God's measureless measures part III

"We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise." 2 Corinthians 10:12

II.—HIS WORD.

"Behold the handmaid of the Lord!" is the sublime response of Mary to the angel's astonishing message, "be it unto me according to Thy Word." Never was faith put to a harder test. Never was woman asked to stand in so delicate a place of peril and possibility, of humbling shame and glorious everlasting honor. Realizing, perhaps, with every instinct of her maiden heart all that this might cost her, she meekly, unhesitatingly, without one question, one faltering breath, accepted the stupendous promise and responsibility and rose to meet the divine measure, "according to Thy word," and like an echo came back the heavenly benediction, '' Blessed is she that believed, for there shall be a performance of those things that were told her from the Lord."

Beloved, are you living up to this great measure? Is faith resting and claiming, not according to signs and feelings, but according to His word? Is obedience walking, not according to the course of this world, or the moods of our capricious hearts, or the standards of men, or the example of others, or the traditions even of the church, but according- to His word? Are we Bible Christians and determined to believe and obey every word within these inspired and heavenly pages? Then we shall be found in '' the way everlasting," for "the grass withereth and the flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand forever," and "he that doeth the will of God abideth forever." 

God's measureless measures part II

"We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise." 2 Corinthians 10:12

We find a number of God's standards and measures referred to in the Holy Scriptures, rising like the rounds of Jacob's ladder from earth to heaven. There is a simple phrase often repeated in the New Testament and often overlooked, which expresses these measures and steps. It is the phrase"according to," two words which rise like the uprights of Jacob's ladder to the heavens, and across which many of the precious promises may be seen in the vision of faith firmly fastened as heavenly steps leading higher and higher up to all the good and perfect will of God. Let us glance at some of these heavenly measures.

I. The Will of God

This is at once the limitation and the inspiration of our faith and prayer. "If we ask anything According To His will He heareth us." "The Spirit maketh intercession for the saints According To the will of God." Beyond this our desires and our aspirations cannot go, but beyond it they need not desire to go, for within it lie all the probabilities of blessing which a human and immortal life can receive; and God's chief desire is to get us to see how much it means of blessing for us. As we have often said, there is no vaster prayer within the reach of faith than the simple sentence, "Thy will be done." This will must mean for each of us our highest possible good. We know it includes our salvation, if we will accept salvation, for "God will have all men to be saved." We know it includes our sanctification, for "this is the will of God, even your sanctification." We know it includes our deliverance from physical evil if we will receive it in His Name in faith and obedience, for He has said, "I will. Be thou clean." We know it includes every needed blessing that the obedient can require, for He has said '' He will withhold no good thing from them that walk uprightly." The apostle's prayer for his beloved friends was that they might have fulfilled in them ''all the good pleasure of His goodness;'' and that they might "prove that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."

From Strength to Strength part IV

"From Strength to Strength" Psalm 84:7

It is strength to ''withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand." It is strength to endure. Let us read attentively Col. 1:11. "Strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering with joy fullness." Here is one of the advanced stations of the pilgrim's progress ''from strength to strength."   We may well pause and ask if we have reached this place of strength. Is this then the goal of Pentecost? Is this the great objective point contemplated by the mighty baptism of the Holy Ghost? Is this the meaning of the power from on high?

"Strengthened with all might according to His glorious power!" One would surely look for a sublimer battlefield to follow such a splendid parade of the armies of God; however, we see an entirely different spectacle. A solitary soldier on an obscure and weary pathway, battling with a thousand petty hardships, difficulties and trials, or standing through all the day of battle without a single opportunity of advancing, and seemingly called to nothing else but to stand under the fire of the enemy and to ''endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." His whole business seems to be "patience and longsuffering;" the first, with reference to the trials; the second, the annoyances and injuries of men. These are the very things human strength cannot endure. Many a brave man can stand under a cannon's fire more calmly than he can endure the taunts of a fellow-creature. The highest victory of the Son of God was, that, "when He was reviled He reviled not again; when He suffered He threatened not:"and the mightiest triumphs of the strength of God in us are realized when we can receive the hiding of our Father's face and even the weight of His mighty hand without a doubt or murmur, and accept the misconceptions,reproaches and wrongs of our fellow-men, not only with long-suffering, but with joyfulness; not only unruffled and un retaliating, but sweetly realizing and fully believing that they are to us the pledges of some richer blessing from our heavenly Father, and the guarantees of something so glorious that we cannot but thank God for giving us the opportunity of thus winning another blessing.

