WALKING WITH JESUS by Mary Winslow
Spiritual meditations for pilgrims in a weary land on
their way to glory!
Part 4
How is it that the Lord places His
people so frequently, and keeps them so long, in the furnace? When
one trial is over another comes, scarcely, sometimes, allowing breathing
time between! Wave resounding to wave! Oh, it is because He loves us, and
will have us know it. And when trouble comes, small or great, we then
shelter beneath His wings, or nestle within His bosom, and feel the very
throbbings of His heart. Who can sound the depth or measure the dimensions
of the love of God towards His people- its depth, its height? Eternity
alone can unfold it. It passes knowledge. Oh, it is sweet to repose in His
bosom, and shelter there until the storm be past.
It is only by constantly looking to Christ that we can
get joy and comfort. Thus, looking to Jesus and going to Jesus, we
travel through this intricate wilderness comfortably and safely to our
home in heaven.
May we be led daily, hourly, to look more simply to
Jesus; leaning upon Him for all we need for body and soul, for time and
eternity. I find that the more I am enabled to live upon Him, the happier
I am; and it is the only comfortable way of getting through a host of
trials and difficulties, and of renouncing the world, the flesh, and the
devil. May God give us all more of the sweet simplicity of faith.
The more we feel the exceeding sinfulness of sin,
and are led into a just view of our own most wretched helplessness, the
more we shall value the great and all-glorious atonement made for sin; and
in proportion also will Jesus be precious to our souls.
Oh, what a privilege for such worms of the earth
to have fellowship with the great and mighty God of the universe, and such
nearness of access to the very heart of a precious Jesus!
What poor creatures we are, and what a wonder a
holy God should love us so!
How is it that we are not always rejoicing? Because of
our unbelief! What a conflict have I had lately with that monster!
Our friends who sleep in Jesus only cross the threshold
a little before us, and if we are real followers of Christ, we shall soon
meet them, and that to part no more. Your heavenly Father has taken one
that was dear to you, because he was dearer to Himself, and He wished to
have him in the full enjoyment of Himself a little sooner than you
would be willing to part with him. Blessed are the dead that die in
Jesus!
All we have to do is to keep a steadfast eye upon
Christ, and live upon Him moment by moment, coming to Him for all our
supplies; as children feeling their dependence on a parent's love, come to
a loving father, nothing doubting His power and willingness to grant them
all that they need.
This light affliction is but to draw you off from
the creature and closer to Himself. He would empty us of self that He
might fill us with His Spirit, and thus be more closely assimilated to His
image, more like Jesus. You are blessed of the Lord; dear to Him as the
apple of His eye. Jesus is our Sanctifier, and He is fitting us for His
beatific presence in a brighter, happier, holier world, where there will
be no more sickness, nor sorrow, nor sin. Then shall we behold Him in all
His glory, and be forever with the Lord.
As I have lain on my sick bed, I have been favored with
much of His most precious presence, and can scarcely call any circumstance
a trial when the oil and the wine has been so richly poured into my soul.
How unspeakably precious is our Jesus. How good and full of love in all
His dispensations with His people. I truly feel that goodness and mercy
have followed me all the days of my pilgrimage, and will continue to
follow me to its close. He has engaged to bring us safely through all,
making us more than conquerors over all. "Call upon me in the day of
trouble, and I will deliver you." This exceeding great and precious
promise has been to me like untold gold. I have sometimes thought, surely
I shall weary Him out by my continual coming; but not so. The oftener I
come, the more welcome. I feel I can cast myself into the very ocean of
His love, in which the feeblest saint may safely swim.
Men think lightly of sin; not only sinners, but the
saints do not view it in its proper light. Sin is not a light thing in the
sight of God. The Church of God is asleep. Christians have too
light views of sin.
We need more of the descent of the Holy Spirit in
His almighty power, that sinners may be converted and saints
thoroughly awakened. Oh, when shall the Holy Spirit be poured upon us from
on high? Oh that in infinite love He may condescend to bow the heavens and
come down!
Christ is my physician. I love to open my whole
heart to Him. I would have no concealments from His blessed eyes, sinful
as I feel myself to be.
Jesus can manifest His wondrous love to the
vilest and most unworthy of His creatures. Jesus is very, very precious,
and full of tender compassion.
The world, with all its riches and honors and glories,
is dross compared with the wealth and blessedness that is yours in
virtue of your oneness with the Lord Jesus.
