He Will Carry Us Home

Isa 46:4  And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.

The year is very old, and here is a promise for our aged friends; yes, and for us all, as age creeps over us.

Let us live long enough, and we shall all have hoar hairs; therefore we may as well enjoy this promise by the foresight of faith. 

When we grow old our God will still be the I AM, abiding evermore the same.

Hoar hairs tell of our decay, but He decayeth not. 

When we cannot carry a burden and can hardly carry ourselves, the LORD will carry us. 

Even as in our young days He carried us like lambs in His bosom, so will He in our years of infirmity...

He made us, and He will care for us. 

When we become a burden to our friends and a burden to ourselves, the LORD will not shake us off, but the rather He will take us up and carry and deliver us more fully than ever.

In many cases the LORD gave His servants a long and calm evening. 

They worked hard all day and wore themselves out in their Master's service, and so He said to them, Now rest in anticipation of that eternal Sabbath which I have prepared for you.

Let us not dread old age. 

Let us grow old graciously since the LORD Himself is with us in fullness of grace.

~Charles Spurgeon~

This Was His Final Verdict!

Nothing can fully satisfy a person but the Lord's love and the Lord's own self.

Christians have tried other pursuits but they have been driven out of such fatal refuges.

Solomon, the wisest of men, was permitted to make experiments for us all; and to do for us what we must not dare to do for ourselves.

Here is his testimony in his own words, "So I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. I denied myself nothing my eyes desired.

I refused my heart no pleasure.

Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind!

Nothing was gained under the sun!

Meaningless! Meaningless! says the Teacher.

Utterly meaningless!

Everything is meaningless! 

What! Is the whole of it meaningless?

O favored monarch...is there nothing in all your wealth?

Nothing in that wide dominion reaching from the river even to the sea?

Nothing in your glorious palaces?

Is there nothing in all your music and dancing, and wine and luxury?

Nothing! he says, "but a chasing after the wind!" 

This was his final verdict...after he had trodden the whole round of pleasure. 

To embrace our Lord Jesus, to dwell in His love, and be fully assured of union with Him...this is all in all. 

Dear reader, you need not try other forms of pleasure in order to see whether they are better than Christ.

If you roam the whole world you will see no sights like a sight of the Savior's face!

If you could have all the comforts of life without the Savior, you would be most wretched.

But if you possess Christ...though you should rot in a dungeon...you would find it a paradise!

Though you should live in obscurity, or die with famine...yet you would be satisfied with the favor and goodness of the Lord!

~Charles Spurgeon~

Death

Life is nothing but death's hallway; and our pilgrimage on earth is but a journey to the grave. 

The pulse that preserves our life beats our death march...

And the blood which circulates our life is floating it forward to the depths of death. 

Today we see our friends in health, tomorrow we hear of their death. 

Only yesterday, we shook hands with a strong man, and today we close his eyes. 

We rode in a coach of comfort only an hour ago, and in a few more hours the black hearse must carry us to the home of the living. 

Oh, how closely allied is death to life! 

The little lamb that plays in the field must soon feel the knife. 

The cow that lows in the pasture is fattening itself for the slaughter.

Trees only grow to be cut down. 

Yes, and greater things than these feel death. 

Empires rise and flourish; they flourish only to fall into decay, they rise to fall. 

How often do we take up a history book, and read of the rise and fall of empires? 

We hear of the coronation and the death of kings. 

Death is the somber servant who rides behind the chariot of life.

See life! and death is close behind it. 

Death reaches far throughout this world, and has stamped all earthly creatures with an arrow pointing to the grave. 

Stars die; it is said that large and destructive fires have been seen in outer space...

And astronomers have marked the funerals of planets...

The decay of those mighty spheres, that we had imagined set forever in sockets of silver, to glisten as the lamps of eternity.

But blessed be God, there is one place where death is not life's brother...

Where life reigns alone...

To live is not the first syllable which is to be followed by the next, "to die."

There is a land where the death bells are never tolled...

Where grave clothes are never put on...

Where graves are never dug. 

Blessed land beyond the skies!

To reach it, we must die.

~Charles Spurgeon~

He Answers These Many Fears With A Single Golden Sentence!

