Trust In GOD, And Do The Right!

Neh 5:15  But the former governors that had been before me were chargeable unto the people, and had taken of them bread and wine, beside forty shekels of silver; yea, even their servants bare rule over the people: but so did not I, because of the fear of God.
 
Obey God at all hazards.
 

A Christian has no other alternative.
 

There is one plan to adopt one safe course to follow. 
 

Set your mind against all wrong practices.
 

Whatever others may say or do, whatever reproach or trouble or loss it may bring to you walk steadfastly along the highway of truth, justice, and equity.

And as you endeavor to do so, be persuaded that God is on your side, that He will stand by you and befriend you, and that for any present sacrifices you may have to make, He will honor you.

It is the truest wisdom as well as your plain duty to please God rather than man, and in all things to keep the precepts of His Word.

Trust in God, and do the right!
 

Let this ever be the rule you follow.
 

It will save you from many a snare.
 

It will make your course plain and clear.

This was the principle that guided Nehemiah. He was a man of prayer, and trusted God in everything.

Moreover, he stood out manfully and boldly against the evils of his day.

He determined to act in everything as before God.

Whatever evil others did, he acted in a different spirit.

He said, "But I did not do so, because of the fear of God!"

The same principle guided the three Hebrew youths of whom we read in the book of Daniel. 

They trusted in God, and did the right.

Though threatened with a cruel death, they would not flinch.

Daniel 3:16  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.
 

Daniel 3:17  If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.
 

Daniel 3:18  But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.  

~George Everard~

He Has Conquered Every Foe That Obstructed The Way!

Inasmuch as Jesus has gone before us, things remain not as they would have been had he never passed that way.

He has conquered every foe that obstructed the way.

Cheer up now thou faint-hearted warrior.

Not only has Christ travelled the road, but he has slain thine enemies.

Dost thou dread sin? He has nailed it to his cross. 

Dost thou fear death? He has been the death of Death.

Art thou afraid of hell? He has barred it against the advent of any of his children; they shall never see the gulf of perdition.

Whatever foes may be before the Christian, they are all overcome.

There are lions, but their teeth are broken; there are serpents, but their fangs are extracted; there are rivers, but they are bridged or fordable; there are flames, but we wear that matchless garment which renders us invulnerable to fire.

The sword that has been forged against us is already blunted; the instruments of war which the enemy is preparing have already lost their point.

God has taken away in the person of Christ all the power that anything can have to hurt us.

Well then, the army may safely march on, and you may go joyously along your journey, for all your enemies are conquered beforehand. 

What shall you do but march on to take the prey? They are beaten, they are vanquished; all you have to do is to divide the spoil.

You shall, it is true, often engage in combat; but your fight shall be with a vanquished foe. His head is broken; he may attempt to injure you, but his strength shall not be sufficient for his malicious design. 

Your victory shall be easy, and your treasure shall be beyond all count.

Proclaim aloud the Saviour’s fame, Who bears the Breaker's wond'rous name; Sweet name; and it becomes him well, Who breaks down earth, sin, death, and hell.

~Charles Spurgeon~

Night of Weeping; Joyous Day

A moment under our Father's anger seems very long, and yet it is but a moment after all. 

If we grieve His Spirit, we cannot look for His smile; but He is a God ready to pardon, and He soon puts aside all remembrance of our faults.

When we faint and are ready to die because of His frown, His favor puts new life into us.

This verse has another note of the semi-quaver kind. Our weeping night soon turns into joyous day. 

Brevity is the mark of mercy in the hour of the chastisement of believers.

The LORD loves not to use the rod on His chosen; He gives a blow or two, and all is over; yea, and the life and the joy, which follow the anger and the weeping, more than make amends for the salutary sorrow.

Come, my heart, begin thy hallelujahs!

Weep not all through the night, but wipe thine eyes in anticipation of the morning.

These tears are dews which mean us as much good as the sunbeams of the morrow.

Tears clear the eyes for the sight of God in His grace and make the vision of His favor more precious. 

A night of sorrow supplies those shades of the pictures by which the highlights are brought out with distinctness.

All is well.

~Charles Spurgeon~

Cast Your Burdens Upon GOD

Song Of Solomon 4:8  Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse, with me from Lebanon: look from the top of Amana, from the top of Shenir and Hermon, from the lions' dens, from the mountains of the leopards.