From Strength to Strength part II

"From Strength to Strength" Psalm 84:7

It is divine, not human strength, and it is strength which is wholly divine and in no sense or measure human. It is an exchange of strength in which we have surrendered all our power and received instead the divine power and enabling. This glorious exchange of strength is vividly set forth in Isaiah, chapter 40: "He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might He increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, but they that wait upon the Lord shall exchange their strength." That is to say, the strongest human strength, the manhood of young men, the vigor and vitality of youth, shall be wholly inadequate for the exigencies of Christian life and conflict, and it is not until these have failed that God has room to display the resources of His omnipotence. When we become "faint," then He giveth His power, and when we have "no might," then He "increaseth strength," that is, gives yet more because of our utter helplessness. Waiting on the Lord, we let our strength go and take His instead, and so renew or exchange our strength.

More than Conquerors part II

"Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us."—Rom.8:37.

It is to have such a victory as brings actual benefit out of the battle and makes it tributary to our own and our Master's cause. It is possible in a certain sense to take our enemies prisoners and make them fight in our ranks, or at least do the menial work of our camp. It is possible to get such good out of Satan's assaults that he shall actually become our ally without intending it and shall find with eternal chagrin that he has been doing us real service. Doubtless he thought, when he stirred up Pharaoh to murder the little children of the Hebrews, that he was exterminating a race of which he was afraid. 

But that very act of his brought Moses into Pharaoh's house and raised up a deliverer for Israel and the destroyer of Pharaoh. Surely that was being "more than conqueror!" The devil was not only beaten but made to work in the Lord's chain-gang as a galley slave. Again, he over matched himself when he instigated Haman to build his lofty gallows and send forth the decree for Israel's extermination, for he had the misery of seeing Haman hang on those gallows and Israel delivered. So again, no doubt, he put the Hebrew children into the furnace and Daniel into the den of lions hoping to destroy the last remnant of godliness on the earth, but lo! these heroes were "more than conquerors." Not only did they escape their destroyer, but their deliverance led to the proclamation of Nebuchadnezzar, magnifying the truth of God through the entire Babylonian empire, and to the similar confession of Darius, recognizing God throughout all the confines of the still greater Persian empire. Surely Satan was more than beaten that time!

Have peace in Jesus

"These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace"—John 16:3.

There is peace for us; yes, Peace even in a world of evil and unrest. Whatever shadows may fling themselves across our path or rest above our dwellings, there is peace. We do not need to be troubled or sad.

The Son of God makes known the awesome truth. He says "there is peace" and He tells us where it is found,—in Himself. "He is our peace," and the "peace which passeth all understanding" is in Him alone. "In me ye shall have peace." "Peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you."

Yet again, He tells us that it is through what He has spoken to us that we are to get this peace which is in Him. His words are the words of peace. They lead us to Himself. They make known the grace that is in Him. They tell us what He is as well as what He has done. To listen to the words which Christ has spoken, is to drink in the peace of which He is the fountain. In hearing Him, peace flows in upon us like a river. It is only by closing the ear against Him, and against His words, that we can shut out the blessed peace.

How little do men know how much they lose in not listening to His voice! and how much they would gain in listening!

Thy hands have made me

"Thy hands have made me, and fashioned me: give me understanding, that I may learn Thy commandments."—Ps. 119: 73.

It was in the same way that Peter wrote, ages after—"Commit the keeping of your souls to Him, as unto a faithful Creator." Both the Old and New Testament saints are looking at God, as the God that made them; not merely the God who clothes the lilies and feeds the ravens, but the God who made themselves. On this they build their trust. He made them, and He has not unmade them. Surely they may trust Him. They seem to say to God, "Thou hast made us: surely Thou wilt teach us; surely Thou wilt preserve and comfort us. The God who created us will not forsake the work of His own hands. He who gave us breath, will He not much more give us His Holy Spirit? He who cares for these vile bodies, will He not much more care for these souls?"

This is a peace-giving truth. It is a strong and blessed argument against all unbelief. We cannot deny that He made us; surely we cannot doubt that He will care for us, and keep us, and bless us. It is like Paul's argument in Romans 8:32, "He that spared not his own Son, will he not with him freely give us all things?" He who upholds us in being and keeps us out of hell, what will He not do for us ?— what will He not give us? Would He give us our daily life, with all its common mercies, if He were only seeking to destroy us?

