When The LORD Moves

Mark 16:4  And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great.

Mark 16:5  And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted.

When the Lord moves for His own Son's sake, and has those interests governing...
 
And when those interests have brought us into such a relationship with Him that we can say there is no stone so big to be removed...

No problem so great for solving...

No difficulty so intense, but the Lord will do what is necessary for His Son's sake...

When we have come to a position like that, the Lord is free to do a lot of things very quietly.

As we say, they just "happen".

Ah, but they have been the objects of the exercise of exceeding great power – "There was a great earthquake" (Matt. 28:2).

But here, in this aspect of the situation, it does not seem to be an earthquake at all.

It has just happened.

We must recognize that there is an aspect of activities in which the secret, quiet working of His immense power dismisses the greatest difficulties as though they had never existed. 

Sometimes He may bring us into the presence of the working of His power that is manifestly terrific, but not often and certainly not always. 

For faith it is more like this:

There is such power at work as to make possible the setting aside of the obstacle very quietly...

So that we afterward wonder – "And they were amazed."

And the angel said, "Be not amazed."

It is good to have amazement...

But let us recognize that a certain amount of our amazement is because we have not sufficient faith.

~T. Austin Sparks~

Before And During The Call

Quick work this! 

The LORD hears us before we call and often answers us in the same speedy manner. 

Foreseeing our needs and our prayers, He so arranges providence that before the need actually arises He has supplied it, before the trial assails us He has armed us against it. 

This is the promptitude of omniscience, and we have often seen it exercised. 

Before we dreamed of the affliction which was coming, the strong consolation which was to sustain us under it had arrived. 

What a prayer-answering God we have! 

The second clause suggests the telephone. 

Though God be in heaven and we upon earth, yet He makes our word, like His own word, to travel very swiftly...

When we pray aright we speak into the ear of God. 

Our gracious Mediator presents our petitions at once, and the great Father hears them and smiles upon them. 

Grand praying this! 

Who would not be much in prayer when he knows that he has the ear of the King of kings? 

This day I will pray in faith, not only believing that I shall be heard, but that I am heard...

Not only that I shall be answered, but that I have the answer already. 

Holy Spirit, help me in this!

~Charles Spurgeon~

I Heard A Hushed Voice

Some twenty years ago a friend gave me a book entitled True Peace.

It had an old medieval message and this one primary thought...

That God was waiting in the depths of my being to speak to me if I would only be still enough to hear His voice.

I assumed this would not be a difficult thing to do, so I tried to be still.

No sooner had I begun to do so than complete pandemonium seemed to break loose.

Suddenly I heard a thousand voices and sounds from without and within, until I could hear nothing except these incredible noises.

Some were my own words, my own questions, and even my own prayers, while others were temptations of the Enemy, and the voices of the world’s turmoil.

In every direction I turned, I was pushed, pulled, and confronted with indescribable unrest and overwhelming noises.

I seemed compelled to listen to some of them and to respond in some way.

But God said, “Be still, and know that I am God”

Psa 46:10  Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

Then my mind was filled with worries over my responsibilities and plans for tomorrow, and God said again, “Be still.”

As I listened and slowly learned to obey, I shut my ears to every other sound. 

Soon I discovered that once the other voices ceased, or once I ceased to hear them, “a gentle whisper” (1 Kings 19:12) began to speak in the depths of my being. 

And it spoke to me with an inexpressible tenderness, power, and comfort.

This “gentle whisper” became for me the voice of prayer, wisdom, and service. 

No longer did I need to work so hard to think, pray, or trust, because the Holy Spirit’s “gentle whisper” in my heart was God’s prayer in the secret places of my soul. 

It was His answer to all my questions, and His life and strength for my soul and body. 

His voice became the essence of all knowledge, prayer, and blessings, for it was the living God Himself as my life and my all.

This is precisely how our spirit drinks in the life of our risen Lord. 

And then we are enabled to face life’s conflicts and responsibilities, like a flower that has absorbed the cool and refreshing drops of dew through the darkness of the night. 

Yet just as dew never falls on a stormy night, the dew of His grace never covers a restless soul. 

~A. B. Simpson~

In Line With God's Purpose Whether Active Or Inactive

    

Heb 13:21  Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

So long as we are in line with God’s purpose His work can go on in us. 

What matters is not first of all our activity. 

God is more concerned with what is done in us than what we do for Him. 

He often reaches His end with us much better when we are in a state of inactivity than in times of much work. 

The hand of the Potter was upon Moses when he was in the wilderness where he could not do much. 

