The Voyage Of Life!

All TRUE believers walk by the same rule, and mind the same things: 

The Word of God is their compass...
 
Jesus is both their polar star and their sun of righteousness... 

Their hearts and faces are all set Zion-ward.
 
Thus far they are as one body, animated by one spirit. 

Yet their experience, formed upon these common principles-is far from being uniform.

The Lord, in His first call, and His following dispensations, has a regard to the situation, temper, and talents of each...

And to the particular services or trials which He has appointed them for. 

Though all believers are tried at times yet some pass through the voyage of life much more smoothly than others. 

But he "who walks upon the wings of the wind, and measures the waters in the hollow of His hand," will not allow any of whom He has taken charge, to perish in the storms...

Though, for a season, perhaps, many of them are ready to give up all hopes.

We must not, therefore, make the experience of others, in all respects-a rule to ourselves.
 
Nor are we to make our own experience a rule to others.

~John Newton~

Pardon And Forgiveness

Psalm 103:9  He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever.

He will chide sometimes, or He would not be a wise Father for such poor, erring children as we are. 

His chiding is very painful to those who are true, because they feel how sadly they deserve it and how wrong it is on their part to grieve Him.

We know what this chiding means, and we bow before the LORD, mourning that we should cause Him to be angry with us. 

But what a comfort we find in these lines! "Not always" will He chide.

If we repent and turn to Him with hearts broken for sin and broken from sin, He will smile upon us at once.

It is no pleasure to Him to turn a frowning face toward those whom He loves with all His heart:

It is His joy that our joy should be full. 

Come, let us seek His face. 

There is no reason for despair, nor even for despondency.

Let us love a chiding God, and before long we shall sing, "Thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortest me."

Be gone, ye dark forebodings, ye ravens of the soul! 

Come in, ye humble hopes and grateful memories, ye doves of the heart! 

He who pardoned us long ago as a judge will again forgive us as a father, and we shall rejoice in His sweet, unchanging love.

~Charles Spurgeon~

From Obedience To Blessing

Hag 2:19  Is the seed yet in the barn? yea, as yet the vine, and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree, hath not brought forth: from this day will I bless you.

Future things are hidden from us. 

Yet here is a glass in which we may see the unborn years. 

The LORD says, "From this day will I bless you."

It is worthwhile to note the day which is referred to in this promise. 

There had been failure of crops, blasting, and mildew, and all because of the people's sin. 

Now, the LORD saw these chastened ones commencing to obey His word and build His temple, and therefore He says, "From the day that the foundation of the LORD's temple was laid, consider."

From this day will I bless you.

If we have lived in any sin, and the Spirit leads us to purge ourselves of it, we may reckon upon the blessing of the LORD. 

His smile, His Spirit, His grace, His fuller revelation of His truth will all prove to us an enlarged blessing. 

We may fall into greater opposition from man because of our faithfulness...

But we shall rise to closer dealings with the LORD our God and a clearer sight of our acceptance in Him. 

LORD, I am resolved to be more true to Thee and more exact in my following of Thy doctrine and Thy precept; 

And I pray Thee, therefore, by Christ Jesus, to increase the blessedness of my daily life henceforth and forever.

~Charles Spurgeon~

The Unfailing Watch

Jehovah is "the Keeper of Israel."  

No form of unconsciousness ever steals over Him, neither the deeper slumber nor the slighter sleep. 

He Never fails to watch the house and the heart of His people. 

This is a sufficient reason for our resting in perfect peace.

Alexander said that he slept because his friend Parmenio watched; 

Much more may we sleep because our God is our guard.

Behold is here set up to call our attention to the cheering truth.

Israel, when he had a stone for his pillow, fell asleep...

But His God was awake and came in vision to His servant.

When we lie defenseless, Jehovah Himself will cover our head.

The LORD keeps His people...

As a rich man keeps his treasure...

As a captain keeps a city with a garrison...

As a sentry keeps watch over his sovereign...

NONE can harm those who are in such keeping.

Let me put my soul into His dear hands. 

He Never forgets us...

Never ceases actively to care for us...

Never finds Himself unable to preserve us. 

O my LORD, Keep Me, lest I wander and fall and perish.

Keep me, that I may keep Thy commandments.

By Thine unslumbering care prevent my sleeping like the sluggard and perishing like those who sleep the sleep of death.

