GOD'S Timing

Act 7:30  And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sina an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush.

Act 7:32  Saying, I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled, and durst not behold.

Act 7:34  I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send thee into Egypt.
 
That was a long wait in preparation for a great mission.

When God delays, He is not inactive. He is getting ready His instruments, He is ripening our powers; and at the appointed moment we shall arise equal to our task.

Even Jesus of Nazareth was thirty years in privacy, growing in wisdom before He began His work.

~Dr. Jowett~

God is never in a hurry but spends years with those He expects to greatly use.

He never thinks the days of preparation too long or too dull.

The hardest ingredient in suffering is often time.

A short, sharp pang is easily borne, but when a sorrow drags its weary way through long, monotonous years, and day after day returns with the same dull routine of hopeless agony, the heart loses its strength, and without the grace of God, is sure to sink into the very sullenness of despair.

Joseph's was a long trial, and God often has to burn His lessons into the depths of our being by the fires of protracted pain.

He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, but He knows how long, and like a true goldsmith He stops the fires the moment He sees His image in the glowing metal.

We may not see now the outcome of the beautiful plan which God is hiding in the shadow of His hand; it yet may be long concealed;

But faith may be sure that He is sitting on the throne, calmly waiting the hour when, with adoring rapture, we shall say, "All things have worked together for good."

Like Joseph, let us be more careful to learn all the lessons in the school of sorrow than we are anxious for the hour of deliverance.

There is a "need-be" for every lesson, and when we are ready, our deliverance will surely come, and we shall find that we could not have stood in our place of higher service without the very things that were taught us in the ordeal.

God is educating us for the future, for higher service and nobler blessings; and if we have the qualities that fit us for a throne, nothing can keep us from it when God's time has come. 

Don't steal tomorrow out of God's hands. Give God time to speak to you and reveal His will. He is never too late; learn to wait.

~Selected~

He never comes too late; He knoweth what is best; Vex not thyself in vain; until He cometh--REST."

Do not run impetuously before the Lord; learn to wait His time: the minute-hand as well as the hour-hand must point the exact moment for action.

When The LORD Moves

Mark 16:4  And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great.
 

Mark 16:5  And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted.
 
When the Lord moves for His own Son's sake, and has those interests governing, and when those interests have brought us into such a relationship with Him that we can say there is no stone so big to be removed, no problem so great for solving, no difficulty so intense, but the Lord will do what is necessary for His Son's sake...

When we have come to a position like that, the Lord is free to do a lot of things very quietly.

As we say, they just "happen." Ah, but they have been the objects of the exercise of exceeding great power – "There was a great earthquake" (Matt. 28:2).

But here, in this aspect of the situation, it does not seem to be an earthquake at all.

It has just happened.

We must recognize that there is an aspect of activities in which the secret, quiet working of His immense power dismisses the greatest difficulties as though they had never existed. 

Sometimes He may bring us into the presence of the working of His power that is manifestly terrific, but not often and certainly not always. 

For faith it is more like this: there is such power at work as to make possible the setting aside of the obstacle very quietly, so that we afterward wonder - "And they were amazed."

And the angel said, "Be not amazed."

It is good to have amazement, but let us recognize that a certain amount of our amazement is because we have not sufficient faith.

~T. Austin Sparks~

Deliverance In The Stormy Winds

Exo 10:13  And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and the LORD brought an east wind upon the land all that day, and all that night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts. 

Exo 10:16  Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste; and he said, I have sinned against the LORD your God, and against you.

Exo 10:17  Now therefore forgive, I pray thee, my sin only this once, and intreat the LORD your God, that he may take away from me this death only.

Exo 10:18  And he went out from Pharaoh, and intreated the LORD.

Exo 10:19  And the LORD turned a mighty strong west wind, which took away the locusts, and cast them into the Red sea; there remained not one locust in all the coasts of Egypt.  

See how in the olden times, when the Lord fought for Israel against the cruel Pharaoh, the stormy winds wrought out their deliverance;

And yet again, in that grandest display of power--the last blow that God struck at the proud defiance of Egypt.

A strange, almost cruel thing it must have seemed to Israel to he hemmed in by such a host of dangers--in front the wild sea defying them, on either hand the rocky heights cutting off all hope of escape, the night of hurricane gathering over them.