Crushing weights give the Christian wings. It seems like a contradiction in terms, but it is a blessed truth.

David out of some bitter experience cried: "Oh, that I had wings like a dove! Then would I fly away, and be at rest" 

Psa 55:6  And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest.

But before he finished this meditation he seems to have realized that his wish for wings was a realizable one.

For he says, "Cast thy burden upon Jehovah, and he will sustain thee."

The word "burden" is translated in the Bible margin, "what he (Jehovah) hath given thee."

The saints' burdens are God-given; they lead him to "wait upon Jehovah," and when that is done, in the magic of trust, the "burden" is metamorphosed into a pair of wings, and the weighted one "mounts up with wings as eagles."

~Sunday School Times~

One day when walking down the street, On business bent, while thinking hard About the "hundred cares" which seemed Like thunder clouds about to break In torrents, Self-pity said to me: You poor, poor thing, you have too much To do. 

Your life is far too hard. This heavy load will crush you soon.
 
A swift response of sympathy Welled up within. The burning sun Seemed more intense.

The dust and noise Of puffing motors flying past With rasping blast of blowing horn Incensed still more the whining nerves, The fabled last back-breaking straw To weary, troubled, fretting mind.

Ah, yes, twill break and crush my life; I cannot bear this constant strain Of endless, aggravating cares; They are too great for such as I.

So thus my heart condoled itself, "Enjoying misery," when lo!
      
A "still small voice" distinctly said, "It was sent to lift you-not to crush."

I saw at once my great mistake.

My place was not beneath the load But on the top! God meant it not That I should carry it. He sent It here to carry me.

Full well He knew my incapacity Before the plan was made.

He saw A child of His in need of grace And power to serve; a puny twig Requiring sun and rain to grow; An undeveloped chrysalis; A weak soul lacking faith in God.

He could not help but see all this And more.

And then, with tender thought He placed it where it had to grow...Or die.

To lie and cringe beneath One's load means death, but life and power Await all those who dare to rise above.

Our burdens are our wings; on them We soar to higher realms of grace; Without them we must roam On planes of undeveloped faith, (For faith grows but by exercise in circumstance impossible).

Oh, paradox of Heaven. The load We think will crush was sent to lift us Up to God!

Then, soul of mine, Climb up! for naught can e'er be crushed Save what is underneath the weight. 

How may we climb! By what ascent Shall we surmount the carping cares Of life! 

Within His word is found The key which opens His secret stairs; Alone with Christ, secluded there, We mount our loads, and rest in Him.

~Miss Mary Butterfield~

A Name Guarantee

John 14:13  And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

It is not every believer who has yet learned to pray in Christ's name.

To ask not only for His sake, but in His name, as authorized by Him, is a high order of prayer.

We would not dare to ask for some things in that blessed name, for it would be a wretched profanation of it; but when the petition is so clearly right that we dare set the name of Jesus to it, then it must be granted.

Prayer is all the more sure to succeed because it is for the Father's glory through the Son.

It glorifies His truth, His faithfulness, His power, His grace, The granting of prayer, when offered in the name of Jesus, reveals the Father's love to Him, and the honor which He has put upon Him.

The glory of Jesus and of the Father are so wrapped up together that the grace which magnifies the one magnifies the other.

The channel is made famous through the fullness of the fountain, and the fountain is honored through the channel by which it flows.

If the answering of our prayers would dishonor our LORD, we would not pray; but since in this thing He is glorified, we will pray without ceasing in that dear name in which God and His people have a fellowship of delight.

~Charles Spurgeon~

Tempered And Tried

Heb 6:12  That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

They (heroes of faith) are calling to us from the heights that they have won, and telling us that what man once did man can do again.

Not only do they remind us of the necessity of faith, but also of that patience by which faith has its perfect work.

Let us fear to take ourselves out of the hands of our heavenly Guide or to miss a single lesson of His loving discipline by discouragement or doubt.

There is only one thing, said a village blacksmith, that I fear, and that is to be thrown on the scrap heap.

When I am tempering a piece of steel, I first beat it, hammer it, and then suddenly plunge it into this bucket of cold water.