~Charles Spurgeon~

Walk Without Stumbling

Psa 121:3  He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber. 

If the LORD will not suffer it, neither men nor devils can do it. 

How greatly would they rejoice if they could...

Give us a disgraceful fall,...

Drive us from our position...

And bury us out of memory! 

They could do this to their heart's content were it not for one hindrance...

And only one...

The LORD will not suffer it...

And if He does not suffer it, we shall not suffer it. 

The way of life is like traveling among the Alps. 

Along the mountain path one is constantly exposed to the slipping of the foot. 

Where the way is high the head is apt to swim, and then the feet soon slide...

There are spots which are smooth as glass and others that are rough with loose stones...

And in either of these a fall is hard to avoid. 

He who throughout life is enabled to keep himself upright and to walk without stumbling has the best of reasons for gratitude. 

What with pitfalls and snares, weak knees, weary feet, and subtle enemies...

No child of God would stand fast for an hour were it not for the faithful love which will not suffer his foot to be moved.

Amidst a thousand snares I stand Upheld and guarded by thy hand;

That hand unseen shall hold me still, And lead me to thy holy hill.

~Charles Spurgeon~

The Arm Of The Lord~The Principles Of The Revealing Of His Arm

Now we come back to our initial question: What are the principles upon which the Arm of the Lord will be revealed?

As I have said, we think we are very familiar with the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah.

But when we read it, we are usually so taken up with those vividly descriptive words concerning the sorrows and the sufferings and the sin-bearing of the One who is in view...With the Person and the experiences of this suffering Servant of Jehovah...

That we almost entirely lose sight of the tremendous significance of that fundamental opening question: "To whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?"

And yet the whole chapter would have very little value and meaning but for that question.

Think about it again: Supposing all that is described there - His sufferings, His sorrows, and His sin-bearing - had taken place, and then the Arm of the Lord had not been revealed on His behalf, what were the value of it all?

It has happened - but where is the vindication?

What is the verdict of God upon it?

For, although the content of the chapter is so tremendous, and so overwhelmingly moving in its tragedy, it all relates to this one thing: "To whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?"

The answer is: To that very One who is described here in such vivid detail.

The Arm of the Lord is revealed to the One who, with such fulness and such pathos, is here brought into view, as the object of all this tragedy, affliction, misunderstanding and misrepresentation.

It is to that One that the Arm of the Lord is revealed.

The prophet is viewing the reaction of the whole world, Israel and Gentile alike, to the report, the proclamation.

Who has believed our report? he asks.

Who has believed the message that we have proclaimed?

It is all looking on to the day of the Son of Man.

The messengers have gone out; the proclamation has been made - and what a proclamation it was!

It was made on the Day of Pentecost; it went out from Jerusalem into all the regions round about.

But - who believed it?

What was the reaction to it, from Israel and the Gentiles?

The prophet, in his wonderfully vivid, inspired foreknowledge of, and insight into, the reactions of the world to the message of the Gospel, asks the question, and answers it in the whole chapter.

But he asks also: "To whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?"

The world has so reacted the vast majority have refused and rejected the message...

They have put a totally false construction upon the afflictions of the Suffering One.

Nevertheless, it is to this One that the Arm of the Lord is revealed;

It is alongside of this One that Jehovah stands.

 ~T. Austin Sparks~

In God's Time

Hab 2:3  For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. 

Mercy may seem slow, but it is sure. 

The LORD in unfailing wisdom has appointed a time for the outgoings of His gracious power...

And God's time is the best time. 

We are in a hurry; the vision of the blessings excites our desire and hastens our longings...

But the LORD will keep His appointments. 

He never is before His time...

He never is behind...

God's word is here spoken of as a living thing which will speak and will come.

It is never a dead letter, as we are tempted to fear when we have long watched for its fulfillment. 

The living word is on the way from the living God, and though it may seem to linger, it is not in reality doing so. 

God's train is not behind time.

It is only a matter of patience, and we shall soon see for ourselves the faithfulness of the LORD.

No promise of His shall fail; "it will not lie." 

No promise of His will be lost in silence; "it shall speak." 

What comfort it will speak to the believing ear! 

No promise of His shall need to be renewed like a bill which could not be paid on the day in which it fell due - "it will not tarry."

Come, my soul, canst thou not wait for thy God?

Rest in Him and be still in unutterable peacefulness.

~Charles Spurgeon~