Encouragement - Perserverance: February 2008
Table of Contents
I Am With Thee
“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (Psa. 23:6). “Goodness and mercy shall follow” us always because the Lord Himself is with us, and He tells us to “let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” Many of us are creatures of moods. Sometimes we feel like the Lord is near; at other times we feel that He is far off. But our feelings have nothing to do with the facts of God’s Word. “The Lord, He it is that doth go before thee; He will be with thee, He will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.” These are the words of Him who is called “Faithful and True,” for “God, that cannot lie,” has vouchsafed His presence always with His own. “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” To be sure, there are times when we are more than ordinarily conscious of His presence, but that does not make His abiding presence any more certain. It depends, not upon our consciousness of it, but upon His own Word. “Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest” (Josh. 1:9). “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God” (Isa. 41:10).
Our Lord never leaves His own,
He stands close by them, always;
Though burdens press, and trials
come,
He is with us all our days.
J. M. Marchbanks,
from Comfort of the Scriptures
Strength and Courage
Strength and courage are needed more in a day of decline than when all is going well. There is the enemy to contend with, and instead of having the support of our brethren, we may meet with that which chills the heart and fills it with sorrow. Here the heart is tested, and God only can sustain.
Service and Conflict
There is not only conflict with a common enemy, but there is the state of the saints to be borne as a burden on the heart. Will you bear this burden? Will you cleave to the saints in the power of divine love when they turn away from you as all in Asia did from Paul? Will you seek to serve them when you are misunderstood, misrepresented, or even maligned, as Paul said to the Corinthian saints, “I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved”? The state of the saints with whom we have to do will often be the means of testing the state of our own hearts. It is easy to love my brethren when they love me and heap their favors upon me. But do I love them just the same when they turn against me or forsake me? Do I still cling to them when they have given me up? Do I intercede for them night and day when perhaps they are only speaking evil of me? The real question is, Have I got the heart of Christ about the saints? And do I see Christ’s glory bound up in them? Then I shall act toward them according to His heart, and seek His glory in connection with their state, regardless of personal rights or present advantage.
Paul could appeal to God as his witness, how he longed after all the Philippian saints in the bowels of Jesus Christ. It was wholehearted devotion to the saints for the sake of Christ, and as having the heart of Christ about them. And this too we need to have, but it requires strength and courage to persevere in it, and the more so if the saints are in a low and carnal state. And we need to be continually cast on God who alone can give strength amid weakness and lead us on to victory. Diligent seeking of God’s face and patient waiting on Him for His will, His help and His guidance are indispensable. Why have we no strength? Why is there decline among us? Why breaking of ranks and scattering of the saints? Is it not because we have not lived close to Christ and gone on in humble dependence on God? And God’s Christ, God’s truth and God’s people have not had their rightful place in our affections. We have seen one growing careless and another going wrong, and we have perhaps talked about them and criticized them when we ought to have been on our faces interceding for them.
The Example of Joshua
There are many instances given us in the Word of God in which we see the display of this power and courage in carrying out the will of God. But the first chapter of Joshua is important as giving us the conditions governing these things. Three times over the Lord exhorts Joshua in that chapter to “be strong and of a good courage.” There was the work to be done, the principle on which it was to be done, and the ground of strength and courage for it.
The Work
1. The work to be done was the dividing of the land among the tribes of Israel. “Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them.” The land to be divided was a land in which there were nations mightier than Israel — a land of “giants,” “chariots of iron,” and cities great and “fenced up to heaven.” These nations must be overcome in order to divide the land, and for this great work strength and courage were needed.
The Principle
2. Obedience was the principle on which this work was to be carried on and the condition of success. “Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses My servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.”
Here we can see there was no way to succeed but by obedience. Joshua was not to turn from the law to the right hand or the left. The words of the law were not to depart out of his mouth; he was to meditate upon them day and night, and the result would be a prosperous way and good success. The importance of this cannot be overestimated. If we have to do with God, His will must be everything. It is His to command; it is ours to obey.