I very soon find whether it will take temper or go to pieces in the process.

When I discover after one or two tests that it is not going to allow itself to be tempered, I throw it on the scrap heap and sell it for a cent a pound when the junk man comes around.

So I find the Lord tests me, too, by fire and water and heavy blows of His heavy hammer, and if I am not willing to stand the test, or am not going to prove a fit subject for His tempering process, I am afraid He may throw me on the scrap heap.

When the fire is hottest, hold still, for there will be a blessed "afterward"; and with Job we may be able to say, "When he hath tried me I shall come forth as gold."

~Selected~

Sainthood springs out of suffering. It takes eleven tons of pressure on a piano to tune it. God will tune you to harmonize with Heaven's key-note if you can stand the strain.

Things that hurt and things that mar Shape the man for perfect praise; Shock and strain and ruin are Friendlier than the smiling days.

A medicine Essential For Our Spiritual Health And Happiness!

Isa 51:12  I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made a

How does God comfort us? Suppose you are in some great trouble...how will God comfort you?

God comforts us by showing us the necessity of that trouble.

Do you ever think of this...that there is NO CHANCE?

Not a pang can pierce the heart of His redeemed child, for which there is not a needs-be!
 
Not an ache can gnaw the frame; not a grief can pierce the heart; not a shadow can darken the soul which is not permitted because there was a needs-be!

It is comfort to know that no affliction is random, that no bereavement is accident but that each is sent because it was a medicine essential for our spiritual health and happiness.

Thus God comforts us.

God comforts us in affliction, by revealing to us what is the source of trouble. 

We are told that not a trouble can befall us that has not been first in God's bosom; that not a tear can start in the eye that He has not first planned, and estimated, and weighed, and pronounced to be expedient for us.

Admit for one moment, that CHANCE is the parent of your troubles-that accident is the author of your bereavements-and what a gloomy place must this world be!

What a sad heart must the mourner's be! What an unhappy man must the victim of trouble be!

But when we know that the blow that strikes the heaviest, is from our Father's hand; that the sorrow that pierces the heart with the keenest agony, lay in His bosom before it received its mission to touch us...then surely it is a truth, "I, even I, am He who comforts you!"

God comforts us by showing us the end of that trouble.

If the sorrows, bereavements, disappointments, griefs, secret and open, had no end, and no grand object, and no great purpose to accomplish then they would be intolerable.

But He tells us, "Though no tribulation for the present seems joyous, but grievous-yet afterwards it works out the peaceable fruits of righteousness to those who are exercised thereby."

He tells us that "Our light afflictions, which are but for a moment, work out for us a far more exceeding, even an eternal weight of glory."

And 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.

And therefore the necessity, the source, and the end of our troubles, revealed to us by God...take away the edge of them, and make at least tolerable that which, if inexplicable, would be altogether intolerable.

~John Cumming~

The Lord's Rod Has A Voice!

Job 5:6  Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground;

Job 5:7  Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.

As affliction proceeds neither from blind necessity, nor from casual accident but from the hand of your Omniscient Governor and Judge; so nothing can be more certain than that it is designed for the accomplishment of some great and useful purpose!

Now the design of affliction is expressly revealed in the Word of God.

He has condescended to explain the reasons of His dealings with you and it is alike your duty and your privilege to consider and to concur in His declared design.

The general end of affliction, as it is explained in God's Word, is the moral and spiritual improvement of believers- in other words, their progressive sanctification, and their preparation for glory.

Oh! how important must the right use of affliction be, if it is intended to terminate in such a blessed result.

It stands connected with our everlasting welfare...with all that we can enjoy on earth, and all that we hope for in Heaven.

But more particularly, the day of adversity is intended for our INSTRUCTION.

The Lord's rod has a voice which speaks to us lessons of heavenly wisdom.

Therefore, we are required "to hear the rod, and Him who has appointed it."

Mic 6:9  The LORD'S voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it.

Pro 29:15  The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.

It presents to our minds many of the same great truths which are declared in Scripture but which we may have overlooked, or failed rightly to understand...until they were pressed on our attention, and made the matter of our personal experience in the day of trouble.

Thus, it teaches most impressively, that great Scriptural truth of the vanity of the world, and its insufficiency as the portion of rational and immortal beings.