During forty years he was just looking after a few sheep. 

That is not very grand. 

No doubt he wondered sometimes to what purpose he was there, whether his life had any value. 

But principalities and powers saw something and wondered at God’s wisdom. 

God knew how to equip this man, how to get His way in that life. 

That is true in the case of many a servant of God. 

God is working for good, He is shaping His vessel. 

There is wisdom in all His dealings with us. 

But we have to see to it that we have no plans or personal ambitions of our own. 

The clay has to be completely in His hands. 

If we are really here for God, we can be assured that He will reach His end, that He may work out His purpose in us. 

And there we shall find strength.

Are you sure you are in the great purpose of God? 

Everybody has some part in it. 

Paul, when speaking of the church, illustrates it thus: “that all the body is fitly framed and knit together through that which every joint supplies.” 

No part of the body is without function. 

Each and every one has to be in God’s purpose. 

Some parts may be very small, they nevertheless are equally important. 

We have to remember that God has called us for a purpose which will be realized as we abandon ourselves to Him. 

Whatever it may be to which He has called us, let us be ready and do it. 

A Holy Spirit possessed life is always marked by purpose. 

Nothing can be lost in such a life; let us not believe in mere generalities. 

That is not good enough. 

There is something far more definite in God’s thoughts for our lives.

Let us abandon all personal desires, and be filled with the Spirit of urgency - “straight away.” 

Those who know that they are called of God, and who definitely recognize the purpose of their life, will be wholly given up to it. 

Such no longer have any interest for the things of this earth. 

They have no time to lose. 

They must buy up their time.

~T. Austin Sparks~

                                                                     

Complete Deliverance

Jer 39:17  But I will deliver thee in that day, saith the LORD: and thou shalt not be given into the hand of the men of whom thou art afraid. 

When the LORD's faithful ones are suffering for Him, they shall have sweet messages of love from Himself...

And sometimes they shall have glad tidings for those who sympathize with them and help them. 

Ebed-melech was only a despised Ethiopian, but he was kind to Jeremiah...

And so the LORD sent him this special promise by the mouth of His prophet.

Let us be ever mindful of God's persecuted servants, and He will reward us.

Ebed-melech was to be delivered from the men whose vengeance he feared. 

He was a humble... man, but Jehovah would take care of him. 

Thousands were slain by the Chaldeans, but [he] could not be hurt. 

We, too, may be fearful of some great ones who are bitter against us...

But if we have been faithful to the LORD's cause in the hour of persecution, He will be faithful to us. 

After all, what can a man do without the LORD's permission? 

He puts a bit into the mouth of rage and a bridle upon the head of power. 

Let us fear the LORD, and we shall have no one else to fear. 

No cup of cold water given to a despised prophet of God shall be without its reward...

And if we stand up for Jesus, Jesus will stand up for us. 

~Charles Spurgeon~

We Are Not Expected To Like It- But We Are Told Not To Despise It

Pro 3:11  My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction:

The Bible always talks to us as children. 

Chastening comes with a Father's authority and also a Father's gentleness.

Of course, it is not possible that we should really find pleasure in being chastened. That is not natural. 

Indeed the Bible says, "No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful." 

Not even the grace of God in our hearts can take the sting out of chastening.  

We are not expected to like it...but we are told not to despise it. 

That is, we are to accept it without murmuring, without complaining, and submissively-as God's messenger to us, bringing a blessing.

It will help us to receive chastening meekly, in faith and love-if we remember that it is our heavenly Father who sends it. 

We know that He loves us with infinite affection. 

He does not take pleasure therefore in causing us pain, nor would He do it at all...were it not in some way for our good. 

It is because He loves us and would do us good-that He sends or permits the suffering.

We should never despise any instruction our Father gives us, however costly and painful it may be. 

He lets us suffer because He loves us-and would make our lives beautiful and holy.

We should be willing to endure any pain or trial, in order to have the likeness of Christ fashioned in our life.

Heb 12:10  For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.
 
Heb 12:11  Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. 

~J. R. Miller~

The Aged Believer's Comfort

Isa 46:3  Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which are borne by me from the belly, which are carried from the womb:

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.

This passage of Scripture is the aged believer's cordial. Let us look at the beautiful images employed.

God is our parent-a kind and tender-hearted parent.

He is peculiarly attached to His people-they are dear to Him, and precious in His sight.

They are His portion. He prizes them above all creation.

He is strong to sustain, to defend and support them.

His strong arm, tender heart, and watchful eye-are all employed for them-and especially so in old age.