Now God has made known His will to us in His Word. His will, His purposes and His counsels are all unfolded there. And if we would know His will and be obedient, we must attend to His Word. It is in the reception of the truth that we receive and enjoy blessing. God’s Word is bread to the soul. It is thus that we grow spiritually and learn God’s mind so that we may do His will and have communion with Him. In this way the life, ways, actions, words, motives, desires and affections of God’s people are formed and in a practical way become a testimony to the truth and grace of God. And God will manifest Himself with and for those who are thus practically governed by His Word.
The Ground
3. The ground of strength and courage is the fact that God has commanded and is with the one who obeys. “Have I not commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest” (Josh. 1:9).
The difficulties might be like mountains, the enemy might be great and powerful, but Jehovah was greater than all and was with His obedient servant, so that he had nothing to fear. He had delivered Israel out of Egypt and brought them through the Red Sea, the wilderness and the Jordan, and He who had done this could lead them on to victory. He could give strength and courage against which no foe could stand.
This same strength and courage we need. “Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might,” it is said, where it is a question of Satan’s power and wiles. And when Christianity began to decline and Timothy was losing heart, the Apostle Paul encouraged him in these words: “God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God,” and again, “Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” Timothy needed this encouragement, and we need it, and what is more, God is able to give it and will give it to those who go on in dependent obedience to His will.
Faith in God
But we need to have faith in God. Faith brings God in, and to His power there is no limit. Hebrews 11 gives us many examples of this faith which acted with God, and in which His power was displayed. Moses “endured, as seeing Him who is invisible.” “Through faith” they “subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.” In the midst of weakness faith made them strong. As Paul also said, “When I am weak, then am I strong.”
“Have faith in God,” Jesus said to His disciples, and then adds, “Verily I say unto you . . . that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.” And how could it be otherwise if there is the faith that brings God into the matter? He who created the mountains can surely remove them also if He be pleased to do so. The real question is, Are we walking with Him? Have we the knowledge of His will so that we can act with confidence? Can we bring Him into what we are doing? Are we standing with Him and for Him in the carrying out of His will and His purpose, so that we can connect His name with our service? If this be so, no difficulty can be too great. We can go forward in the name of the Lord with strength and courage of heart and undismayed by all the power that Satan may raise up against us.
Diligence of Heart
And here let us observe that diligence of heart is needful, and I may add, as of equal importance, prayerful dependence. Oh, if we were more diligent as to the Word of God and prayer, how different our state would be! What fervency of heart in all our service and what devotedness to Christ and His people there would be, and how much greater blessing would be enjoyed!
How much we lack this diligence of heart! How many moments every hour, and hours every day, are wasted — time that might be given up to prayer and meditation on God’s blessed Word, in which we should find the Holy Spirit refreshing our souls and filling them with that which flows down from the heart of Christ in glory. Hours spent in foolish talk and idle gossip, grieving the Spirit, blighting spiritual growth, and drying up the springs of divine love in the soul, might be spent in holy, edifying conversation about Christ and His things. “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another” (Col. 3:16). In this we need diligence of heart so that the Lord may be honored and our blessing and the blessing of others may be secured.
Our Own State
But will we now lay to heart our own state and that of our brethren? Will we own our slackness of soul —our guilty carelessness — and with diligence of heart seek God’s face and walk with Him? Then we might expect His blessing and the enjoyment of His favor which is better than life (Psa. 63:3). “Wherefore He saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil” (Eph. 5:1416).
The blessed Lord give the writer and the reader strength and courage in this evil world to live for Himself and for His own, serving Him and them in lowly grace until we are taken out of the scene of conflict and service to rest in the eternal brightness of His own presence and in the joy of His unchanging love.
A. H. Rule, adapted
Sources of Discouragement and Encouragement
Probably everyone reading this would admit to having been discouraged at some time in their life. Likewise, if we truly belong to Christ, we have experienced His encouragement too. It is well if we can recognize the sources of both of these, and thus hopefully avoid discouragement and enjoy His encouragement.
The Root of Discouragement
A basic root of discouragement is found in our expecting something and not receiving it, or at least not receiving it in the time and way in which we would like it. Usually we are expecting something from man, but sad to say, this can progress to our expecting something from God. When things do not turn out as we had hoped, discouragement may easily set in.