This is a truth which might almost be regarded as self evident; yet it is one which is very slowly and reluctantly admitted by the young disciple, and which can only be effectually impressed on his mind, and unfolded in all its extent, by the experience of disappointment and sorrow.

In like manner, the day of adversity teaches us the great lesson of our entire and constant dependence on God.

But a little while before, we were rejoicing in the midst of prosperity...our health was sound, our business prosperous, our families entire.

But the sudden stroke has come which has smitten our bodies with disease, our business with bankruptcy, or our families with death.

And that stroke has come from the Lord's hand!

Oh! in such circumstances, we are impressively taught that we are absolutely in God's power;

That all that we have is at His sovereign disposal; that we depend on Him, day by day, continually for our personal preservation,our worldly prosperity,our domestic comfort,
for all, in short, that we desire or need on earth.

These are some of the lessons which adversity, when viewed as a means of moral instruction, is fitted to impress with great practical power on our hearts.

When these lessons are duly considered; and, above all, when they are submissively embraced and acted on...the disciple will learn from his own experience the value of affliction, and admire the wisdom with which God suits His lessons to the most urgent necessities of his soul.

~James Buchanan~

Have You Ever Been Caught In This Snare?

Mat 6:11  Give us this day our daily bread.

Whatever your heavenly Father calls you to, He will support you under.

But He will not give the manna for tomorrow, or strengthen you for the next trial, while you have it only in anticipation.

As your days, so shall your strength be.

And herein I read my own foolishness; often wearing out present strength with fears and forebodings of future trials; thus far disregarding present mercies, and rebelling against the Lord's will, because unlawfully anticipating it.

Being naturally of an anxious mind, I must say that thus foolish and ignorant have I often been, and surprised when brought to discover how much I was dragging into the present hour, what did not belong to it.

Have you ever been caught in this snare? 

Mat 6:34  Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

~Ruth Bryan~

These Are The Idols Of The Heart!

The first commandment of the decalogue says, You shall have no other gods before Me.

The meaning of this precept, which is the foundation of all religion, is not merely that we shall not acknowledge any other God besides Jehovah...but also that we shall treat Him as God!

That is, we...must love Him with all our hearts, serve Him with all our lives, and depend upon Him for our supreme felicity.

It is obvious that whatever we love most, and are most anxious to retain and please...whatever it is we depend most upon for happiness and help-whatever has most of our hearts...that is, in effect, is our God!

It does not matter whether it is friends, possessions, desires or our own selves!

These are the idols of the heart!

SELF is the great idol which is the rival of God, and which divides with Him the worship of the human race.

It is surprising and affecting to think how much SELF enters into almost all we do.

Besides the grosser form of self-righteousness, which leads many unconverted people actually to depend upon their own doings for acceptance
with God; 

How much of self-seeking, self-valuing, self-admiration, self-dependence, there is in many converted ones!
 
How covertly do some seek their own praise in what they professedly do for God, and their fellow-creatures!
 
How eager are they for the admiration and applause of their fellow-creatures!

How much of self, yet how little suspected by themselves...is seen by One who knows them better than they know themselves, at the bottom of their most splendid services, donations, and most costly sacrifices!

In how many ways does self steal away the heart from God!
 
How subtle are its workings, how concealed its movements, yet how extensive is its influence. 

How SELF perverts our motives, lowers our aims, corrupts our affections, and taints our best actions!

How much incense is burned and how many
sacrifices are offered on the altar of this idol!

Little children, keep yourselves from idols! Amen. 1 John 5:21

~John Angell James~

Eternally Repose Your Weary Soul In The Bosom Of Jesus!

Forward, believer in Christ, to the toils, duties, and trials of another stage of life's journey! 

Jesus is enough for them all.

Jesus will be with you in them all.

Jesus will triumphantly conduct you through them all.

Beloved one, live in the constant expectation of soon seeing Jesus face to face...

Conversing with He whom here below, cheered, comforted, and sweetened many a weary step of your Christian pilgrimage.

That moment is speeding on.

In a little while and all that now wounds and ruffles, tempts and pollutes...will have disappeared like the foam upon the billow, and you shall eternally repose your weary soul in the bosom of Jesus!

~Octavius Winslow~