Cultivate this heavenly communion, this holy,
sanctifying familiarity with the Son of God. Allow nothing to come
between you and your best Friend.
Oh, how uncertain are all events in this changing
world! We are here for a little while, and then pass away; the believer to
his happy, happy home in heaven, prepared for him by infinite and eternal
love. How is it that we strive so hard to build our nest here,
and cling so fondly and with such tenacity to the creature? Did we fully
believe all that Christ says to us, how much more willing should we be to
depart and be with Him!
What would I, what could I do without a God to
go to? Oh what a transcendent blessing is a throne of grace in a time
of trouble! What a bosom is God's where we can pour all our sorrows, and
disclose all our needs, assured that He not only hears us always, but can
do for us better than we can possibly conceive of, for all power is His. I
believe that our severest trials will, in the end, throw off their somber
disguise, and stand before us as among our loveliest and most precious
blessings. "Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from Him."
I sympathize much with your loneliness, and wish you
were nearer to us. But Jesus is always at hand, ready to comfort when all
other comfort is gone. This may be a time when He deigns to draw you
closer to Himself, to show you more of His loving heart, and to teach you
how much you need Him at all times. Endeavor to get closer to Him as that
Friend, and Husband too, that sticks closer than a brother.
How is it with your faith? Are you keeping a steadfast
eye upon Christ, who has promised to supply all your needs? Or, are you
looking more to an arm of flesh? If you are, God will disappoint you. When
you have a need, look first and go first to Jesus, and let Him not take
the second place in your estimation. Go in the simplicity of a little
child, pouring all you need into His willing ear and tender heart.
There is no school, in the believer's training for
heaven, like the school of affliction, in which to attain to a
knowledge of the character of God.
We are not to be like the world around us, but are
to see God in everything, and in every act; and walk humbly and closely
with Him.
We need in our present exile to dwell more on
heaven than we do; to sit more in heavenly places; to be looking away from
present trials, afflictions, and disappointments to the things that are
unseen, and eternal. How much better would we then bear our present woes;
the roughness and the privation of the homeward pilgrimage. Oh, dear
friend, when we reach that world of glory and of bliss, and see Jesus as
He is, we shall marvel and wonder, and were it possible, should weep, at
the thought that we could have been satisfied to remain so long the tenant
of this body of sin and of death, and not pant more for the disembodied,
unrobed spirit, and so be instantly and forever with our best Beloved.
What a marvelous spectacle is this! a poor sinner
and a holy Lord God meeting together at the blood sprinkled mercy seat! Is
not this most blessed? I often go burdened, and come away light as a
feather, nestling beneath the very wing of the Savior, and listening to
His well known, "Fear not!" I disclose to Him all that is in my heart, and
He unveils His loving, tender, forgiving heart to me.
Dear friend, keep close to Him. Let not the world and
its cares come between you and Christ. If a cloud intervenes, rest
not until it is withdrawn. Go, and go again, and should a shade still
obscure the glorious vision, return not from His presence until even its
shadow has dissolved into full, unclouded light.
How precious does Jesus appear to my soul. I lie at
His feet as the lame beggar at the beautiful gate of the temple,
asking an alms; helpless, yet waiting; believing and hoping to receive a
smile from the beamings of His countenance.
Who can subdue our inbred sins but Jesus? As well might
we attempt to upheave a mountain, as to argue with and remove even a
solitary corruption of our fallen nature. But if we carry it at once to
Christ, He will do it all for us! This is one of the most difficult,
though needed, lessons in the school of Christ. I seem myself to be
only just beginning to learn it, and therefore am brought often to take
the lowest class, and come as a little child to Jesus to do all for me,
and all in me. My own imagined strength has all vanished,
and my boasted wisdom turned into foolishness.
O eternity! With all your solemn realities, how is it
that creatures of a day think so little of you! A few more stages and you
and I, dear friend, will be there! How soon, how very soon, we shall be
fitted for the companionship of Jesus Himself, and shall be with Him,
beholding Him in all His unveiled loveliness, and bathing in the ocean
of His love! Does not the thought often gladden your heart, while it
dissolves in sweet contrition, that ever it should have sinned against One
who so loved us as to lay down His precious life for us?
What a costly proof has He given you of His love in
laying down His life for your soul's salvation!
Infinite wisdom and infinite love cannot mistake.
