Milo

December 7

“Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, that ye may drink, both ye, and your cattle, and your beasts. And this is but a light thing in the sight of the Lord: he will deliver the Moabites also into your hands.” (2 Kings 3:16–18.)

TO human thinking it was simply impossible, but nothing is hard for God.
Without a sound or sign, from sources invisible and apparently impossible, the floods came stealing in all night long; and when the morning dawned, those ditches were flooded with the crystal waters, and reflecting the rays of the morning sun from the red hills of Edom.
Our unbelief is always wanting some outward sign. The religion of many is largely sensational, and they are not satisfied of its genuineness without manifestations, etc.; but the greatest triumph of faith is to be still and know that He is God.
The great victory of faith is to stand before some impassable Red Sea, and hear the Master say, “Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord,” and “Go forward!” As we step out without any sign or sound—not a wave-splash—and wetting our very feet as we take the first step into its waters, still marching on we shall see the sea divide and the pathway open through the very midst of the waters.
If we have seen the miraculous workings of God in some marvelous case of healing or some extraordinary providential deliverance, I am sure the thing that has impressed us most has been the quietness with which it was all done, the absence of everything spectacular and sensational, and the utter sense of nothingness which came to us as we stood in the presence of this mighty God and felt how easy it was for Him to do it all without the faintest effort on His part or the slightest help on ours.
It is not the part of faith to question, but to obey. The ditches were made, and the water came pouring in from some supernatural source. What a lesson for our faith!
Are you craving a spiritual blessing? Open the trenches, and God will fill them. And this, too, in the most unexpected places and in the most unexpected ways.
Oh, for that faith that can act by faith and not by sight, and expect God to work although we see no wind or rain.
—A. B. Simpson.

7 DECEMBER (PREACHED 6 DECEMBER 1767)

A hiding place

‘And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest …’ Isaiah 32:2
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Daniel 5:1–30

Here is a wind spoken of and a hiding place provided. In fair weather a hiding place is not thought of, but when a storm arises, everyone is glad of a shelter. Sinners are like those servants of Pharaoh, who, when Moses threatened a tempest, made light of it, and even ventured their people and cattle in the fields. The wrath of God is denounced against sin, and yet sinners are secure. But when the Spirit convinces the heart, then all is found true. O when a charge does conviction make, and how welcome would a hiding place be then. This may be compared to a storm of wind for:
(i) suddenness: the storm often rises when little expected. So conviction comes upon a soul unawares. Such was Belshazzar’s case [Daniel 5]—and such the jailer’s, though a vessel of mercy [Acts 16].
(ii) violence: who can stand before the whirlwind? It is uncomfortable to face a storm, yet when a building is known to be weak, fear forces people into the air lest their shelter should fail and bury them in the ruins. Such is the sinner’s case—he had a refuge before the storm came, some good works or good resolutions, but now he dares not trust—the storm forces him out—and though he cannot stand, he cannot flee or hide.
(iii) The wind is searching: it will find its way, as we say, through a crevice. So is the wind of the Spirit—it pierces the inner man, it reaches to the remembrance of past and long-forgotten sins. It lays open the soul.
(iv) The wind cannot be stopped or moderated by all the art or power of man. It will blow where it listeth.
FOR MEDITATION: [for the Fast Day 10 February 1779]
Happy they, who love his name!
Hark! his voice in accents mild,
They shall always find him near;
(Oh, how comforting and sweet!)
Though the earth were wrapped in flame,
Speaks to every humble child,
They have no just cause for fear.
Pointing out a sure retreat.

SERMON SERIES: ISAIAH 32:2, NO. 1 [2/3]

December 6th

The bow in the cloud

I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between Me and the earth. Genesis 9:13.