The aged believer is as a child. He is weak. He feels exposed and defenseless. He is timid and fearful.

But the Lord, as a tender parent, engages to take him up in the arms of His power-and carry him in the bosom of His love!

Like a tender lamb in the shepherd's bosom on a cold and frosty night, borne across a bleak and snow-covered wasteland--so the believer, in the winter of old age, shall be carried in the bosom of his God, across the bleak and cheerless desert of time.

God will carry him tenderly-hushing the weak one's fears.

He will bear him carefully-so that nothing shall harm or hurt him.

He will soothe him with gentle words, and encourage him with kind acts-until He safely brings him Home!

Dear aged Christian, you have nothing to fear!

Your God says, "I will be your God throughout your lifetime-until your hair is white with age!"

I am your Father-your Friend-your solace-and your confidence!

Look unto Me, even to old age-I will carry you.
 
I will bear you up under all that you feel and fear.
 
I will carry you through all that discourages or distresses you.

I will deliver you from foes, fears, dangers and death itself!

Nothing shall by any means hurt you!

My arm is strong enough-trust in it.

My bosom is your resting-place-lean on it, lean hard!

Do not be afraid...love dwells there, pity rules there, your name is engraved there!

Trust me, I will never leave you nor forsake you!

Hearken! Believer, your God bids you to "hearken."

His words are true and faithful.

He speaks to banish your fears.

He speaks to strengthen your faith.

He speaks to comfort your poor drooping heart.

He speaks to clothe your care-worn brow, with the light of hope, with the cheerfulness which confidence imparts.

Hearken to Him-not to unbelief or carnal reason.

It is the Guide of your youth who addresses you.

It is your tender Parent who seeks to cheer your heart.

Hearken, it is your Savior who speaks!

As one whom his mother comforts-so does your God comfort you.

He is near you-near you every moment;

He will carry you-carry you every step;

He will deliver you-deliver you from every danger, trouble and foe!

~James Smith~

Holy Foresight

Ah, LORD, Thou wast in Thy lowest state when before Thy persecutors Thou wast made to stand like a criminal! 

Yet the eyes of Thy faith could see beyond Thy present humiliation into Thy future glory. 

What words are these, "Nevertheless - hereafter!"

I would imitate Thy holy foresight, and in the midst of poverty, or sickness, or slander, I also would say, "Nevertheless - hereafter."

Instead of weakness, Thou hast all power...

Instead of shame, all glory...

Instead of derision, all worship, 

Thy cross has not dimmed the splendor of Thy crown, neither has the spittle marred the beauty of Thy face. 

Say, rather, Thou are the more exalted and honored because of Thy sufferings.

So, LORD, I also would take courage from the "hereafter." 

I would forget the present tribulation in the future triumph. 

Help thou me by directing me into Thy Father's love and into Thine own patience...

So that when I am derided for Thy name I may not be staggered but think more and more of the hereafter, and, therefore, all the less of today. 

I shall be with Thee soon and behold Thy glory. 

Wherefore, I am not ashamed but say in my inmost soul, "Nevertheless - hereafter." 

~Charles Spurgeon~

Our Cherith

1Ki 17:3  Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. 

God's servants must be taught the value of the hidden life. 

The man who is to take a high place before his fellows - must take a low place before his God. 

We must not be surprised if sometimes our Father says: "There, child, you have had enough of this hurry, and publicity, and excitement; get hence, and hide yourself by the brook...

Hide yourself . . .in the Cherith of the sick chamber, or in the Cherith of bereavement, or in some solitude from which the crowds have ebbed away.

Happy is he who can reply, "This Your will is also mine; I flee unto You to hide me."

Hide me in the secret of Your tabernacle, and beneath the covert of Your wings!

Every saintly soul who would wield great power with men, must win it in some hidden Cherith. 

The acquisition of spiritual power is impossible, unless we can hide ourselves from men and from ourselves, in some deep gorge where we may absorb the power of the eternal God...

As vegetation through long ages absorbed these qualities of sunshine, which it now gives back through burning coal.

Passing back to the blessed age from which we date the centuries: 

Patmos; the seclusion of the Roman prisons; the Arabian desert; the hills and valleys of Palestine...are forever memorable as the holy Cheriths of the new testament disciples.

Our Lord found His Cheriths at Nazareth; in the wilderness of Judea; amid the olive groves of Bethany; and the solitude of Gadara.

None of us, therefore, can dispense with some Cherith, where the sounds of human voices are exchanged for the waters of quietness, which are fed from the throne of God...