It was as if that first deliverance had come only to hand them over to more certain death. Completing the terror there rang out the cry: "The Egyptians are upon us!"

When it seemed they were trapped for the foe, then came the glorious triumph.

Forth swept the stormy wind and beat back the waves, and the hosts of Israel marched forward, down into the path of the great deep--a way arched over with God's protecting love.

On either hand were the crystal walls glowing in the light of the glory of the Lord; and high above them swept the thunder of the storm.

So on through all that night; and when, at dawn of the next day, the last of Israel's host set foot upon the other shore, the work of the stormy wind was done.

Then sang Israel unto the Lord the song of the "stormy wind fulfilling his word."

The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil...Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them: they sank as lead in the mighty waters.

One day, by God's great mercy, we, too, shall stand upon the sea of glass, having the harps of God.

Then we shall sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb: "Just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints."

We shall know then how the stormy winds have wrought out our deliverance.

Now you see only the mystery of this great sorrow; then you shall see how the threatening enemy was swept away in the wild night of fear and grief.

Now you look only at the loss; then you shall see how it struck at the evil that had begun to rivet its fetters upon you.

Now you shrink from the howling winds and muttering thunders; then you shall see how they beat back the waters of destruction, and opened up your way to the goodly land of promise.

~Mark Guy Pearse~

Though winds are wild, And the gale unleashed, My trusting heart still sings:
      
I know that they mean No harm to me, He rideth on their wings.

Hold On Until The End

Heb 3:14  For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;

It is the last step that wins; and there is no place in the pilgrim's progress where so many dangers lurk as the region that lies hard by the portals of the Celestial City.

It was there that Doubting Castle stood. It was there that the enchanted ground lured the tired traveler to fatal slumber.

It is when Heaven's heights are full in view that hell's gate is most persistent and full of deadly peril. 

"Let us not be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not." "So run, that ye may obtain."

In the bitter waves of woe Beaten and tossed about By the sullen winds that blow From the desolate shores of doubt, Where the anchors that faith has cast Are dragging in the gale, I am quietly holding fast

To the things that cannot fail. And fierce though the fiends may fight, And long though the angels hide, I know that truth and right Have the universe on their side;

And that somewhere beyond the stars Is a love that is better than fate.

When the night unlocks her bars I shall see Him--and I will wait.

~Washington Gladden~

The problem of getting great things from GOD is being able to hold on for the last half hour.

~Selected~

The Strength In Knowing That GOD Appoints Our Times

Now it is always a source of buoyant strength when a man comes to see that his way is ordered.

There is a quiet courage that is unmistakable in one who is certain he is led by GOD.

But remember, according to the Master's doctrine, our times are fixed as surely as our ways;

And if we are here with a certain work to do which in the purposes of GOD must be fulfilled, no harm can touch us nor is there power in death till it draws to sunset and to evening star. 

What is it that makes the Turk such a brave soldier that with all his vices we cannot but admire him?

It is his conviction of a relentless fate which he cannot hasten yet cannot hope to shun.

In the name of freedom, Christ rejects that fatalism; but on the ruins of it He erects another.

It is the fatalism of a love that is divine, for it includes the end in the beginning.

Never shirk dangers on the path of duty. On the path of duty one is always safest.

Let a man be careful that he does his task, and God will take care of the task-doing man.

For always there are twelve hours in the day, and though the clouds should darken into storm, they cannot hasten the appointed time when it is night.

And just here we ought to bear in mind that the true measurement of life is not duration.

We live in deeds, not breaths--it is not time; it is intensity that is life's measurement.

Twelve hours of joy, what a brief space they are! Twelve hours of pain, what an eternity! 

We take the equal hours which the clock gives, and we mold them in the matrix of our hearts.

Was it the dawn that crimsoned in the east as Romeo stood with Juliet at the window? It seemed but a moment since the casement opened, and--"It is my lady, O it is my love."

But to the sufferer tossing on her sickbed and hearing every hour the chiming in the dark, that night went wearily with feet of lead, and it seemed as if the dawn would never break.

Are there not twelve hours in the day? said Jesus--yet Jesus died when He was thirty-three.

The dial of GOD has got no minute hands; its hours are measured by service and by sacrifice.

Call no life fragmentary. Call it not incomplete.

Think thee how love abbreviates the hours. If GOD be love, time may be fiery-footed, and the goal be won far earlier than we ever dreamed.


