Tuesday, October 25, 2016

A bar of steel has its price in the fires of the forge and hammer

Look, I am making you like a sharp threshing sledge, new and double-edged. You will thresh the mountains and crush them; you will make the hills like straw. — Isa. 41:15

A bar of steel worth five dollars, when wrought into horseshoes, is worth ten dollars. If made into needles, it is worth three hundred and fifty dollars; if into penknife blades, it is worth thirty-two thousand dollars; if into springs for watches it is worth two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. What a drilling the poor bar must undergo to be worth this! But the more it is manipulated, the more it is hammered and passed through the fire, and beaten and pounded and polished, the greater the value.

May this parable help us to be silent, still, and longsuffering. Those who suffer most are capable of yielding most; and it is through pain that God is getting the most out of us, for His glory and the blessing of others.

Selah

— Selected, Streams in the Desert.

Life is very mysterious. Indeed it is inexplicable unless we believe that God is preparing us for scenes and ministries that lie beyond the veil of sense in the eternal world, where highly-tempered spirits will be required for special service.

Selah.

Friday, October 21, 2016

God takes nothing and makes it everything. God takes one or two and makes many. Be one!

The least of you will multiply into a thousand; the smallest of you will become a large nation. When the right time comes, I the Lord will quickly do this! — Isa 60:22 NET

by C.H. Spurgeon

Works for the Lord often begin on a small scale, and they are none the worse for this. Feebleness educates faith, brings God near, and wins glory for His name. Prize promises of increase! Mustard seed is the smallest among seeds, and yet it becomes a treelike plant, with branches which lodge the birds of heaven. We may begin with one, and that “a little one,” and yet it will “become a thousand.” The Lord is great at the multiplication table. How often did He say to His lone servant, “I will multiply thee!” Trust in the Lord, ye ones and twos; for He will be in the midst of you if you are gathered in His name.

“A small one.” What can be more despicable in the eyes of those who count heads and weigh forces! Yet this is the nucleus of a great nation. Only one star shines out at first in the evening, but soon the sky is crowded with countless lights.

Nor need we think the prospect of increase to be remote, for the promise is, “I, Yahweh, will hasten it in his time.” There will be no premature haste, like that which we see at excited meetings; it will be all in due time, but yet there will be no delay. When the Lord hastens, His speed is glorious.

Alleluia!

Selah

Truth in the inward parts — not propositional or confessional: Willing to do His will, just because He says so.



TRUTH IN THE INWARD PARTS IS NOT PROPOSITIONAL. NOR IS IT CONFESSIONAL.

"Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life." This saying of Jesus mingled itself with his brooding, and by and by, though yet he was brooding rather than meditating, the form of Jesus had gathered, in the stillness of his mental quiescence, so much of reality that at length he found himself thinking of him as of a true-hearted man, mightily in earnest to help his fellows, who could not get them to mind what he told them. "Ah!" said the curate to himself, "if I had but seen him, would not I have minded him!—would I not have haunted his steps, with question upon question, until I got at the truth!"

TRUTH IN THE INWARD PARTS IS ACTIONAL: WILLING TO DO HIS WILL—DOING A THING JUST BECAUSE HE SAYS.

"Yet here have I, all these years, been calling myself a Christian, ministering, forsooth, in the temple of Christ, as if he were a heathen divinity, who cared for songs and prayers and sacrifices, and cannot honestly say I ever once in my life did a thing because he said so, although the record is full of his earnest, even pleading words! I have NOT been an honest man, and how should a dishonest man be a judge over that man who said he was the Christ of God? Would it be any wonder if the things he uttered should be too high and noble to be by such a man recognized as truth?"

With this, yet another saying dawned upon, him: IF ANY MAN WILL DO HIS WILL, HE SHALL KNOW OF THE DOCTRINE, WHETHER IT BE OF GOD, OR WHETHER I SPEAK OF MYSELF. He went into a place of prayer and shut to the door—came out again, and went straight to visit a certain grievous old woman.

Selah.
 

George MacDonald, The Curate’s Awakening, “Chapter XXXI: The Curate Makes a Discovery.

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Lord, make me honest

LORD, MAKE ME HONEST

“I am sure Mr. Faber is honest,” said Helen. “That is much to say for any man,” returned the curate. “If any man is, then,” adjusted Juliet. “That is a great IF,” rejoined Wingfold. “—Are you honest, Helen?” he added, turning to his wife. “No,” she answered, “But I am honester than I was a year ago.” “So am I,” said her husband. “And I hope to be honester yet before another is over. It's a big thing to say, ‘I am honest.’”




Selah.

George MacDonald, The Lady’s Confession, "Chapter XVIII: The Park at Nestley."

Friday, October 14, 2016

A Scotsman's commentary on a Sunday sermon

"What the man said was this--'at the sea 'at Peter gaed oot upo' wasna first an' foremost to be luikit upon as a teep [type] o' the inward an' spiritual troubles o' the believer, still less o' the troubles o' the church o' Christ. The Lord deals wi' fac's nane the less 'at they canna help bein' teeps.

Here was terrible fac's to Peter. Here was angry watter an' roarin' win'; here was danger an' fear: the man had to trust or gang doon.
  • Gien the hoose be on fire we maun trust; 
  • gien the watter gang ower oor heids we maun trust; 
  • gien the horse rin awa', we maun trust. 
Him 'at canna trust in siclike conditions, I wadna gie a plack for ony ither kin' o' faith he may hae. God 's nae a mere thoucht i' the warl' o' thoucht, but a leevin' pooer [living power] in a' warl's alike [all worlds alike].