And where we may taste the sweets and imbibe the power of a life hidden with Christ.

~F. B. Meyer~

Full Reliance On God

Psa 72:12  For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper.

The needy cries; what else can he do? 

His cry is heard of God; what else need he do?

Let the needy reader take to crying at once, for this will be his wisdom. 

Do not cry in the ears of friends, for even if they can help you it is only because the LORD enables them. 

The nearest way is to go straight to God and let your cry come up before Him. 

Straightforward makes the best runner:

Run to the LORD and not to secondary causes.
 
Alas! you cry, "I have no friend or helper." 

So much the better; you can rely upon God in both capacities - as without supplies and without helpers. 

Make your double need your double plea. 

Even for temporal mercies you may wait upon God, for He careth for His children in these temporary concerns. 

As for spiritual necessities, which are the heaviest of all, the LORD will hear your cry and will deliver you and supply you.

O poor friend, try your rich God. 

O helpless one, lean on His help. 

He has never failed me, and I am sure He will never fail you. 

Come as a beggar, and God will not refuse you help. 

Come with no plea but His grace. 

Jesus is King; will He let you perish of wants What! 

Did you forget this! 

~Charles Spurgeon~

We May Speak For God

Jer 15:19  Therefore thus saith the LORD, If thou return, then will I bring thee again, and thou shalt stand before me: and if thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth: let them return unto thee; but return not thou unto them.

Poor Jeremiah! Yet why do we say so? 

The weeping prophet was one of the choicest servants of God and honored by Him above many. 

He was hated for speaking the truth. 

The word which was so sweet to him was bitter to his hearers, yet he was accepted of his LORD. 

He was commanded to abide in his faithfulness...

And then the LORD would continue to speak through him. 

He was to deal boldly and truthfully with men and perform the LORD's winnowing work upon the professors of his day...

And then the LORD gave him this word: "Thou shalt be as my mouth."

What an honor! 

Should not every preacher, yea, every believer, covet it? 

For God to speak by us, what a marvel! 

We shall speak sure, pure truth; and we shall speak it with power. 

Our word shall not return void...

It shall be a blessing to those who receive it...

And those who refuse it shall do so at their peril. 

Our lips shall feed many. 

We shall arouse the sleeping and call the dead to life.

O dear reader, pray that it may be so with all the sent servants of our LORD.

~Charles Spurgeon~

The Root Upon Which Our Blessings Grow

All Christians desire to be purified and made white...

But when it comes to being tried, that is a very different thing.

They shrink from the very word. 

Their trials are to them as a nightmare from which they would gladly escape. 

But trials are a necessary part of God's process of preparing us for Heaven.

The storms and obstacles in our lives, all work out for our good if we meet them as we should. 

Through them, our lives are enriched and ennobled and developed. 

They are blessings to us, though they may seem to be blessings very much disguised.

Life has both its bitter and its sweet. 

We should not always expect to have the sweet alone. 

Sometimes circumstances are in our favor, and work for our happiness, peace and contentment. 

Sometimes we have smooth sailing, and everything goes pleasantly. 

We are courageous and confident and rejoicing. 

The sun shines brightly out of a cloudless sky, and every prospect seems fair.

But this smooth sailing does not last forever. 

Sooner or later, the clouds must come and the storm-winds beat upon us. 

We must have the rough weather as well as the pleasant weather; the storm--as well as the calm.

The sunshine and the calm are very needful in life-and they work out a definite purpose.
 
But the storms and the rain and the wind are likewise needed-and they also fulfill their purpose.

Trials will come...we cannot evade them. 

We may plan and build up hopes-only to have our air-castles come crashing down around our heads! 

If we have set our hearts upon these things, we are likely to be very disappointed upon their wreck, and to feel very gloomy over the result.

How greatly we are affected by our trials, depends on whether or not we sweetly submit to them. 

We should never fret on account of disappointments. 

If we do, they will only grow more rapidly, both in size and in intensity.

Losses may come to us-our property may be swept away or burned up. 

If we have our hearts set upon our possessions-then this may touch a tender spot, and it will darken our lives and make us morose and dissatisfied.

Poverty may come and the many difficulties incident thereto.

Sickness may lay its heavy hand upon us or our loved ones, and try every fiber of our being. 

Sickness may play upon the chords of pain, a lamentation that incites with exquisite torture! 

Or it may fire our blood with fever until the sparkle has gone from the eye and the glow of health from the cheek. 

Or it may bind us helplessly captive in chains.

