We are apt to measure His wisdom, by the faulty line of our own reason!

 (Charles Simeon)  LISTEN to Audio!  Download Audio

In the Scriptures, Jehovah is represented as ordering and overruling all things for His own glory, and the good of His redeemed people!

There is nothing in the whole universe which did not derive its existence from His all-creating hand; nor is anything left to its own operations without His sovereign control.

Be it either prosperity or calamity—all things only come to pass according to God's sovereign plan! As God Himself has told us,
"I am the Lord, and there is no other.
 I form the light and create darkness,
 I bring prosperity and create disaster!
 I, the Lord, do all these things!"
    Isaiah 45:7There is nothing in the whole universe which did not derive its existence from His all-creating hand; nor is anything left to its own operations without His sovereign control.

Be it either prosperity or calamity—all things only come to pass according to God's sovereign plan! As God Himself has told us,

"I am the Lord, and there is no other.

 I form the light and create darkness,

 I bring prosperity and create disaster!

 I, the Lord, do all these things!"

    Isaiah 45:7

Just because God does not exert His Almighty power for us at the first moment that we implore His aid—we might suppose that our way is hidden from Him, or that He does not care about us. But we forget that He has gracious designs to accomplish; and that He accomplishes them in ways we have no conception of. We are apt to measure His wisdom, by the faulty line of our own reason! We forget that His sovereign  thoughts and ways and paths are unfathomable!

Now let God's almighty power and unerring wisdom be considered. Let the afflicted saint contemplate Jehovah as ordering and overruling everything for the good of His people and for the glory of His own name. Let us say, "I have cried to Him for a a very long time, and have not been heard—but perhaps the purposes of Jehovah are not yet ripe for accomplishment. Perhaps I must remain longer in His purifying furnace in order to a more glorious exaltation."

Let us recollect the ways in which Joseph's dreams were realized; and bear in mind, that the same God sits at the helm, and directs our vessel amidst all the storms—the very storms and winds all fulfilling his sovereign will and pleasure!

This would be abundantly sufficient to compose our minds under the most afflictive circumstances that can be imagined. For where there is unerring wisdom to direct, and Almighty power to execute—no difficulty can exist, which shall not be overruled for our ultimate good and God's glory!

Hence, we must leave everything to His all-wise disposal, in a way of humble dependence and meek submission to His holy will!

"We know that God causes all things to work together for good—to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose!" Romans 8:28

"So do not fear, for I am with you;
 do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
 I will strengthen you and help you;
 I will uphold you with My righteous right hand!"
    Isaiah 41:10

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A shield and deliverer!

 

A shield and deliverer!

(Octavius Winslow, "Christ is Ever with You!" 1863)  LISTEN to Audio!  Download Audio

"Surely, I am with you always—even unto the end of the world!" Matthew 28:20

Christ is ever with His people, as a shield and deliverer. Our estimation of this truth will be proportioned to our intelligent apprehension of the number and potency of our enemies, and the costliness and preciousness of the treasure thus divinely protected.

There are assaults from which Christ alone can shield us!
  Innumerable and invisible,
  sleepless and restless,
  working with an almost almighty power,
  everywhere with an almost omnipresent existence,
  ever plotting our ruin—
are the spiritual enemies of our soul, and the sworn foes of our faith!

The world and its fascinations,
Satan and his devices,
the flesh and its tendencies,
error and its disguises—
are all confederate against the child of God, opposing his every advance in holiness!

But Christ is our ever-present shield, near at the moment of assault, and skillful to deflect and disarm it! "Fear not Abram, I am your shield!" are words addressed to all who have like precious faith with him.

Oh yes! the Lord encompasses you. Encircled by danger, you are also encircled by the ever-present protection of Jesus!

"So do not fear, for I am with you!
 Do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
 I will strengthen you and help you;
 I will uphold you with My righteous right hand!"
Isaiah 41:10

With what unslumbering vigilance,
with what divine power,
with what changeless love—
does the Lord Jesus shield the work of grace in the soul of His people!

Who keeps that spark alive, in the midst of the ocean?

Who guards this vineyard night and day, lest any hurt it?

Who preserves . . .
  faith from faltering,
  love from chilling,
  hope from dying?

Who . . .
  strengthens the work of grace when it is feeble,
  raises it when it droops,
  restores it when it relapses,
  keeps it in the cold of winter and the drought of summer;
and, when the frosts and winds of autumn would nip and scatter its foliage—clothes it with the freshness and bloom of spring?

Oh, it is Jesus, encircling with His all-protecting shield, the work of grace which His death has accomplished, and which His Spirit wrought!

Trembling believer! The work of grace in your heart shall never die! The kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy in your soul—is indestructible! "They shall never perish!" is the declaration of the Shepherd who bought you with His blood! You are watched over by Christ, and kept by the power of God.