We all expect our fellow-man to behave toward us in certain ways, and this is a universal principle that applies both to believers and unbelievers. As Christians, because we belong to Christ, we tend to apply higher standards to our fellow-believers, since they too have new life in Him. We expect to see the fruit of that new life in others who are also in relationship with God and to experience the joy, the blessing and the encouragement that would normally flow from those walking in communion with the Lord. When this does not happen, our hearts can easily be downcast.
Elijah and Jonah
This happened in the case of Elijah who was raised up of God in the days of king Ahab to recall Israel (the ten tribes) from idolatry back to God. He endured a famine of more than three years, and then he boldly faced Ahab and faithfully upheld Jehovah’s claims. On Mt. Carmel he was the instrument God used to demonstrate His power over heathen gods and then to kill all the prophets of Baal. When all this resulted in Jezebel’s threatening his life, he became discouraged, and later he interceded against the people of God rather than for them, saying, “I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away” (1 Kings 19:10). This was a failure that could not be passed over, and the result was that God told him to anoint Elisha to be prophet in his place. It is a solemn fact that this is the only failure of an Old Testament saint that is recorded in the New Testament. (See Romans 11:24.) All of this reminds us that we are not to expect something from man, even the brightest and best of them, but rather to have our thoughts and our eyes turned toward God.
However, even turning our eyes toward God may not be sufficient, if our hearts are not right. We may look to God, expecting something from Him, and yet have our thoughts far out of tune with His, and thus become discouraged if He does not do what we wish. We see an example of this in Jonah, who was sent to preach a message of judgment to the people of Nineveh. When the people of Nineveh repented, God showed mercy to them and withheld the judgment. Then we read, “But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry” (Jonah 4:1). He became very discouraged and asked the Lord to take away His life. No doubt he eventually learned more of God’s heart, for the Lord used an insignificant gourd to teach him the value of a soul in His sight. The fact that he wrote the book about himself shows us that he learned the lesson.
God and His Word
What do we learn from all this? First of all, we learn that we are not to expect something from man, for we will surely be disappointed, sooner or later. To relate it to our dispensation of grace, if we are upset because our brethren are not more spiritual, this is only self, and not the heart of Christ. We must look to Him for our joy, our strength and our encouragement. Others may indeed encourage us, but they do this only to the extent that they bring Christ before us. When this happens, we can be most thankful for it, but if others fail, let us remember that our blessed Master never does.
Second, we learn that our thoughts must be formed by God’s Word and in the power of His Spirit. Even in divine things and in our Christian lives, we can easily allow our own thoughts to dominate us, instead of thinking God’s thoughts. Then, when the Lord does not act according to our thoughts, we can become discouraged. The natural man takes this attitude constantly, going all the way back to Cain and his offering, but even as believers, we must walk with the Lord so as to have our thoughts formed in His presence. If we do find that God is not acting as we thought He might, let us get on our knees and seek His face and allow Him to bring us into His way of thinking.
Encouraged, Not Discouraged
When we speak of encouragement, there are many ways in which God brings this into our lives, if we will let Him. The word “encouragement” does not itself occur in the New Testament in our KJV, but the word “consolation” is used a number of times and has much the same meaning in the original. Ultimately all encouragement must come from the Lord Himself, so that Paul could say to the Corinthians, “Our consolation also aboundeth by Christ” (2 Cor. 1:5). In writing to the Thessalonians, he could say, “God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace.” We notice the uplifting language used in these verses — “aboundeth” and “everlasting,” showing us that when God encourages, it is not merely a bit of help, but rather the fullness of Christ and all God’s purposes for us in Christ being ministered to our souls.
The question may be asked, “Is the believer never to become discouraged, even in disheartening circumstances?” We answer a definite no, for no matter what may happen, whether to us or others, whether individually or collectively, we really do not have the right to be discouraged. It may be right to feel sad, but not discouraged. Another has commented that a truly humble Christian is never discouraged, for he has not looked within for anything, but rather outside of Himself, to God. Circumstances may be very trying, and faithfulness may not be appreciated by those who are unfaithful. More than this, there may be coldness and indifference and a declension in the collective Christian testimony, all of which tend to weigh down our own spirits. To be burdened about this, to feel it keenly in the Lord’s presence, even to shed tears — all of this is proper for the godly believer. But he should never be discouraged.