Trials, losses, crosses; all, all are needful, and when we get home
we shall plainly see how wisely they have been all ordered. Let us, then,
leave our concerns in the best possible hands. He will do all
things well for us, and in us, and by us. We are His and He is ours. What
need we fear?
Christian love and sympathy are very sweet, and we
should ever be grateful for them, for the creature is just what the
Lord makes it to us. But, oh, the delight of having that Friend of
friends to whom you cannot only open your heart, but who can bear your
trouble for you, feel for you, help you, comfort you, and that
effectually. Such is Jesus, our true and best friend.
Satan will keep us poring over our difficulties
until they grow into mountains in our imagination. We have but a very
imperfect idea of Satan's power and malice towards us. Our only help is to
flee at once to our Stronghold, our Refuge, our Hiding place, where alone
we are safe. Oh, how safe! We may hear the lion roar, but he cannot
reach us. Sheltered beneath the wing of Jesus we can defy his malice and
his power.
What a confidential, holy communion might be kept up
between us and our best Friend now in heaven, and our souls on earth. He
is in heaven for us, waiting to be gracious, listening with the
deepest solicitude and ardent love to all our requests. Make all your
requests known unto Him, with thanksgiving.
Our God so orders all things connected with our
eventful journey as either to allure or drive us to Himself.
Is it not humiliating that we so constantly require such sharp
discipline to bring us to know more of His boundless, matchless love? He
bears us continually on His heart, and in all that concerns us He is
equally concerned.
Oh to be more like Christ! This should be our whole
aim; to be conformed to His image, and so show forth His praise. How few
bearing the name of Jesus know what it is to deny themselves for His sake;
and are conformed to His likeness. Let us aim to be here as Christ was,
and to be satisfied with the way He deals with us in all things.
My joy is always more or less mixed with tears; joy and
sorrow. It is a pure mixture, and God would have it so. Joy in the
Holy Spirit, and sorrow for sin.
Oh what a God He is to all who know and trust Him! How
safely may we, at all times, confide our all in His blessed hands. Who is
like our God? What heart so full of love as His?
The prospect of soon being with Jesus is to me a
most delightful thought.
Only think for one moment how inexpressibly dear
you must be to the heart of God!
In every position in which God may place His children,
He designs some good towards them; and it ought to be our prayer, honest
and fervent, that He would, by His Spirit, show us why He deals with us,
and the profit He would graciously have us reap. God acts intelligently,
wisely, and righteously in all His dealings with His saints. Nothing is
done without forethought and plan. Nothing is done without an object and a
design. There is NO CHANCE with Him. All, all is part and parcel
of a preconceived, arranged, and defined scheme. Let us, then, quietly
repose in Him; and seek first His glory in all things, leaving Him to care
for, and dispose of, all secondary considerations.
It is good to have our thoughts continually heavenward;
to be looking to the things that are not seen, and are eternal. This will
help us to sit loose to the things which are seen and temporal. A few
years, short and fleeting, and we pass away from hence. Then, of what
little importance is everything here which is not closely connected with
our present advancement in the divine life. We are only pilgrims,
seeking a city that is to come. We shall soon be admitted into the
glorious presence of Jesus Christ! Let this blessed prospect nerve us to
do and to endure the will of the Lord in all things; and to see that we
grow in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus, that our wandering, deceitful
hearts might be kept in close converse with Him in all that we have to do.
I long, ardently long, to depart and be with Him;
to see Jesus; to enjoy Him with fullness of joy; to be like Him, perfected
in holiness.
A Father's ear and a Father's heart are both open to
our faintest breathings. Only go as a little child with all your
requests, and He will answer. Oh, what a Lord we have to do with- mercy,
mercy, unbounded mercy!
Oh that the Lord would but open the eyes of poor lost
sinners, and show them the inefficiency of everything else but the
knowledge of Christ Jesus to make them happy here and hereafter!
Oh, how awful to go blindfolded into that lake
that burns with fire and brimstone!
Nothing but the constraining love of Christ will
fully constrain us to holiness.
It is a pleasant thing to me, sometimes, to anticipate
the eternal rest that awaits me, my happy home, the home provided, and the
welcome from so many that will greet my arrival within its gate of pearl.