It is the will of God that human beings should get into moral relationship with Him, and His covenants are for this purpose. ‘Why does not God save me?’ He has saved me, but I have not entered into relationship with Him. “Why does not God do this and that?’ He has done it, the point is—Will I step into covenant relationship? All the great blessings of God are finished and complete, but they are not mine until I enter into relationship with Him on the basis of His covenant.
Waiting for God is incarnate unbelief, it means that I have no faith in Him; I wait for Him to do something in me that I may trust in that. God will not do it, because that is not the basis of the God-and-man relationship. Man has to go out of himself in his covenant with God as God goes out of Himself in His covenant with man. It is a question of faith in God—the rarest thing; we have faith only in our feelings. I do not believe God unless He will give me something in my hand whereby I may know I have it, then I say—‘Now I believe.’ There is no faith there. “Look unto Me, and be ye saved.”
When I have really transacted business with God on His covenant and have let go entirely, there is no sense of merit, no human ingredient in it at all, but a complete overwhelming sense of being brought into union with God, and the whole thing is transfigured with peace and joy.

December 6

“Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.” (Rev. 3:11.)

GEORGE MUELLER bears this testimony, “When it pleased God in July, 1829, to reveal to my heart the truth of the personal return of the Lord Jesus, and to show me that I had made a great mistake in looking for the conversion of the world, the effect that it produced upon me was this: From my inmost soul I was stirred up to feel compassion for perishing sinners, and for the slumbering world around me lying in the wicked one, and considered, ‘Ought I not to do what I can for the Lord Jesus while He tarries, and to rouse a slumbering church?’ ”

There may be many hard years of hard work before the consummation, but the signs are to me so encouraging that I would not be unbelieving if I saw the wing of the apocalyptic angel spread for its last triumphal flight in this day’s sunset; or if tomorrow morning the ocean cables should thrill us with the news that Christ the Lord had alighted on Mount Olivet or Mount Calvary to proclaim universal dominion. O you dead churches wake up! O Christ, descend! Scarred temple, take the crown! Bruised hand, take the sceptre! Wounded foot, step the throne! Thine is the kingdom.
—Rev. T. DeWitt Talmage, D. D.

“It may be in the evening,
  When the work of the day is done,
And you have time to sit in the twilight,
  And watch the sinking sun,
While the long bright day dies slowly
  Over the sea,
And the hours grow quiet and holy
  With thoughts of Me;
While you hear the village children
  Passing along the street—
Among those passing footsteps
  May come the sound of My Feet.
Therefore I tell you, Watch!
  By the light of the evening star
When the room is growing dusky
  As the clouds afar,
Let the door be on the latch
  In your home,
For it may be through the gloaming
  I will come.”

6 DECEMBER (PREACHED 6 DECEMBER 1767)

The God-Man … all in all

‘And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.’ Isaiah 32:2
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: John 1:9–18

Nothing raises the wonder and disgust of the world more than the high regard believers pay to the Lord Jesus. If they would only speak seriously of God, his goodness and providence, they might be borne with—but so much of Christ is offensive. Those who know him, however, will never think they can say enough of him, and they have good reasons the others cannot understand them: what he is in himself and what he is and will be to them. With regard to the latter we have a comprehensive description in this verse, which speaks at once the dangers and difficulties in the believer’s path, and the security he enjoys in the Redeemer. The person to whom these great and gracious properties are applied is called a man—and this is our comfort that our Redeemer is our ‘Goel’, our near kinsman—he took upon him our flesh and blood and was made man. But was he not more than man, who could venture upon him for these great purposes? We may read it the Man—here we may be sure it means the God-Man—the Man that is God’s fellow—the Word who was made flesh—and who in the nature wherein he suffered, now reigns over heaven and earth. You that are desirous to escape this evil world, see what lies before you—here is winds and floods, a barren wilderness and a burning sun. Be prepared, but be not discouraged, for here is a hiding place where you shall be safe. Here is a river of life to cheer you when all within and without is dry. And here is a shadow through which the heat cannot pierce to hurt. In a word—if you seek Jesus you will find him all in all.
FOR MEDITATION: [preached from on Sunday evening, 26 February 1775]
He who on earth as man was known,
His righteousness, to faith revealed,
And bore our sins and pains;
Wrought out for guilty worms,
Now, seated on the eternal throne,
Affords a hiding place and shield,
The GOD of glory reigns.
From enemies and storms.

SERMON SERIES: ISAIAH 32:2, NO. 1 [1/3]