Luke 12:32  Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

Let us mark what a gracious word of consolation this passage contains for all true believers.

The Lord Jesus well knew the hearts of His disciples.

He knew how ready they were to be filled with fears of every description...

Fears because of the fewness of their number...

Fears because of the multitude of their enemies...

Fears because of the many difficulties in their way...

Fears because of their sense of weakness and unworthiness...

He answers these many fears with a single golden sentence, "Fear not, little flock it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom!"

Believers are a "little flock."

They always have been, ever since the world began.

Professing Christians, have sometimes been very many.

Baptized people at the present day, are a great company.

But True Christians, have always been very few.

It is foolish to be surprised at this.

It is vain to expect that it will be otherwise.

Our Lord has plainly told us, "Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." Mat 7:14

All true believers have a glorious "kingdom" awaiting them!

Here upon earth they are often mocked, and ridiculed, and persecuted...and, like their Master, despised and rejected by men.

But "the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed to us!" 

When Christ, who is our life, shall appear-then shall you also appear with Him in glory!

Believers are tenderly loved by God the Father.

It is the Father's good pleasure to give them the kingdom.

He does not receive them grudgingly, unwillingly or coldly.

He rejoices over them, as members of His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased.

He regards them as His dear children in Christ.

He sees no spot in them.

Even now, when He looks down on them from Heaven, in the midst of their infirmities-He is well pleased.

And hereafter, when presented before His glory-He will welcome them with exceeding joy! 

Jude 1:24  Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,

~J. C. Ryle~

The Coneys

Conscious of their own natural defenselessness, the coneys resort to clefts in the rocky cliffs, and are secure from their enemies.

My heart, be willing to gather a lesson from these feeble folk. 

You are as weak and as exposed to peril as the timid coneys...strive to be as wise as they are to seek a shelter. 

My best security is within the fortifications of an immutable Jehovah, where His unalterable promises stand like giant cliffs of rock. 

It will be well with you, my heart, if you can always hide yourself in the bulwarks of His glorious attributes, all of which are guarantees of safety for those who put their trust in Him.

Blessed be the name of the Lord, I have done so and have found myself like David in the cave of Adullam...safe from the cruelty of my enemy.

I experience the blessedness of the man who puts his trust in the Lord...

For long ago, when Satan and my sins pursued me...I fled to the cleft of the Rock Christ Jesus!

And in His riven side I found a secure resting-place!

Dear heart, run to Him anew today, whatever your present grief may be! 

Jesus cares for you!

Jesus will console and help you!

No monarch in his impregnable fortress, is more secure than the coney in his rocky shelter. 

The leader of a thousand armies is not one whit better protected than the little dweller in the rocky cleft.

Just so, in Jesus...the weak are strong, and the defenseless are safe!

They could not be more strong if they were giants!

They could not be more safe if they were in Heaven!

Faith gives to men on earth the protection of the God of Heaven! 

More protection they cannot need, and need not wish.

The coneys cannot build a castle but they avail themselves of what is there already.

Just so, I cannot make a refuge for myself but Jesus has provided it, His Father has given it, His Spirit has revealed it...and lo, I enter it and am safe from every foe.

~Charles Spurgeon~

Do Not Yield To Discouragement

Exo 16:20  Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and stank: and Moses was wroth with them.

Get into the habit of looking for the silver lining of the cloud and when you have found it, continue to look at it, rather than at the leaden gray in the middle.

Do not yield to discouragement no matter how sorely pressed or beset you may be.

A discouraged soul is helpless.

He can neither resist the wiles of the enemy himself, while in this state, nor can he prevail in prayer for others.

Flee from every symptom of this deadly foe as you would flee from a viper.

And be not slow in turning your back on it, unless you want to bite the dust in bitter defeat.

Search out God's promises and say aloud of each one: "This promise is mine."

If you still experience a feeling of doubt and discouragement, pour out your heart to God and ask Him to rebuke the adversary who is so mercilessly nagging you.

The very instant you whole-heartedly turn away from every symptom of distrust and discouragement, the blessed Holy Spirit will quicken your faith and in-breathe Divine strength into your soul.