Not Losing Heart
In a number of places in the New Testament, believers are encouraged not to faint. The thought is that of not becoming discouraged — not losing heart, and the reasons given for not fainting are helpful for us in our day. In Luke 18:1, the Lord Himself spoke a parable to His disciples “to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint.” The subsequent story of the unjust judge shows us that God is at least as ready as sinful man to listen to His own and to judge their cause. So we, in our time, if we feel the tendency to become discouraged, are exhorted to pray. Prayer in this way does two things. First, it expresses our complete dependence on God, and thus our thoughts are turned to Him and away from ourselves and the situation around us. Second, in being brought into the presence of God through prayer, our own thoughts are adjusted with His, for prayer is based on the immense privilege of our having common interests with God. In His presence we are encouraged, while our thoughts and hearts are directed to see things from God’s side and not man’s.
In 2 Corinthians 4:1, Paul says, “Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not.” In the previous chapter he has been bringing before the Corinthians the blessedness of having Christ written on the heart, of being an epistle of Christ in this world, and of beholding a risen Christ in glory. When all this is realized and enjoyed in the soul, we do not faint, even if we are not the epistle of Christ that we would like to be. If we do indeed “with open [unveiled] face” behold the glory of the Lord, we will gradually be changed “from glory to glory” and be more like Him. We will be given grace to renounce “the hidden things of dishonesty” (2 Cor. 4:2) and to remove everything that hinders that constant change that makes us more like Christ.
The Future Is Bright
Then, at the end of the chapter, Paul gives yet another reason not to faint. He says, “Knowing that He which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you. For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God. For this cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day” (2 Cor. 4:14-16). If the Spirit of God is working to make us more like Christ now, the same power that raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will quicken the saints who sleep in Jesus and change our mortal bodies, so that when He comes for us, we shall all be with and like Him in a moment. Can we be discouraged, when the future is so bright? There may be plenty of trouble down here, both in the world and among God’s people, but there is no future for the believer down here. Scripture speaks only about one future for the believer—glory!
Let us then “look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Cor. 4:18). The days are dark, but the opportunities are great, and the future is bright. We have no cause to be discouraged!
W. J. Prost
God’s Encouragement
“Lord, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph?” (Psa. 94:3).
In Psalm 94 judgment is looked for and vengeance to set the world right, but in the meanwhile, we find the discipline and comforts of the Lord sustaining the soul. The power of evil is evident, and the haughtiness of man presses on the one who knows God. But in all this, God does not immediately judge evil, but rather begins at His own house. God’s hand is in the dealings which make His people suffer, and it is to this that the heart of the saint turns. By this process of evil having the upper hand, God breaks the will, teaches dependence and separates the heart and spirit from the world.
When the haughty spirit of man drives back the heart, we become subdued, for the heart has tasted that the Lord is gracious. The heart is driven to God known in grace and the revelation of Himself, His ways and His purposes. The renewed heart gets into its own sphere, learning God’s ways, the development of His grace and truth, and His holiness in the sphere where He reveals Himself, for those who know Him. This is rest of heart for the saint, a repose of the spirit which seeks and delights in good. If we seek to deal with the evil, we become weary and heartbroken, but when we are driven up into our own place with God, we find rest.
If Our Minds Work
If our minds work, what questions present themselves to us, in the labyrinth of good and evil in the world! The power of evil awakens our thoughts, because we have knowledge of good and evil. But the mind enjoying God’s goodness may abstain from it. It sees another world of God’s power and retreats into God by faith. This comforts and delights my soul. There is a refuge and a resource, not in the explanation of everything to the mind, but in the introduction into the soul of the positive good which is in God. Then we know that we have blessedness and truth, whatever we may not be able to solve.
