Comfort and Counsel
"Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. ... God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able." 1 Cor. 10:12, 13
Oh, wondrous Love ! that ne'er forgets The objects of its tender care:
May chasten still, while sin besets, To warn and guard them where they are.
But ne'er forgets; but feeds them still With tokens of His tender love;
Will keep, till freed from every ill, They find their rest with Him above !
J.N.D.
(pp. 21-24, Footprints for Pilgrims)
What we have to do, whether to Christians, to backsliders, or to sinners is to maintain the attitude of God towards each of these classes. He never gives up one of His own, nor diminishes His love, though He does change His manner. As someone has said, we do not cease to love, but we do not caress a naughty child.
The perfection of the christian life is absolute trust in God. All roads lead to this, and the one who reaches it in any measure will never be confounded.
Waiting before the Lord is the sure means of qualification for obedience to His bidding.
The fear of God can lift the feeblest and humblest above the fear of man.
Sympathy is the rarest of all ministries, as it is also the sweetest; it makes no show in the world, but it leaves its mark.
In praying for the sick I once heard a brother use this expression: "May those who are too weak to pray be able to lean."
Until the soul is at peace and in liberty divine things cannot be communicated.
We get rest by a revelation of the Father's love through Christ.
The one alleviation which always presents itself to my mind in cases of lunacy is that, even when reason has been dethroned, the spirit may be in conscious and intelligent communion with God. I formed this judgment many years ago.
There is no pillow like love, and we have the Lord's perfect love to rest upon.
"The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want" (Psalm 23:1) "I shall not want" This conclusion flows, not from what we are to Him, but from what He is to us.
To desire blessing is easy, but the path to blessing is through waves and clouds and storms -- that is, through the deepest exercises.
The secret of many of our sicknesses and sorrows is that our hearts have not been true to the Lord. ... We assume too much when we are sick; we take it for granted that all is well with us, and forget the hand of the Lord may be in the sickness to recover the hearts of His people.
What is true of us is not always true to us. Is is true of every believer that he is in Christ, but in order to be true to him he must reach that position in his own soul experimentally.
Whoever goeth to warfare at his own charges ? No; He who calls, equips and sustains; and the servant has only to learn how to avail himself of what is provided. The Lord expects nothing from us, except looking to Him, and even for that He will give the power.
Let me put you a simple question: How many of you have said today in your hearts, "The Lord Jesus Christ may be here before the day closes" ?
We are so apt to look for deliverance in suffering, but I suspect that God's object with each of us is to teach us to expect a fresh revelation of Christ and to learn His mind in the trial.
--- E.D.