For he satisfies the longing soul

"For he satisfies the longing soul"—Ps. 107: 9.

It is our poverty that fits us for the riches of God. This is our only qualification. It is with the poor that God deals. It is the empty that He fills.

When a soul comes to know that it is really poor and empty, then it stretches out its hands to Him who alone can satisfy. It is in this attitude that God meets us. "He satisfieth the longing soul." Shall we not come before Him ? He wants no merit, no claim on our part. All He desires is that we should be willing to be receivers. He asks no more. He loves to bless. "He gives to all men liberally, and upbraideth not." Let us go to Him. He sends none empty away. Each longing cry that goes up in His ears meets with a ready response. He is not slow to give. His love is not as our love; His thoughts are not as our thoughts; His ways are not as our ways. He gave His Son, and what will He not give? He has sent His Spirit, and what will not that Spirit bring to us? He has made known to us His "gospel," — His "good news;" and how much does that imply? How can we be poor, with such riches as His at our side?

My times are in Thy hand

"My times are in Thy hand."—Ps. 31:15.

These are Christ's words, for the psalm is one of His utterances when bearing our sins. He is speaking as the "sent" one, the dependent, trusting Son of man.

We can also take up these words. We look up and remember Jehovah. What He is, even apart from what He is to us, is our joy. He is Jehovah; He is the disposer of times and events, the sovereign arranger of everything relating to us. He is so condescendingly mindful of us that He orders our whole life and lot. He in whose hand our times are is the God of love.

1. What solemnity, then, does this cast over life! A life thus wholly ordered in all its times by the infinite Jehovah must be a solemn thing.

2. What stability does it impart! Even in such an unstable world everything is under the regulation of an unchanging purpose.

3. What certainty does it give to all that passes! There can be no random, nay, no trivial events; nothing disjointed or loose.

4. What peace does it fill us with in this tempestuous age! Nations may rock to and fro, politicians stagger, confusion reign; we are at peace. All is well .

5. What consolation in sorrow! Our times are in hands divinely wise and powerful . All must work for good. There can be no real evil.

6. What hope for the future! We know that there is light beyond this gloom. The storm is for an hour, the calm that follows is eternal.

Thou wilt save the afflicted people.

"Thou wilt save the afflicted people."—Ps. 18:27.

To be numbered among "the afflicted people," need not cast us down. We are not  made outcasts, as if God were shaking us off like withered leaves, to leave us to perish, and think on us no more. He will "save the afflicted people." This was the confidence which David knew to repose in Him when brought very low; and this was the confidence with which a Greater than David leaned upon Him when He was brought lower still.

It is salvation that the afflicted need. Their case is a much more desperate one than they imagine. It is not mere help, or comfort, or relief, that they need. It is salvation. Their saddest case needs no more, but their least affliction needs no less.

And in God there is salvation for them. He who afflicts is the same that delivers. The smiter is the Saviour. The wounder is the healer. Into His hands we commend ourselves, that He may undertake for us. He that is our God is the God of salvation; and this is enough both to assure us that the trial will not be too bitter, and that deliverance will come in due time. When it comes, it will be complete.

There is no real evil in affliction, except that which we put into it ourselves by our perversity. There is only good. Not to be afflicted, is the worst affliction that can come upon us.

Who is a rock, save our God?

"Who is a rock, save our God"—2 Sam. 22: 32.

Yes, who is a rock, except Him? Shelter, shadow, fortress, shield, hiding-place and refuge—all in Him! Jehovah, God of heaven and earth; the God who so loved the world as to give His only-begotten Son, He is our Rock!

What shall we then say? If God be for us, who can be against us? If He be our rock, who can harm us? What storm of the ocean can overthrow us when established on this Rock, or what sun of the desert can scorch us when seated under the shadow of the Great Rock in the weary land?

Let us trust and not be afraid. Let us be without carefulness. Let us not forecast evil, or trouble ourselves about the future. All is well. Who is a rock except our God? We may well be calm and peaceful. We have a good right to be steadfast and unmovable.

It is not we that have made the Rock, nor placed it where it is. It is Jehovah himself; and He has done it for us.

It is on this Rock that the Holy Spirit places us when He draws us out of the horrible pit. And He does so simply in enabling us to receive God's testimony concerning this wondrous Rock; concerning the free love of Him who is our rock and refuge.

"Trust ye in the Lord for ever; for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength;"—the Rock of Ages —(Isa. 26:4.)