But first of all, and best of all, to see Jesus, my dearest, my only
Friend, whom I love, and desire to love, above all earthly beings. Oh
to behold Him! to know Him! to recognize that benevolent and transcendent
countenance that so often beamed upon me, unworthy as I was, in the weary
days of my pilgrimage!
When we can bring all our poor concerns, little and
great, and our poor hearts, too, to Him, and lay them all before Him, I am
persuaded we need fear nothing, for God will order all things for us, will
bless us, make His love known to us more and more. And we shall see His
dear hand held out to help and guide us through this wilderness safely and
honorably, to that happy home His love has prepared for us above. Oh to
love Jesus, and to know that He loves us! To aim, although we constantly
come short, to glorify Him in all we do and say, and to let that be our
highest aim.
Let us aim to live more above the world, and look alone
to the Bible as our divine directory in all things, and alone to our God
for His approbation. Let us be ashamed of nothing but sinning against Him,
and grieving His Holy Spirit. Oh, if we did but this at all times, how
much more would we adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things, and
how much easier would we pass through a world lying in wickedness!
What poor creatures we are when old age, with
its thousand infirmities, comes upon us, reminding us that this is not our
rest, and that we must be preparing for the rest above. Happy day, happy
hour, when that takes place!
What subdues, what breaks the heart like communion
with the Holy Lord God, unfolding and revealing Himself in Jesus?
May you be helped to live decidedly for eternity,
with your eye upon that glorious crown which Christ has promised to
those who overcome! But a short time you have to glorify Him; aim to do it
in all things and at all times. Live to God, live for God, and God will
take care that you have all you need while you live. He will give you
grace and glory, and no good thing will He withhold if you walk uprightly.
Deem no sin a trifle. Beware of the first
enticement to sin! You will have need of much prayer night and day, that
God may guide and uphold you, preserving you from every snare that the
wicked one might throw in your way; and that, sensible of your weakness,
you might rely more upon His almighty strength to carry you safely through
all the temptations that lie in your path. The devil will tempt; the world
will tempt; your own carnal nature will tempt. And all your own strength
of resistance is perfect weakness. How can you stand against this
threefold troop, but as your Savior puts strength in you? Seek this in
earnest prayer, and, with Christ strengthening you, you can do all things.
I sometimes think it is a greater trial to be rich than
to be poor. Of this I am quite sure, that riches to the Christian are a
great snare, as well as a great trouble, and entails more anxiety and
sorrow than real pleasure and enjoyment.
I feel a blessed nearness to heaven, to Jesus. My soul
holds converse with Him. Sweet it is to lie as a helpless babe at His
feet; passive in His hands, knowing and desiring and doing no will but
His. What a mercy to have one loving bosom to flee to! One truly loving
heart to confide in, open to the faintest breathings of the troubled soul,
the fullest utterances of the sorrowing heart! "Precious Jesus! How
blessedly dear and near to me are You at this moment! Keep sensibly close
to me. Lift up upon me the light of Your heavenly countenance, for it is
better and sweeter to me than life."
What a mercy to have such a One to lean upon, who can
and does enter into all our little needs and cares! By this constant
living upon and traveling to Jesus we become more conformed to His
lovely likeness. I would encourage all I love in the Lord, to keep up this
holy fellowship and intercommunion with their dearest and best Friend. Let
Jesus be all and in all to us. Let us feel that we cannot live without
Him.
My afflicted friend, nothing is too hard for God to
do; nothing impossible for Him in whose arm we trust. He hears your every
sigh, and His tenderest sympathies are towards you. Rest in His unchanging
love, and be assured His unslumbering eye is ever over you for good.
Confide in Him at all times, under the darkest clouds. This is the time to
exercise faith in the living, loving God. All our trials are tokens of a
Father's love, and sent as trials of His faithfulness, and as increasing
our knowledge of, and acquaintance with, Himself. As a loving father
pities his children, so He pities us.
We all have a talent committed to our trust; let us
be prayerful to know what it is, and diligent to lay it out for God.
Religious formalism is one of the most extensive and
fatal snares of souls. There is in most a constant 'saying of
prayers', without praying; a perpetual repetition, without feeling. The
heart untouched, unmoved, unbroken. How few who profess to be converted
understand anything of the new birth! They have heard of Christ,
but do not experimentally and personally know Him. They have never
repaired to Him with a broken and a contrite heart. But to be brought as a
poor sinner to His feet, there to lie until He speaks pardon and peace to
the weary, heavy laden soul, is quite another thing.