God has not set things right yet, nor am I competent to judge even how to do it. However, He has introduced good — perfect good —Himself into the midst of the evil. He has made me discover my own evil —judge myself — and this is an immense moral gain. Those who have done so may be called morally upright. This is a true, honest conscience. His love is shed abroad in our hearts, and His faithfulness in that love can be counted on. Direct communion with Himself raises us up to a kind and source of joy which the trouble and sorrow do not touch; nothing separates from His love. We are more than conquerors in the world, for we have the joys of another. The power of evil drives us into our retreat, our joy in Him who is always the same, and whom we learn to know better.
J. N. Darby, adapted from
Practical Reflections on the Psalms
Moses
“Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop: but a good word maketh it glad” (Prov. 12:25). We never know how many stooping hearts we meet from day to day, heavy with sorrow, weighted down with difficulties, perplexed by unsolved and seemingly insoluble problems. We must, of course, be walking in close fellowship with the Lord in order to know how to speak “a good word” at the right time, and thus be able to say that “the Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: He wakeneth morning by morning, He wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned” (Isa. 50:4). So we are told to “let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.” Thus shall we be able to speak “a good word” to make someone’s heart glad. And not only will it bless others — it will also bring blessing to us as we speak the “good word,” for “a man hath joy by the answer of his mouth: and a word spoken in due season, how good is it!” So “let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.” “So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty,” the Word of God. J. M. Marchbanks
Encouragement and Perseverance
Table of Contents
Are you in any difficulty? Is there any pressure upon you? Are you anticipating with nervous apprehension some formidable evil? Is your heart trembling at the very thought of it? It may be that you are like one who has come to the far end, like the Apostle Paul in Asia, “Pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life.” If so, beloved friend, accept a word of encouragement. It is our deep and earnest desire to strengthen your hands in God and to encourage your heart to trust Him for all that is before you. “Fear not”; only believe. He never fails a trusting heart — no, never. Make use of the resources which are treasured up for you in Him. Just put yourself, your surroundings, your fears, your anxieties, all into His hands, and leave them there.
Yes, leave them there. It is of little use putting your difficulties and your necessities into His hands and then, almost immediately, taking them into your own. We often do this. When in pressure, in need, in deep trial of some kind or other, we go to God in prayer; we cast our burden upon Him and seem to get relief. But alas! no sooner have we risen from our knees than we begin again to look at the difficulty, ponder the trial, dwell upon all the sorrowful circumstances, until we are again at our very wit’s end.
Now this will never do. It sadly dishonors God and, of course, leaves us unrelieved and unhappy. He would have our minds as free from care as the conscience is free from guilt. His word to us is, “Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” And what then? “The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep [or garrison] your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
Thus it was that Moses, that beloved man of God and honored servant of Christ, sought to encourage his fellow-laborer and successor, Joshua, in reference to all that was before him. “Ye shall not fear them: for the Lord your God He shall fight for you” (Deut. 3:22). Thus too did the blessed Apostle Paul encourage his beloved son and fellow-servant Timothy to trust in the living God, to be strong in the grace which is in Christ Jesus, to lean with unshaken confidence on God’s sure foundation, to commit himself with unquestioning assurance to the authority, teaching and guidance of the Holy Scriptures, and thus armed and furnished, to give himself with holy diligence and true spiritual courage to that work to which he was called. And thus, too, the writer and the reader can encourage one another in these days of increasing difficulty to cling in simple faith to that Word which is settled forever in heaven —to have it hidden in the heart as a living power and authority in the soul, something which will sustain us, though heart and flesh shall fail, and though we had not the countenance or support of a human being. “All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: but the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you” (1 Peter 1:24-25).
How precious is this! What comfort and consolation! What stability and rest! What real strength, victory and moral elevation! It is not within the compass of human language to set forth the preciousness of the Word of God or to define in adequate terms the comfort of knowing that the selfsame Word is settled forever in heaven. It is that which shall endure throughout the countless ages of eternity. It is that which has reached our hearts in the glad tidings of the gospel, imparting to us eternal life and giving us peace and rest in the finished work of Christ, and a perfectly satisfying Object in His adorable Person. Truly, as we think of all this, we can only own that every breath should be a hallelujah. Thus it shall be by and by, and that forever, all homage to His peerless name!