"The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
 my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge!
 He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold!"
Psalm 18:2

Their greatest obstacle in the way of spiritual growth and transformed character

 

Their greatest obstacle in the way of spiritual growth and transformed character

(J.R. Miller, "The Transfigured Life!" 1893)  LISTEN to Audio!  Download Audio

Nothing helps more to develop the transfigured life in us, than work. Some people chafe because they have so much to do. Their days are filled from morning to night with dreary, monotonous task-work. With men it is the never-ending work of the farm, the office, the store, the shop, the mill. With women it is the thousand duties of the household, the care of the home, the tending of children, the weary chores of domestic life.

There are many people who think their greatest obstacle in the way of spiritual growth and transformed character—is in the drudgeries to which they are indentured by their condition. They imagine that if they could be freed from these and could have leisure for reading, for study, and for fellowship—then they would grow into far more radiant beauty of character.

But this is a mistaken impression. The only one perfect life the world has ever known, was not spent with a book—but with a hammer and a saw! The school of common task-work, with its perpetual round of dreary duties—is the best place in the world in which to attain noble spiritual culture. There is no other way in which one's life will be so surely, and so quickly transfigured—as in the faithful, cheerful doing of every-day tasks.

We need to remember that this world is not so much a place for doing things—as for  developing character. Household life is not primarily a sphere for good cooking, tidy keeping of rooms, thorough sweeping and dusting, careful nursing and training of children, hospitable entertainment of friends, and the thousand things that must be done each day. It is a sphere for transforming women's souls into radiant beauty.

The shop, the mill, the factory, the store, the office, the farm—are not primarily places for making machines, selling goods, weaving cloths, building engines, and growing crops. They are, first of all, places for making men, building character, growing souls.

Right in the midst of what some people call drudgery—is the very best place to get the transformed, transfigured life! The doing of common tasks patiently, promptly, faithfully, cheerfully—makes the character beautiful and bright!

    ~   ~   ~   ~ 

If I had a little bucket of water

If I had a little bucket of water

 (George Everard, "Christian Living!" 1881)  LISTEN to Audio!  Download Audio

1. I must use life well, because every moment of it is so precious. The minutes and hours of life are like the gold-dust which the goldsmith so carefully gathers together that none is lost.

"I have lost a day!" was the sorrowful lament of one who had learned the real value of time. Life is very precious, and I dare not and will not throw any of it away!

2. I must also use life well, because it will soon be over. "The time is short!" 1 Corinthians 7:29. My days and years will soon be spent, and I cannot recall them. My life is but a shadow—it is but a vapor, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away. Even if I am spared to the full age of man, compared with the long life awaiting me hereafter—my life here on earth is but as a moment.

"You have made my days a mere hand-breadth;
 the span of my years is as nothing before You.
 Each man's life is but a breath." Psalm 39:5    

Let me endeavor then to remember how soon life will be gone, and be very careful to use each precious moment well!

If I had a little bucket of water, and no more could be obtained—how carefully I would watch that none of it ran to waste. I would reckon each drop of great value.
 
Such is my life. It is all I have. I must therefore lose none. I must squander none. "So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." Psalm 90:12 

3. I must use life well, because it is very uncertain. I may have far less than I think. I may be looking forward to years to come—and yet I may have but a few months or weeks or days to live!

I remember a woman who said that some day she would begin to attend our village church. She was in middle age, and had lived a sadly wicked and abandoned life. She thought that she had time enough and to spare, to think of more serious subjects. She did indeed soon afterwards come to our village church—but how did she come? She was carried in a casket on men's shoulders, and then left in the silent grave! Only six weeks had passed since the day she promised that some day she would begin a new life. "Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth!" Proverbs 27:1

So I trust my life will not be a wasted one. And though I can do but little compared with many others, I trust that He will say to me at last: "Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful over a little—I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your Master!" Matthew 25:23

"Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise—redeeming the time!" Ephesians 5:15-16

The bishop and the knight

 The bishop and the knight tumble into the box with the pawns, and the king and the queen fare no better!

(Charles Spurgeon, "Flowers from a Puritan's Garden" 1883)

(You will find it helpful to LISTEN to the Audio, as you  READ the text below.)

"All go to the same place. All come from dust, and to dust all return!" Ecclesiastes 3:20

"As chessmen are all thrown into the box together—so in the grave there is no distinction.

  Skulls wear no wreaths, and corpses carry no marks of honor."

The bishop and the knight tumble into the box with the pawns, and the king and the queen fare no better! Death is a terrible leveler! It is a pity that some men carry their heads so high above their fellows all the day—for they will have to sleep at night in the same bed of clay with those whom they despise!

"Poor weeds, rich grain, gay flowers together stand.

 Alas! Death mows down all with an impartial hand!"

"You sweep men away in the sleep of death; they are like the new grass of the morning—though in the morning it springs up new, by evening it is dry and withered." Psalm 90:5-6

Here is the history of the grass: sown, grown, blown, mown, gone!

The history of man is not much more: "For dust you are, and to  dust you will return!" Genesis 3:19

There they come, streams of them, hurrying impatiently, rushing down to death and Hell—yes, eagerly panting, hurrying, dashing against one another to descend to that awful gulf from which there is no return!

Time, how short!

  Death, how brief!

     Eternity, how long!

The Confidence to Face the Unknown – Dr. Charles Stanley