Marvelous are the dealings of God with us! Let us trust
and praise Him here, and hereafter we shall fully know why we were put
in the furnace, and confess that love kindled, and love watched, and
love brought us through it.
Dear friend, before long we shall lay aside this frail
and suffering flesh, and wing our way upwards to join the heavenly company
and be with Christ. We shall see Him face to face who loved us, and who
with love drew us to Himself. What shall we, what can we, render to Him
for all His great, distinguishing goodness to us?
It is no small matter to be a consistent Christian.
I am more and more convinced that it is neither
riches nor honor nor power that can make a man happy either in this
world or in that which is to come. Nothing on earth or in heaven can do
this but a knowledge of JESUS. How vain are all things beneath the sun!
Oh, who would not live and strive for heaven! Perfect
holiness! perfect happiness! No sin, nor sorrow, nor cruel death,
can ever enter there!
I find it sweet to retire and be alone with my best
Friend. What a privilege to open our whole heart, and lean, like John,
upon the Savior's tender, sympathizing bosom! What on earth is like this?
A broken heart, a helpless and powerless soul resting upon the arm and the
heart of Infinite and Eternal love!
All His dispensations, however trying, are in love to
our souls. He wishes us to cling closer to Himself, and would remove
everything that comes between Him and His child. He desires, too, that
we shall bear more of His own image, and be more weaned from a passing
world and dying creatures.
The promise, "Call upon Me in the day of trouble,"
has been to me more than untold gold! I never knew Him to fail. If He did
not remove the trouble in my way, He did it in a far better way. Recollect
that His ear is open to our cry, and He loves to hear our pleadings.
The sweetest and safest life is to lean upon Him as
a little helpless child, even as a child weaned of its mother, quiet,
submissive, clinging.
If you feel your love to Him chilled, go and tell Him,
and He will warm it with His own precious and unchanged love. Go just
as you are; let your state of mind and body be what it may, you will
always find a welcome from Jesus.
Let us try to live more decidedly for eternity,
lessening our hold of the trifles of this poor world, and anticipating the
kingdom, the crown, the glory, the welcome that awaits us.
The wicked are only the Lord's rod to drive us
nearer to Himself, that we might know more of His pity, power, and love.
There is no chance with God. Every circumstance
connected with you was ordered before your had existence. Each
event, small and great, each step you take, was predetermined and provided
for. God knows all, and does all, and will do all things for you. I would
have you rest on this truth, that in the everlasting covenant of grace,
all our history was shaped and anticipated; so that in the full belief of
this truth, the mind, under all present dark and inexplicable
circumstances and events, is at once at ease. Oh, could we but look into
God's heart, His dear, loving heart, and see how precious we are to Him,
how truly He is watching over us, wisely directing all the incidents and
circumstances of our history for our good and His own glory, how soon
would all our present grievances vanish, and we sit as little, weaned
children at the feet of Jesus!
Oh, when we think how short time is, how uncertain is
life, and that a vast eternity awaits us; how unwise we are to allow
ourselves to be entangled with earth and earthly things!
How awful it is to see God's creatures living as if
there were no eternity before them!
My dear friend, we are on our way to a land the
inhabitants of which shall not complain of sickness or suffering. Death
cannot enter there. And while still here in this poor world, we have a God
to go to, who will never leave nor forsake us, but bring us where we shall
forever be done with sin and sorrow. Now, this blessed hope revives often
our drooping spirit. The Lord knows we need this cordial on our journey
through this poor, trying wilderness, and supplies our needs, small
and great. He is concerned in all that concerns us. We must go forward,
growing more acquainted with ourselves, as poor and needy; and with
Christ, who is our storehouse, full of grace and truth, to whom we have
but to go and tell Him, and His heart is open to us in a moment.
Life here without Christ is misery indeed! But
oh, to know Him, to love Him, to be borne in His tender bosom through this
wilderness of sin and sorrow, is a happiness indeed which cannot be
described, and can only be known by experience!
Pray for your enemy. He is only an instrument in the
Lord's hands to accomplish His own loving purposes towards you. God is
in all things.
"Do not be afraid." The Lord reigns! "Do not be
afraid." He is the same gracious God, yesterday, today, and forever. "Do
not be afraid." All things are working together for your good. You and
Christ are one, and your interests cannot be divided from Him. You are
His, and He is yours. Keep close to Him, and carry to Him all your
concerns, and He will do all things well for you.
