by faith. It does not necessarily entail an understanding of the procedure of things, but it certainly cannot be given unless we are absolutely convinced of the Father’s supreme control over all.  

    “The man who imagines that things have got out of the Father’s hands, that they are not working out as He intended, or that Satan or his agents are really in control, is the man who is not in a position to give the Father the required cooperation in it all. This is unbelief. And unbelief is the greatest hindrance we can offer to the Father’s working. This cooperation is a matter of heart-attitude, of spirit, and means that we go quietly on, cheerfully and faithfully glorifying the Father where we are, not fretting or praying to be moved somewhere else.” - T. A. S.  

    “The strength of the vessel can be demonstrated only by the hurricane, and the power of the Gospel can be fully shown only when the believer is subjected to some fiery trial. If the Father would make manifest the fact that ‘He giveth songs in the night,’ He must first make it night.” - W. T.

5. Devotional: Evening Brightens Into Day

Evening Brightens Into Day 

by C. H. Spurgeon 

It shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light. (Zechariah 14:7)

    It is a surprise that it should be so; for all things threaten that at evening time it shall be dark. God is wont to work in a way so much above our fears and beyond our hopes that we are greatly amazed and are led to praise His sovereign grace. No, it shall not be with us as our hearts are prophesying: the dark will not deepen into midnight, but it will, of a sudden, brighten into day. Never let us despair. In the worst times let us trust in the LORD who turneth the darkness of the shadow of death into the morning. When the tale of bricks is doubled Moses appears, and when tribulation abounds it is nearest its end.
    This promise should assist our patience. The light may not fully come till our hopes are quite spent by waiting all day to no purpose. To the wicked the sun goes down while it is yet day: to the righteous the sun rises when it is almost night. May we not with patience wait for that heavenly light, which may be long in coming but is sure to prove itself well worth waiting for?  

    Come, my soul, take up thy parable and sing unto Him who will bless thee in life and in death, in a manner surpassing all that nature has ever seen when at its best.

4. Devotional: A Quiet Heart

A Quiet Heart 

by C. H. Spurgeon 

In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength. (Isaiah 30:15)         

    It is always weakness to be fretting and worrying, questioning and mis-trusting. What can we do if we wear ourselves to skin and bone? Can we gain anything by fearing and fuming? Do we not unfit ourselves for action and unhinge our minds for wise decision? We are sinking by our struggles when we might float by faith.          

    Oh, for grace to be quiet! Why run from house to house to repeat the weary story which makes us more and more heart-sick as we tell it? Why even stay at home to cry out in agony because of wretched forebodings which may never be fulfilled? It would be well to keep a quiet tongue, but it would be far better if we had a quiet heart. Oh, to be still and know that Jehovah is God!
    Oh, for grace to be confident in God! The holy One of Israel must defend and deliver His own. He cannot run back from His solemn declarations. We may make sure that every word of His will stand though the mountains should depart. He deserves to be confided in; and if we would display confidence and consequent quietness, we might be as happy as the spirits before the throne.

    Come, my soul, return unto thy rest, and lean thy head upon the bosom of the LORD Jesus.

3. Devotional: Sustained

Sustained 

Edited by Miles J. Stanford 

Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee. (Psalm 55:22)

    Our Father’s living waters flow both in summer and winter (Zech. 14:8). He provides the barrenness of winter in order to cut us off from every other supply, and teach us to draw from His ever-flowing water of life.  

    “The Father passes us through all the seasons here; and the winter, the most trying one, is the most helpful, if we are really cast on Him in it. Then the real measure of our dependence on Him is ascertained, and also the extent of our resources in Him; and we make acquisitions in Him which we never make at any other time. All our growth and fruit depend on our winters, or rather on how we pass through them.  

    “The more we can rest in Him the more we are independent of everything outside of Him at such a time, the more vigor we really possess; and the better we get over the winter, be it ever so severe. If I am independent of the winter, it is evident that I have mastered it, and not it me; and if I have done so, through the strength of the Lord Jesus, I am relieved though in no human way. Peter is delivered from prison in a superhuman way; but first he, though enduring a very trying winter, could lay him down and sleep—take his rest, because the Lord sustained him.” -J.B.S.  

    “It is a wonderful thing to be so satisfied with the Lord Jesus’ company, that we can be tranquil about everything. I remember when I used to think that I should be happy beyond conception if I were able to say, ‘I will fear no evil; my heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.’ In order to reach this, you must find Him enough, without anything else. You can never prove the worth of anyone, until you are absolutely dependent upon him.” -J.B.S.

2. Hymn: The Watch by Night

The Watch by Night 

Author: John Keble 

The Ark Of God is in the field,
Like clouds around the alien armies sweep;
Each by his spear, beneath his shield,
In cold and dew the anointed warriors sleep.  

And can it be thou liest awake,      
Sworn watchman, tossing on thy couch of down?
And doth thy recreant heart not ache
To hear the sentries round the leaguered town?  

Oh dream no more of quiet life;
Care finds the careless out; more wise to vow      
Thine heart entire to Faith’s pure strife;
So peace will come thou know’st not when or how.

1. Hymn: To Heav'n I Lift My Waiting Eyes

To Heav'n I Lift My Waiting Eyes

Author: Issac Watts

1. To heav'n I lift my waiting eyes,
    There all my hopes are laid:
    The Lord that built the earth and skies
    Is my perpetual aid.

2. Their steadfast feet shall never fall,
    Whom he designs to keep;
    His ear attends the softest call;
    His eyes can never sleep.

3. He will sustain our weakest pow'rs
    With his almighty arm,
    And watch our most unguarded hours
    Against surprising harm.

4. Isra'l rejoice, and rest secure,
    Thy keeper is the Lord;
    His wakeful eyes employ his pow'r
    For thine eternal guard.

5. Nor scorching sun, nor sickly moon,
    Shall have his leave to smite;
    He shields thy head from burning noon,
    From blasting damps at night.

6. He guards thy soul, he keeps thy breath,
    Where thickest dangers come:
    Go and return, secure from death,
    Till God commands thee home.