~George H. Morrision~
     

True Religion Lies Deep

1Ti 4:8  For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.
 
True religion lies deep; it is not a balloon hovering over us miles up in the air. It is like truth--it lies at the bottom of the well.

We must go down, then, into religion, if we are to have it really in our hearts.

The Lord Jesus Christ was "a Man of Sorrows, and acquainted with grief." He took the lowest, last, and least place.

He was always down; so that if we are to be companions with the Lord Jesus Christ, we must go down with him--down into the valley, down into suffering, down into humiliation, down into trial, down into sorrow.

When we get puffed up by worldly joy, or elated by carnal excitement, we do not sympathize with the Lord Jesus Christ in his suffering manhood; we do not go with him then into the garden of Gethsemane, nor behold him as "the Lamb of God" on the accursed tree.

We can do without Jesus very well when the world smiles, and carnal things are uppermost in our heart.

But let affliction come, a heavy cross, a burden to weigh us down, then we drop into the place where the Lord Jesus is only to be found.

We find, then, if the Lord is pleased to bring a little godliness into the soul, and to draw forth this godliness into vital exercise, that it has "the promise of the life that now is."

There are promises connected with it of support and strength, comfort, consolation, and peace, that the world knows nothing of; there is a truth in it, a power, a reality, a blessedness in it, that tongue can never express.

And when the soul gets pressed down into the vale of affliction, and the Lord is pleased to meet with it there, and visit it then, and draw forth godliness in its actings and exercises, then it is found to have "the promise of the life that now is."

Faith, hope, love, repentance, prayerfulness, humility, contrition, long-suffering, and peace--all these gifts and graces of the Spirit are exercised chiefly when the soul is down in affliction.

Here is. "the promise of the life that now is" in the drawing forth of these heavenly graces in the heart.

And godliness hath the promise also of "the life which is to come." It supports in life and in death; and takes the soul into a happy and blessed eternity.

Grace will end in glory; faith in sight; hope in fruition.

The soul taught of God will see Jesus as he is.

Thus godliness has "the promise of the life which is to come," when eternal peace shall abound, tears be wiped from off all faces, and grace consummated in endless bliss.

~J. C Philpot~

Rules For Prosperity

Jos 1:7  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.
 
Yes, the LORD will be with us in our holy war, but He demands of us that we strictly follow His rules...

Our victories will very much depend upon our obeying Him with all our heart, throwing strength and courage into the actions of our faith.

If we are halfhearted we cannot expect more than half a blessing.

We must obey the LORD with care and thoughtfulness.  

Observe to do is the phrase used, and it is full of meaning.

This is referred to every part of the divine will; we must obey with universal readiness.

Our rule of conduct is "according to all the law." We may not pick and choose, but we must take the LORD's commands as they come, one and all.

In all this we must go on with exactness and constancy Ours is to be a straightforward course which bends neither to the right nor to the left.

We are not to err by being more rigid than the law, nor turn out of levity to a more See and easy way.

With such obedience there will come spiritual prosperity. 

O LORD, help us to see if it be not even so! We shall not test Thy promise in vain.

~Charles Spurgeon~

He Blesses And Keeps

Num 6:24  The LORD bless thee, and keep thee
 
This first clause of the high priest's benediction is substantially a promise. That blessing which our great High Priest pronounces upon us is sure to come, for He speaks the mind of GOD.

What a joy to abide under the divine blessing! This puts a gracious flavor into all things.

If we are blessed, then all our possessions and enjoyments are blessed; yea, our losses and crosses and even our disappointments are blessed.

GOD'S blessing is deep, emphatic, effectual. A man's blessing may begin and end in words, but the blessing of the LORD makes rich and sanctifies.

The best wish we can have for our dearest friend is not "may prosperity attend thee," but "the LORD bless thee."

It is equally a delightful thing to be kept of GOD; kept by Him, kept near Him, kept in Him.

They are kept indeed whom GOD keeps; they are preserved from evil; they are reserved unto boundless happiness.

GOD'S keeping goes with His blessing, to establish it and cause it to endure.

The author of this little book desires that the rich blessing and sure keeping here pronounced may come upon every reader who may at this moment be looking at these lines.

Please breathe the text to GOD as a prayer for His servants. 

~Charles Spurgeon~