C. H. Mackintosh
Wit’s End Corner
Faith Is Individual
The richest consolation to every faithful servant of Christ is this: In all ages and under all the dispensations of God, whatever may have been the condition of God’s people as a whole, it was the privilege of the individual believer to tread as lofty a path and enjoy as high communion as ever was known in the very brightest and balmiest days of the dispensation.
In every instance in which man collectively has been placed in a position of responsibility, he has utterly failed. Further, God never restores a failed witness. Rather, faith has always found its spring in the living God Himself, and the deeper the moral gloom all around, the brighter are the flashes of individual faith. The dark background of the corporate condition has thrown individual faith into bright relief. This line of truth has peculiar charms for my heart, and I have for many years found in it comfort and encouragement. I do not think it is possible to overstate its value and importance.
There is a strong tendency among God’s people to lower the standard of devotedness to the level of the general condition of things. This must be carefully guarded against, as it is destructive of all service and testimony. “The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity” (2 Tim. 2:19). God is faithful. His foundation can never be moved, and it is the privilege of the individual believer to rest on that foundation and abide by that standard, come what may. How could the Baraks, the Gideons, the Jephthahs and the Samsons have stood their ground if they had allowed themselves to be influenced by the general condition of the people of God? Assuredly they would never have achieved those splendid victories recorded for our encouragement, had they succumbed to the general condition around them.
The Golden Calf
To illustrate this principle, let us turn to Exodus 33. At that moment, what was the condition of Israel? According to Exodus 32, the very highest and most privileged man in the whole congregation had made a golden calf! What a picture of the human heart! Who would have thought that the worshippers on the shore of the Red Sea should ever give utterance to such words as, “Make us gods which shall go before us”? Those who had said in their magnificent song, “Who is like unto Thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like Thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?” had now made a golden calf! Let us not forget who it was that led the people into this most disastrous course of action. It was no less a personage than Aaron — the elder brother of the lawgiver himself. It tends to illustrate the exceeding folly of leaning on or looking to the very highest and best of men. In the early part of the Book of Exodus, Moses hesitated to go into Egypt at the bidding of God. But when he heard that Aaron should accompany him, he was ready to go. And yet this very man was the source of the deepest sorrow that Moses ever tasted. This was the man who had made the golden calf!
Outside the Camp
The heart of Moses might well sink as he beheld the whole congregation of Israel, with Aaron his brother at their head, sunk in abominable idolatry. All seemed hopelessly gone. But “the foundation of God standeth sure.” This is a grand and immutable truth in all ages. Nothing can touch the truth of God. It shines out all the brighter from amid the darkest shades into which man is capable of sinking. We can form but a very little idea of what the heart of Moses passed through when he saw his Lord displaced by a golden calf. But he could count on God, and he could also act for God. The two things always go together. “Let every one who names the name of the Lord withdraw from iniquity” (2 Tim. 2:19 JND). See how blessedly this practical principle was carried out by Moses, the man of God — a principle as true amid the appalling ruins of Christendom as in the day of the golden calf. “Moses took the tabernacle, and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it the tabernacle of the congregation. And it came to pass, that every one which sought the Lord went out unto the Tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp” (Ex. 33:7).
Here we have a bold and magnificent act. Moses felt that Jehovah and a golden calf could not be together, and hence if a calf was in the camp, Jehovah must be outside. Such was the simple reasoning of faith; faith always reasons aright. When the public body is all wrong, the path of individual faith is outside. It never can be right and, thanks be to God, it is never necessary to go on with iniquity. When iniquity is set up in that which assumes to be the witness for God on the earth, “depart” is the watchword for the faithful soul. Cost what it may, we are to depart. “Every one which sought the Lord” had to go outside of the defiled place to find Him, and yet that very place was none other than the camp of Israel where Jehovah had taken up His abode.
Thus we see that Moses on this occasion was preeminently a man for the crisis. He acted for God, and he was the honored instrument of opening up a path for God’s people whereby they might escape from pollution and enjoy the privilege of communion with God in an evil day. And as for himself, we learn what he gained by this marvelous transaction from the following record: “The Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend” (Ex. 33:11). So it is in our day that no matter what the outward condition of God’s people may be, those wishing to be faithful are encouraged to depart from iniquity and then to enjoy as much communion with God as in the brightest days of the dispensation.