Oh, what a companion is Jesus to a poor helpless
sinner while journeying through a wilderness filled with all manner of
evil and beasts of prey! We shall soon see Him. Then let us keep our
garments unspotted from the world, walking in holy, filial obedience to
His divine commands.
What an unchanging Friend is Christ to us! For
though He chastens, yet it is all in love, that we might know Him better,
and give to Him our heart's chief affections. Oh, He is altogether lovely!
The chief among ten thousand! Love Him, and manifest your love to Him, and
He will come and manifest Himself to you!
To lift up Christ is the way to draw poor
sinners, and to lift poor saints above their darkness, doubts,
and misgivings. To see the rich fullness there is in Jesus for the
poorest, the vilest, the most helpless that ever called upon His dear
name, oh, this is gospel. Did He ever refuse one who came to Him? No,
never; and He never will!
There is nothing worth living for but Jesus; to
serve, honor, and glorify Him, enjoying His presence here as a pledge of
its enjoyment throughout eternity. Is it not a solemn thought? I cannot
tell you of His love. Language fails me to express it. He is love, all
love, nothing but love.
The Lord has indeed abounded in mercy towards me,
upholding in many of life's troubles, comforting, encouraging, and guiding
when there was no eye to pity and no hand to help but His own. I have ever
found Him a very present help in time of trouble. I can truly say it has
been good for me that I have been afflicted.
"Why me? Why me? Lord, why is it that You have had
thoughts of mercy towards such a one as me? From everlasting to
everlasting You have loved me. Why me? Why me?" Oh, what a difference
grace has made!
As the believer advances in the divine life, he sees
less and less to boast of, and more and more to humble him. There are none
so proud as those who are ignorant of themselves and of Christ. Their
imagined righteousness keeps them back from the Savior. They come not
as lost and undone sinners, but fantasize they see some little good in
themselves.
A mere profession may carry one in such a way as
will please the flesh; but as Christ walked through the wilderness, so
must His followers more or less take up the same cross.
What is this fair world? I feel such a weariness of
this world that nothing here gives me anything more than a momentary,
passing pleasure, and it is gone at a glance. Oh for heaven! Nothing
else will satisfy my longing soul but the sight of Him it loves. Jesus
is all in all to me, and He will be all in all through eternity. Praise
the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise His holy name!
Religious formalism is the fatal ruin of thousands
of souls. I refer to the mere religious professor, the unconverted
formalist, those who have not passed from death unto life. They have heard
of the Savior with the outward ear; have gone to church, have said many
prayers, and have done many things, and yet have only a name to live while
they are dead. How many, I fear, deceive themselves in this respect! I
tremble for such! Let us make our calling and election sure, not by
looking to ourselves, but by looking to Jesus.
God directs all our affairs; and although we so
little think of Him, His thoughts are ever towards us for good, in His
rich mercy overruling our mistakes for our good and for His glory.
Dear friend, let your sad heart rest upon the
loving heart of your Savior. Keep close to Christ. Holy, constant
communion with Him is the life of religion in the soul.
Dear friend, let us live more in sweet fellowship with
Jesus, and when we pray in secret; no ear hearing and no eye seeing us but
His; let us never be satisfied without sensible communion with Him. Jesus
is the one Friend, and the only one, to whom you can unveil your whole
heart. Is He not precious to your soul? Is there one like Him on earth
or in heaven? "Precious Lord! to behold You here, to have but a
glimpse of Your lovely countenance beaming upon us in love, is a little
heaven below. Then what must it be when we shall see You face to face in
all Your unveiled beauties above!"
A few more fleeting years, and you are gone forever!
And where are you going? What is your fate and condition in the
eternal world? A dying bed is no place to prepare for eternity. Oh that
you were wise, and would consider your latter end, and apply your heart
unto wisdom! May God open your eyes to see your need of a Savior, and lead
you to the feet of Jesus, the sinner's Friend.
We have a dear, compassionate Savior to deal
with, who knows all our weaknesses and infirmities, and will give us
what we need if we only repair to Him in the simplicity of little
children. Oh, how ready He is to listen to all our requests!
