John 10:4 And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.
Oh,
this is bitter work for Him and us...bitter for us to go, but equally
bitter for Him to cause us pain; yet it must be done.
It would not be
conducive to our true welfare to stay always in one happy and
comfortable lot.
He therefore puts us forth.
The fold is deserted, that
the sheep may wander over the bracing mountain slope.
The laborers must
be thrust out into the harvest, else the golden grain would spoil.
Take
heart!
It could not be better to stay when He determines otherwise;
And
if the loving hand of our Lord puts us forth, it must be well.
On, in
His name, to green pastures and still waters and mountain heights!
He
goeth before thee.
Whatever awaits us is encountered first by Him.
Faith's eye can always discern His majestic presence in front; and when
that cannot be seen, it is dangerous to move forward.
Bind this comfort
to your heart, that the Savior has tried for Himself all the experiences
through which He asks you to pass...
And He would not ask you to pass
through them unless He was sure that they were not too difficult for
your feet, or too trying for your strength.
This is
the Blessed Life...not anxious to see far in front, nor careful about the
next step...
Not eager to choose the path, nor weighted with the heavy
responsibilities of the future, but quietly following behind the
Shepherd, one step at a time.
Dark is the sky! and veiled the unknown morrow
Dark is life's way, for night is not yet o'er;
The longed-for glimpse I may not meanwhile borrow; But, this I know, HE GOETH ON BEFORE.
Dangers are nigh! and fears my mind are shaking;
Heart seems to dread what life may hold in store;
But I am His...He knows the way I'm taking,
More blessed still-HE GOETH ON BEFORE.
Doubts cast their weird, unwelcome shadows o'er me, Doubts that life's best-life's choicest things are o'er;
What but His Word can strengthen, can restore me,
And this blest fact; that still HE GOES BEFORE.
HE GOES BEFORE! Be this my consolation!
He goes before! On this my heart would dwell!
He goes before! This guarantees salvation!
HE GOES BEFORE! And therefore all is well.
~J. D. Smith~
The
Oriental shepherd was always ahead of his sheep.
He was down in front.
Any attack upon them had to take him into account.
Now God is down in
front.
He is in the tomorrows.
It is tomorrow that fills men with dread.
God is there already.
All the tomorrows of our life have to pass Him
before they can get to us.
~F. B. M.~
God is in every tomorrow...
Therefore I live for today...
Certain of finding at sunrise...
Guidance and strength for the way...
Power for each moment of weakness...
Hope for each moment of pain...
Comfort for every sorrow...
Sunshine and joy after rain.
Eze 1:25 And there was a voice from the firmament that was over their heads, when they stood, and had let down their wings.
What is the significance of these words: “They stood with
lowered wings”?
People often ask,“How can I hear the voice of the Lord?”
This is the secret: these “living creatures” (v. 5) heard the voice when “they stood with lowered wings.”
We have all seen a bird flutter its wings while standing in place.
But in this verse, we are told that “there came a voice . . . as they stood with lowered wings.”
Do you ever sit, or even kneel, before the Lord and yet are
conscious of a fluttering in your spirit?
If so, you are not exhibiting a sense of genuine stillness while in His presence.
A dear person told me of this very thing a few days ago. “I
prayed about a certain thing,” she said, “but I did not wait for
the answer to come.”
She did not get still enough to hear God speak but instead went away and followed her own thinking in the matter.
The result proved disastrous, and she was forced to retrace her steps.
Oh, how much energy we waste!
How much time we lose by refusing to lower the wings of our spirit and become totally quiet before Him!
Imagine the calm, the rest, and the peace that will come as we wait in His presence until we hear from Him!
Then, and only then,we too may speed “back and forth like
flashes of lightning” (v.14), going directly to “wherever the spirit would go” (v. 20).
Be still! Just now be still!
Something your soul has never heard...
Something unknown to any song of bird...
Something unknown to any wind, or wave, or star...
A message from the Father’s land afar...
That with sweet joy the homesick soul will thrill, And comes to you only when you’re still.
Be still! Just now be still!
There comes a presence very mild and sweet; White are the sandals of His noiseless feet.
It is the Comforter whom Jesus sent To teach you what the words He uttered meant.
The willing, waiting spirit, He does fill.
If you would hear His message, Dear soul, be still
Isa 27:3 I the LORD do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day.
When
the LORD Himself speaks in His own proper person rather than through a
prophet, the word has a peculiar weight to believing minds.
It is
Jehovah Himself who is the keeper of His own vineyard; He does not trust
it to any other, but He makes it His own personal care.
Are they not
well kept whom God Himself keeps?
We are to receive gracious
watering, not only every day and every hour "but every moment."
How we
ought to grow!
How fresh and fruitful every plant should be!
What rich
clusters the vines should bear!
But disturbers come; little foxes
and the boar.
Therefore, the LORD Himself is our Guardian, and that at
all hours, both "night and day."
What, then, can harm us?
Why are we
afraid!