Death may come and take those dear by the ties of nature or friendship-and leave sorrow and grief to be our companions.

These things try the soul, but they must be borne. 

We cannot escape such things, for they are the common heritage of those who dwell in tabernacles of clay. 

They belong to mortality and to the mutable things of time. 

How greatly such things may affect us, will depend upon how much we rebel against the circumstances...

Or how easily we submit to and adapt ourselves to God's will. 

God may chasten you sorely, but He will do it for your profit, not for your destruction.

Our trials are the root upon which our blessings grow. 

These roots may be bitter-but the fruit is sure to be sweet, if we patiently wait for its maturing. 

Many choice fruits grow on thorny trees, and he who will gather the fruit, may expect to be pricked now and then by the thorns.

We cannot escape trials.

The only thing some Christians do by rebelling, is to increase their suffering in the trials and prevent themselves from getting the blessedness out of them.

We ought to be willing to suffer when it is God's will for us to suffer, and when He sees it is necessary for us to suffer. 

Our Master drank the cup of suffering, even though it was bitter. 

Are we better than He? 

Shall we refuse to go by the path which led Him to glory?

~Charles Naylor~

Let This Comfort You

Psa 31:15  My times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me.

What a mercy it is that all our concerns are in sure hands! 

Not a hair of our heads can fall to the ground, but by the appointment of Him who orders and marshals the stars and calls them all by their names!

Diseases and sicknesses are His messengers, and, when they have answered His end-then He will recall them. 

But on many accounts there is a need be that we should sometimes be in heaviness for a season. 

O may we learn to take up the cross, and to kiss the rod of affliction. 

We need to look through all second causes-to Him who appoints and over-rules, and without whose permission, not a hair of our heads shall fall to the ground.

The Lord has promised to direct, moderate, sanctify, and relieve every trial of every kind. 

I long to have a more entire submission to His will, and a more steadfast confidence in His Word...

To trust Him and wait on Him--to see His hand, and praise His name, in every circumstance of life, great and small.

Is sickness your present cross?

It can come no sooner, nor fall heavier, than He bids it. 

And when His end is answered, and His hour comes to give relief-then sickness departs at His word. 

The cure becomes easy then, even where it seemed desperate before.

Our comforts are never safer than when we can fully trust the Lord to do with them, and with us-as He sees fit. 

He will not willingly or unnecessarily grieve His redeemed children. 

When His arm seems lifted up to strike them-how often does He put it into their hearts to run toward Him and humble themselves before Him, and thus prevent the blow!

We shall have cause to be thankful for all our afflictions-if the Lord is pleased to employ them as means to make us more humble and broken-hearted, and to wean our hearts from this vain world.

Sickness often gives us a sensible proof of the vanity of everything earthly. 

May the Lord sanctify our sicknesses and pains, to quicken our desires for that better world, when pain shall be no more!

~John Newton~

The Rest Of Faith

---

Heb 4:9  There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. 

I am sure it will sound to many of you like going a long way back and going out into a very broad realm when I say that we Christians are being constantly confronted with and challenged by our Christianity.

Many of us have not really entered into Christianity yet. 

What do I mean?

Well, for one thing, the very door into true Christianity is the door of rest, the rest of faith. 

The very simple way in which the Lord put it in His appeal was..."Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matt. 11:28).

That was to a multitude, and those words are usually employed in Gospel messages to the unsaved.

The meaning of the Lord in using those words is given to us here in the letter to the Hebrews...

A very much deeper and fuller meaning than is generally recognized in the usage of the simple invitation "Come unto Me... and I will give you rest."

There is something that we have to hear, to detect, in the statement..."There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God." Heb 4:9

You will not think me too elementary, for you know in your heart, as well as I do in mine, that this matter of heart rest, the rest of faith, is a live question continually, it is coming up all the time.

One of the things which is lacking in so many of us is this rest...

Or, to put it the other way, the things which characterize us so much are fret, anxiety, uncertainty, and all those things which are just the opposite of calm assurance, quiet confidence, the spirit and attitude and atmosphere which says all the time, "Don't worry, don't fret, it is all right."

One thing our great enemy is always trying to do is to disturb that, destroy that, rob us of that, churn us up, fret us, drive us, harass us, anything to rob us of our rest or to prevent us from entering into rest.

It is the rest of faith, not just the rest of passivity, indifference, and carelessness.

There is all the difference between carelessness and carefreeness.

There remaineth, there is still to be had, there still obtains, there still exists, there is still preserved a rest for the people of God – for the people of God.

~T. Austin Sparks~