If we really believed that every unconverted person
we meet with, dying so, would be lost forever, would we not be in earnest
to warn that soul to flee from the wrath to come? Would we not avail
ourselves of every favorable opportunity of praying for them,
expostulating with them, and beseeching them to consider their latter end
and turn to the Lord that they might be saved? I know there is much wisdom
to be exercised to know how and when to speak, all of which the Lord will
give to those who are earnest in asking for it. Eternity, with all its
solemnities, is before us! May the Lord make us faithful.
There is a fullness in Jesus that can supply the
needs of the millions who repair to Him, and yet He remains as full as
ever.
If we desire to know more of ourselves as we are in the
sight of a holy God, it is not by contemplating our sinfulness, but by
looking to Jesus. A close and constant view of His perfect holiness, His
expiatory sufferings on the Cross, His ignominious death, His unparalleled
love; will show us the evil of sin, and of ourselves as sinners, as
nothing else can. Then it is we see sin in its true light, and lie
in the dust at His feet. One clear believing view of Jesus exhibiting His
loving, sin-forgiving, compassionate heart; breaks our heart, and
dissolves it in penitence and love, under the sense of sin fully pardoned.
Let us aim to act, and speak, and walk as if
Christ were at our side! And so He is, though we may not be sensible
of it.
One reason why we go on our way halting and wavering
is, that we do not realize the truth of what awaits us above. Deal more
closely with this, and trials and disappointments will less affect you. It
is by keeping up a constant, believing communion with Jesus that will
secure this blessing to us. What is our present life? It is but a vapor,
and soon passes away. But what is our life to come? A state of holy, happy
being, as long as the existence of God. Then, cheer up! Go to Jesus, and
tell Him all that is in your heart. He will bow the heavens and listen to
all you have to say to Him.
Have you surrendered to Him your whole heart? Then
blessed are you. Fear not; He will watch over you day and night, for He
cares for you. Do not attempt to transfer your concerns from His hands
into your own. He knows the end from the beginning; and infinite
wisdom, power, and love are all engaged on your behalf. If you have
committed your soul, of more value than ten thousand worlds, to Him,
cannot you trust Him to regulate and conduct your earthly concerns? A
fretting against God's providence is very dishonoring to Him, and causes
Him to leave His perverse child to have, for the time, his own way; and
then how bitter it is in the end! The Spirit is grieved, the sensible
presence of Christ is withdrawn, and the soul is left in trouble and
sorrow and darkness. It is a mercy under such circumstances that our God
changes not, or we would be consumed. Live upon Him as a loving Father;
the Father of the fatherless, and of the motherless too. He will be to you
both, and that Friend that sticks closer than a brother. Lean upon Him,
and He will support you under all the trials of life, for He is a present
help in every time of trouble. I, for one, have tried Him, and He has
never failed me in any one instance. Give yourself up wholly to Him, body,
soul, and spirit. Go and tell Him all. You need not shrink from opening
your whole heart to Him. He will keep all your secrets, and will do all
things well. He will withhold no good thing. What He does withhold He sees
would not be for our good. Learn early in life to trust Him with your all,
and He will be all to you.
If we could grieve in heaven, it would be in the
recollection of our unbelief on earth. Help us, blessed Lord, to trust in
You under all circumstances, and more than ever when thick clouds gather
around us, and we walk in darkness and have no light!
Jesus is an ocean of love to my soul, while I
increasingly feel that I am the poorest of the poor, and feeblest of all
His flock.
You must feel your lost and undone condition before
you will ever come and cast yourself at the feet of Jesus. The same
blessed Spirit who is showing you the vileness of your own heart, will in
due time show you also the heart of Christ. Only look into His loving
heart, and yours will rejoice with unspeakable joy. Do not look at your
own heart, but at the heart of Christ.
If He does not answer at once, it is because He
loves to hear the pleadings of His child. See in how many instances Christ
appeared not to hear, when at the very time He designed to grant the
petition.
The riches and honors of this poor dying world
cannot compensate for the loss of the sweet, precious, and life giving
influence of the Holy Spirit within.
There is never one petition put up by a child of God,
however faint, but He does hear it. One little mite of faith will
send it not only into the ear of God, but into the heart of
God too.
Only let us live upon Jesus practically and
habitually, and we shall lack no good thing.
Every dispensation of His providence has a voice, if we
did but listen to it, and come before our loving Father and inquire of
Him. God can make even a sick room a Bethel to your soul! All places where
He is, is a little heaven below! His presence sweetens every bitter
cup, and makes afflictions light.