Him 'at gangs to God wi' a sair heid 'ill the suner gang til 'im wi' a sair hert; an' them 'at thinksna he cares for the pains o' their bodies 'ill ill believe he cares for the doobts an' perplexities o' their inquirin' speerits.

[Him that goes to God with a sore head will the sooner go to Him with a sore heart. And them that think not He cares for the pains of their bodies will less believe He cares for the doubts and perplexities of their searching spirits.]




Selah.

George MacDonald, Donal Grant, "A Sunday."

Saturday, October 08, 2016

Jesus always goes ahead of us: He does not say, "There I will be," but "There I AM!"

But go, tell his disciples, even Peter, that he is going ahead of you into Galilee. You will see him there, just as he told you.” — Mk. 16:7

 by C.H. Spurgeon

Where He appointed to meet His disciples, there He would be in due time. Jesus keeps His trust. If He promises to meet us at the mercy seat, or in public worship, or in the ordinances, we may depend upon it that He will be there. We may wickedly stay away from the appointed meeting place, but He never does. He says, “Where two or three are met together in my name, there I am!” He says not, “There will I be,” but, “I am there already.”

Jesus is always first in fellowship: “He goeth before you.” His heart is with His people, His delight is in them, He is never slow to meet them. In all fellowship He goeth before us.

But He reveals Himself to those who come after Him: “There shall ye see him.” Joyful sight! We care not to see the greatest of mere men, but to see Him is to be filled with joy and peace. And we shall see Him, for He promises Himself to them. Rest assured that it will be so, for He does everything according to His word of promise: “As he said unto you. Catch at those last words, and be assured that to the end He will do for you "as he said unto you."

Alleluia!

Selah.

Affliction, when I know it, is but this: a deep alloy, and made more image of His will

Affliction, when I know it, is but this,   
A deep alloy whereby man tougher is   
To bear the hammer; and the deeper still —   
We still arise more image of His will.   

John Fletcher

A Scotsman's prayer at the death of a faithful friend

"O Thou in whase sicht oor deeth is precious, an' no licht maitter; wha through darkness leads to licht, an' through deith to the greater life! we canna believe that thou wouldst gie us ony guid thing, to tak' the same again; for that would be but bairns' play. We believe that thou taks, that thou may gie again the same thing better nor afore mair o't and better nor we could ha' received it itherwise; jist as the Lord took himsel' frae the sicht o' them 'at lo'ed him weel, that instead o' bein' veesible afore their een, he micht hide himsel' in their verra herts.

"Come thou, an' abide in us, an' tak' us to bide in thee; an' syne gin we be a' in thee, we canna be that far frae ane anither, though some sud be in haven, an' some upo' earth. Lord help us to do oor wark like thy men an' maidens doon the stair, remin'in' oursel's, 'at them 'at we miss hae only gane up the stair, as gin 'twar to haud things to thy han' i' thy ain presence-chamber, whaur we houp to be called or lang, an' to see thee an' thy Son, wham we lo'e aboon a'; an' in his name we say, Amen!"




Selah.

George MacDonald

Monday, October 03, 2016

The still, small Voice of God is seldom in line with cultural, personal or family wisdom, and its immediate plan often appears at odds even with its final goal.

After the earthquake, there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. After the fire, there was a soft whisper. — 1 Kgs 19:12 NET

A soul, who made rapid progress in her understanding of the Lord, was once asked the secret of her easy advancement. She replied tersely, “Mind the checks.” And the reason that many of us do not know and better understand Him is, we do not give heed to His gentle checks, His delicate restraints and constraints. His is a still, small voice. A still voice can hardly be heard. It must be felt. A steady, gentle pressure upon the heart and mind like the touch of a morning zephyr to your face. A small voice, quietly, almost timidly spoken in your heart, but if heeded growing noiselessly clearer to your inner ear. His voice is for the ear of love, and love is intent upon hearing even faintest whispers. There comes a time also when love ceases to speak if not responded to, or believed in. He is love, and if you would know Him and His voice, give constant ear to His gentle touches. In conversation, when about to utter some word, give heed to that gentle voice, mind the check and refrain from speech. When about to pursue some course that seems all clear and right and there comes quietly to your spirit a suggestion that has in it the force almost of a conviction, give heed, even if changed plans seem highest folly from standpoint of human wisdom. Learn also to wait on God for the unfolding of His will. Let God form your plans about everything in your mind and heart and then let Him execute them. Do not possess any wisdom of your own. For many times His execution will seem so contradictory to the plan He gave. He will seem to work against Himself. Simply listen, obey and trust God even when it seems highest folly so to do. He will in the end make “all things work together,” but so many times in the first appearance of the outworking of His plans,

“In His own world He is content
To play a losing game.”


So if you would know His voice, never consider results or possible effects. Obey even when He asks you to move in the dark. He Himself will be gloriously light in you. And there will spring up rapidly in your heart an acquaintanceship and a fellowship with God which will be overpowering in itself to hold you and Him together, even in severest testings and under most terrible pressures.

Selah.






— Way of Faith, quoted in Streams in the Desert

Note: It's fascinating that the plan of God often seems to take a detour -- many times in the opposite of its actual goal -- and makes the "first appearance of the outworking of His plans" look so different from the plan's completion! God know what He's about, though. We simply must trust, and follow His Spirit's light. He will guide us with His eye, if we are not like the horse or mule which needs a bridle and bit. Selah.