He tends, He waters, He guards; what more do we need?
Twice
in this verse the LORD says, "I will."
What truth, what power, what
love, what immutability we find in the great "I will" of Jehovah!
Who
can resist His will?
If He says "I will," what room is there for doubt?
With an "I will" of God we can face all the hosts of sin, death, and
hell.
O LORD, since Thou sayest, "I will keep thee," I reply, "I will
praise Thee!"
~Charles Spurgeon~
Zep 3:13 The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth: for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid.
Yesterday
we thought of the afflicted and poor people whom the LORD left to be a
living seed in a dead world.
The prophet says of such that they shall
not work iniquity nor speak lies.
So that while they had neither rank
nor riches to guard them, they were also quite unable to use those
weapons in which the wicked place so much reliance: they could neither
defend themselves by sin nor by subtlety.
What then?
Would they
be destroyed?
By no means!
They should both feed and rest and be not
merely free from danger but even quiet from fear of evil.
Sheep are very
feeble creatures, and wolves are terrible enemies...
Yet at this hour
sheep are more numerous than wolves, and the cause of the sheep is
always winning, while the cause of the wolves is always declining.
One
day flocks of sheep will cover the plains, and not a wolf will be left.
The fact is that sheep have a Shepherd, and this gives them provender,
protection, and peace.
"None"...which means not one, whether in human
or diabolical form "shall make them afraid."
Who shall terrify the
LORD's Rock when He is near?
We lie down in green pastures, for Jesus
Himself is food and rest to our souls.
~Charles Spurgeon~
Mal 3:17 And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.
A day is coming in which the crown jewels of our great King shall be counted, that it may be seen whether they answer to the inventory which His Father gave Him.
My soul, wilt thou be among the precious things of Jesus?
Thou art precious to Him if He is precious to thee, and thou shalt be His "in that day," if He is thine in this day.
In the days of Malachi, the chosen of the LORD were accustomed so to converse with each other that their God Himself listened to their talk.
He liked it so well that He took notes of it; yes, and made a book of it, which He lodged in His record office.
Pleased with their conversation, He was also pleased with them.
Pause, my soul, and ask thyself: If Jesus lucre to listen to thy talk would He be pleased with it?
Is it to His glory and to the edification of the brotherhood?
Say, my soul, and be sure thou sayest the truth.
But what will the honor be for us poor creatures to be reckoned by the LORD to be His crown jewels!
This honor have all the saints.
Jesus not only says, "They are mine," but, "They shall be mine."
He bought us, sought us, brought us in, and has so far wrought us to His image that we shall be fought for by Him with all His might.
~Charles Spurgeon~
Act 20:24 But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.
We
read in the book of Samuel that the moment that David was crowned at
Hebron, "All the Philistines came up to seek David."
And the moment we
get anything from the Lord worth contending for, then the devil comes to
seek us.
When the enemy meets us at the threshold of
any great work for God, let us accept it as "a token of salvation," and
claim double blessing, victory, and power.
Power is developed by
resistance. The cannon carries twice as far because the exploding power
has to find its way through resistance.
The way electricity is produced
in the powerhouse yonder is by the sharp friction of the revolving
wheels.
And so we shall find some day that even Satan has been one of
God's agencies of blessing.
~Days of Heaven upon Earth~
Tribulation
is the way to triumph.
The valley-way opens into the highway.
Tribulation's imprint is on all great things.
Crowns are cast in
crucibles.
Chains of character that wind about the feet of God are
forged in earthly flames.
No man is greatest victor till he has trodden
the winepress of woe.
With seams of anguish deep in His brow, the "Man
of Sorrows" said, "In the world ye shall have tribulation"...
But after
this sob comes the psalm of promise, "Be of good cheer, I have overcome
the world."
The footprints are traceable everywhere.
Bloodmarks stain
the steps that lead to thrones.
Sears are the price of scepters.
Our
crowns will be wrested from the giants we conquer.
Grief has always been
the lot of greatness. It is an open secret.
The mark of rank in nature. Is capacity for pain;
And the anguish of the singer Makes the sweetest of the strain.
Tribulation
has always marked the trail of the true reformer.
It is the story of
Paul, Luther, Savonarola, Knox, Wesley, and all the rest of the mighty
army.
They came through great tribulation to their place of power.
Every
great book has been written with the author's blood. "These are they
that have come out of great tribulation."
Who was the peerless poet of
the Greeks? Homer. But that illustrious singer was blind.
Who wrote the
fadeless dream of "Pilgrim's Progress"?...
A prince in royal purple upon a
couch of ease? Nay!
The trailing splendor of that vision gilded the
dingy walls of old Bedford jail while John Bunyan, a princely prisoner, a
glorious genius, made a faithful transcript of the scene.
Great is the facile conqueror; Yet haply, he, who, wounded sore, Breathless, all covered o'er with blood and sweat, Sinks fainting, but fighting evermore Is greater yet.
~Selected~
