Psalm 149:4 For the LORD taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation.
How comprehensive is the love of Jesus!
There is no part of His
people's interests that He does not consider...
And there is nothing
that concerns their welfare, which is not important to Him.
Not
merely does He think of you, believer, as an immortal being-but as
a mortal being, also.
Do not deny it or doubt it: "The very hairs
of your head are all numbered."
The steps of a good
man are ordered by the Lord, and he delights in His way.
Believer,
rest assured that the heart of Jesus cares about your common
affairs.
The breadth of His tender love is such that you may resort to Him in
all matters...
For as a father pities his children, so does He pity
you.
Oh, what a heart is His-which comprehends all the diverse and
innumerable concerns of all His redeemed people!
Do you think that you can measure the love of Christ?
Think of what
His love has brought you...justification, adoption, sanctification
and eternal life!
The riches of His goodness are unsearchable-you
shall never be able to count them out or even conceive of them
all.
Oh, the
breadth of the love of Christ!
You are no desolate wanderer, but a beloved child-watched over, cared for,
supplied and defended by your Lord!
Psa 56:8 Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?
~Charles Spurgeon~
Nahum 1:2 God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies.
Your Lord is very jealous of your love, O believer.
Did he choose you?
He cannot bear that you should choose another.
Did he buy you with his own blood?
He cannot endure that you should think that you are your own, or that you belong to this world.
He loved you with such a love that he would not stop in heaven without you; he would sooner die than you should perish...
And he cannot endure that anything should stand between your heart’s love and himself.
He is very jealous of your trust.
He will not permit you to trust in an arm of flesh.
He cannot bear that you should hew out broken cisterns, when the overflowing fountain is always free to you.
When we lean upon him, he is glad...
But when we transfer our dependence to another...
When we rely upon our own wisdom, or the wisdom of a friend...
Worst of all, when we trust in any works of our own...
He is displeased, and will chasten us that he may bring us to himself.
He is also very jealous of our company.
There should be no one with whom we converse so much as with Jesus.
To abide in him only, this is true love...
But to commune with the world...
To find sufficient solace in our carnal comforts...
To prefer even the society of our fellow Christians to secret conversing with him...
This is grievous to our jealous Lord.
He would fain have us abide in him, and enjoy constant fellowship with himself...
And many of the trials which he sends us are for the purpose of weaning our hearts from the creature, and fixing them more closely upon himself.
Let this jealousy which would keep us near to Christ be also a comfort to us...
For if he loves us so much as to care thus about our love...
We may be sure that he will suffer nothing to harm us...
And will protect us from all our enemies.
Oh that we may have grace this day to keep our hearts in sacred chastity for our Beloved alone...
With sacred jealousy shutting our eyes to all the fascinations of the world!
~Charles Spurgeon~
1Ki 18:21 And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.
There are other Baals in this age, in all the various
forms under which they are objects of human idolatry.
It is true that you are not called, invited or disposed-to bow
the knee to idols of wood, stone or metal.
These, however, are not
the only way in which idolatry may be practiced.
Everyone has
a god, and if man does not love and worship Jehovah, he will
make a deity of his own image.
Survey the idols which you are called upon to worship:
Among them, sustaining a high place, is the vile idol of
SENSUALITY.
This goddess is decked out with all that can
pollute the imagination, inflame the passions, or excite the evil
propensities of the heart.
Before this image, multitudes of
devotees of both sexes bow the knee and offer the most costly
sacrifices of property, health, virtue and reputation!
Near her is the bewitching and smiling image of WORLDLY
PLEASURE, with the sound of music, the song and the
dance...
Alluring the giddy and thoughtless to its orgies...
And
throwing the spell of its fascinations over the imagination of
multitudes who go merrily to their eternal ruin!
MAMMON, the despicable deity of wealth, is
there-glittering with gold, and offering riches to his eager
followers as the reward of their diligent and faithful adherence.
His liturgy is the cry of "Money! Money! Money!"
His
sacrifices are the time, the bodies, the comfort, and the souls of
his worshipers!
Near this is the shrine of HUMAN KNOWLEDGE.
This idol is only evil, when raised above the place of faith,
piety and virtue.
When thus exalted above Scripture, it is a
deceiving, corrupting idol-the false goddess of a Pantheon of
Vices.
Nor must we leave out the idols of FALSE RELIGION,
the chief of which is Popery-the anti-Christ of the
Apocalypse, "the Man of Sin sitting in the temple of God, exalting
itself above all that is called God."
This idol, taking the name
of Christ as its designation...
Assuming the cross as its symbol...
And boasting of an apostle as its first pope...
Enriched by wealth;
venerable for antiquity; dignified by learning; decorated by
sculpture, architecture, and painting...
And adding the abysmal
policies, and most serpentine craft to all these other dangerous
qualities-has fascinated countless millions!
And, notwithstanding
the monstrous absurdity of its doctrines...
The blood-stained page
of its history...
And its hostility to the liberties of mankind-is
now putting forth the most arrogant claims, and making the most
audacious attempts for the conquest of our country!
These idolaters have chosen their god, and are the determined and
devoted worshipers of their Baals!
They have hardened their
hearts and seared their consciences.
They congratulate themselves upon their having thrown off all the
weaknesses and fears of Christianity...
And upon their being now
enabled to pursue their Hell-ward course unchecked by the
restraint of conscience.
Duped men, blind, and boasting in their
blindness-are benumbed in all their moral faculties, and exulting in
their stupidity!
With every tie cut, which held them to piety and
truth, they account it a privilege that they are drifting
unobstructed to eternal destruction-determined to be lost, and
rejoicing that nothing bars their path to the bottomless pit!
Eze 14:3 Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them?
Eze 20:16 Because they despised my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, but polluted my sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols.
~J. A. James~