C. H. Mackintosh, adapted
Happiness of Faith
Christians might avoid much trouble and inconvenience if they would only believe what they profess—that God is able to make them happy without anything else. They imagine that if such a dear friend would die or such and such blessings be removed, they should be miserable, whereas God can make them a thousand times happier without them. To mention my own case — God has been depriving me of one mercy after another, but as every one was removed, He has come in and filled up its place, and now, when I am a cripple and not able to move, I am happier than ever I was in my life before, or ever expected to be, and if I had believed this twenty years ago, I might have been spared much anxiety.
Payson,
from Christian Truth, 17:119
“He Oft Refreshed Me”
Have you ever noticed the service of a brother named Onesiphorus? I believe it has a word for us in these days when many are isolated and often are unable to meet with the Lord’s people for fellowship.
The Apostle said of him in 2 Timothy 1:16-18, “He oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain. . . . He sought me out very diligently, and found me. . . . In . . . many things he ministered unto me.”
What a lovely list of things are mentioned here, and how suggestive surely to any whose heart is filled with the love of Christ! “He oft refreshed me” like a morning breeze, full of freshness and vitality; this dear man had often refreshed the heart of the great Apostle. Although Paul may at times have been cast down, here was one who had ministered to him, who had encouraged his heart, who had cheered his spirit, and who had sympathized with the Lord’s prisoner in his bonds. Are there not some whom we could refresh, some drooping spirits whom we could water, some whom we might be able to cheer and encourage? And then having done it once, do it often!
Of Onesiphorus it is also said, “He sought me out very diligently, and found me.” And there are some lonely ones who will only be found in this way. They will need seeking out and finding, and such service is noticed by Him who could seek out the poor outcast woman of Sychar’s well. They are known to the Lord and never forgotten by Him, yet He would have us search them out and by so doing remind them of that link which binds us together and to Christ in glory.
Both in Rome and Ephesus, Onesiphorus ministered to the Apostle, in what way we do not know, but it was known to the Lord and was precious to Him because done to one of His own, as He says, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me.” May we too be ready thus to serve Him as we serve those that are His own!
From Christian Truth, 5:328
“The Lord knoweth the way of the righteous” (Psa. 1:6). What untold solace and encouragement it brings to our hearts to know that “the Lord knoweth.” Whatever trials may beset us, however grieved our hearts may be, however much we are misunderstood by friends or foes, though we “are in heaviness through manifold temptations,” still “the Lord knoweth,” for “all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do,” even Him who “calleth His own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when He putteth forth His own sheep, He goeth before them.” And He says to His own, “Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art Mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee” (Isa. 43:12). Let us follow the example of David, who “encouraged himself in the Lord his God,” for “He knoweth the way that I take: when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.”
The floods overflow, and the trials
overwhelm,
And the heart is as heavy as stone,
But His Word comes to us, “Be of
good cheer,”
For He will never leave us alone.
J. M. Marchbanks,
from Comfort of the Scriptures
The Secret of Endurance
We may have often known what it was to be roused by a stirring word of exhortation, but incentives of this kind do not give power for endurance. They are like the crack of the whip, which makes the old horse increase his pace for a few yards, but he is soon back at his old jog trot.
What is needed for endurance is to have Christ commanding the heart. Turn the tired horse’s head toward home, and see how he will go! We need more of the attraction of home, more of the attraction of that blessed Person who is the center of all the thoughts of God and of the place where He is.
From Christian Truth, 13:190
Resting
Once my hands were always trying,
Trying hard to do my best;
Now my heart is sweetly trusting,
And my soul is all at rest.
Once my brain was always planning,
And my heart, with cares oppressed;
Now I trust the Lord to lead me,
And my life is all at rest.
Once my life was full of effort;
Now ’tis full of joy and zest;
Since I took His yoke upon me,
Jesus gives to me His rest.
A. B. Simpson