At first you may not be conscious of this, still as you resolutely and uncompromisingly "snub" every tendency toward doubt and depression that assails you, you will soon be made aware that the powers of darkness are falling back.

Oh, if our eyes could only behold the solid strength, of power, that is ever behind every turning away from the hosts of darkness, God-ward, what scant heed would be given to the effort of the wily foe to distress, depress,  and discourage us!

All the marvelous attributes of the Godhead are on the side of the weakest believer, who in the name of Christ, and in simple, childlike trust, yields himself to God and turns to Him for help and guidance. 

~Selected~
     
On a day in the autumn, I saw a prairie eagle mortally wounded by a rifle shot. His eye still gleamed like a circle of light. 

Then he slowly turned his head, and gave one more searching and longing look at the sky. 

He had often swept those starry spaces with his wonderful wings. 

The beautiful sky was the home of his heart. It was the eagle's domain.

A thousand times he had exploited there his splendid strength. 

In those far away heights be had played with the lightnings, and raced with the winds, and now, so far away from home, the eagle lay dying, done to the death, because for once be forgot and flew too low. 

The soul is that eagle. This is not its home. It must not lose the skyward look. 

We must keep faith, we must keep hope, we must keep courage, we must keep Christ. 

We would better creep away from the battlefield at once if we are not going to be brave. 

There is no time for the soul to stampede. Keep the skyward look, my soul; keep the skyward look!
     
Keep looking up-The waves that roar around thy feet, Jehovah-Jireh will defeat...When looking up.
     
Keep looking up-Though darkness seems to wrap thy soul; The Light of Light shall fill thy soul...When looking up.
     
Keep looking up-When worn, distracted with the fight; Your Captain gives you conquering might...When you look up.
     

Our Holiest Example

This is the way to live. 

With God always before us, we shall have the noblest companionship...

The holiest example...

The sweetest consolation...

And the mightiest influence. 

This must be a resolute act of the mind...

I have set, and it must be maintained as a set and settled thing. 

Always to have an eye to the LORD's eye and an ear for the LORD's voice...

This is the right state for the godly man.

His God is near him, filling the horizon of his vision...

Leading the way of his life...

And furnishing the theme of his meditation. 

What vanities we should avoid...

What sins we should overcome...

What virtues we should exhibit...

What joys we should experience if we did indeed set the LORD always before us!

Why not?

This is the way to be safe.

The LORD being ever in our minds, we come to feel safety and certainty because of His being so near. 

He is at our right hand to guide and aid us...

And hence we are not moved by fear...

Nor force...

Nor fraud...

Nor fickleness. 

When God stands at a man's right hand, that man is himself sure to stand.

Come on, then, ye foemen of the truth!

Rush against me like a furious tempest, if ye will...

God upholds me...

God abides with me... 

Whom shall I fear?

~Charles Spurgeon~

In This Precious Book!

2Ti 3:15  And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
 
2Ti 3:16  All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
 
2Ti 3:17  That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
 
Set a high value upon the Word of God. 

All that is necessary to make you wise to salvation is there...and there alone.

In this precious Book, you may find...
 
A direction for every doubt...
 
A solution to every difficulty... 

And a promise suited to every circumstance you can be in.

There you may be informed of your disease caused by sin...and the remedy provided by grace.

In the Scriptures, you may be instructed to know...
 
Yourselves...
 
Jesus Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge...
 
The wonders of redeeming love...
 
The glories of the Redeemer's person...
 
The happiness of the redeemed people...
 
The power of faith...

And the beauty of holiness.

All are here fully and clearly represented.

Nothing is lacking in the Scriptures to make...
 
Life useful and comfortable...
 
Death safe and desirable... 

And to bring down something of Heaven upon earth.

But this true wisdom can be found nowhere else. 

If you wander from the Scriptures...

In pursuit either of present peace, or future hope...

Then your search will surely end in disappointment.

This is the fountain of living waters!

If you forsake it, and give the preference to broken cisterns of your own devising...

Then they will fail you when you most need them.

Rejoice, therefore, that such a treasure is put into your hand...

But rejoice with trembling. 

Remember this is not all you need unless God likewise gives you a heart to use the Scriptures aright then your privilege will only aggravate your guilt and misery.

~John Newton~