Milo

November 25

“Take the arrows. … Smite upon the ground. And he smote twice and stayed. And the man of God was wroth with him, and said, Thou shouldest have smitten five or six times.” (2 Kings 13:18, 19.)

HOW striking and eloquent the message of these words! Jehoash thought he had done very well when he duplicated and triplicated what to him was certainly an extraordinary act of faith. But the Lord and the prophet were bitterly disappointed because he had stopped half way.
He got something. He got much. He got exactly what he believed for in the final test, but he did not get all that the prophet meant and the Lord wanted to bestow. He missed much of the meaning of the promise and the fullness of the blessing. He got something better than the human, but he did not get God’s best.
Beloved, how solemn is the application! How heartsearching the message of God to us! How important that we should learn to pray through! Shall we claim all the fullness of the promise and all the possibilities of believing prayer?
—A. B. Simpson.

“Unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.” (Eph. 3:20.)

There is no other such piling up of words in Paul’s writings as these, “exceeding abundantly above all,” and each word is packed with infinite love and power to “do” for His praying saints. There is one limitation, “according to the power that worketh in us.” He will do just as much for us as we let Him do in us. The power that saved us, washed us with His own blood, filled us with might by His Spirit, kept us in manifold temptations, will work for us, meeting every emergency, every crisis, every circumstance, and every adversary.
—The Alliance.

25 NOVEMBER

Weakness no obstacle

‘Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.’ Isaiah 41:10
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: 2 Kings 6:8–23

The contents of this promise are fully answerable to all our fears, needs and distresses. ‘Poor fearing soul,’ the Lord says, ‘Fear not. I am with thee.’ When Elisha’s servant saw the chariots of fire, he thought himself safe, though surrounded with an army. But here is more: Psalm 27:3 [Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident]. He is not with you only in a way of common providence, but in a way of covenant mercy and special grace. I am thy God. If so, you are his people, and of such he has said in Zechariah 2:8, … he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.

Are you weak? He says, I will strengthen you. But his strength is made perfect in weakness. Say therefore with Paul, [… for when I am weak, then am I strong] (2 Corinthians 12:9–10). See the chapter before my text, verse 29 [He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength]. Consider how weak others have been, and yet how strong the Lord has made them—Abraham, Peter.
To John Ryland, 13 March 1782:
Such of your trials as cannot be entrusted to paper I will not charge myself with … However, I am persuaded that the known and unknown, what you can write and what you could only whisper, taken all together shall not overwhelm you. Thy God whom thou servest continually is able to deliver you. Cheer up. The skill of the pilot is best evidenced in a storm—so is the Lord’s wisdom and faithfulness towards his children, and so is the sincerity of their hearts towards him.
FOR MEDITATION:
In themselves as weak as worms,
Weak, indeed, they feel they are,
How can poor believers stand;
But they know the throne of grace;
When temptations, foes and storms,
And the GOD, who answers prayer,
Press them close on every hand?
Helps them when they seek his face.

SERMON: ISAIAH 41:10 [3/5]

November 24th

Direction of aspiration

Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their master, … so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God. Psalm 123:2.

This verse is a description of entire reliance upon God. Just as the eyes of the servant are riveted on his master, so our eyes are up unto God and our knowledge of His countenance is gained (cf. Isaiah 53:1. R.V.). Spiritual leakage begins when we cease to lift up our eyes unto Him. The leakage comes not so much through trouble on the outside as in the imagination, when we begin to say—‘I expect I have been stretching myself a bit too much, standing on tiptoe and trying to look like God instead of being an ordinary humble person.’ We have to realize that no effort can be too high.
For instance, you came to a crisis when you made a stand for God and had the witness of the Spirit that all was right, but the weeks have gone by, and the years maybe, and you are slowly coming to the conclusion, ‘Well, after all, was I not a bit too pretentious? Was I not taking a stand a bit too high?’ Your rational friends come and say—‘Don’t be a fool, we knew when you talked about this spiritual awakening that it was a passing impulse, you can’t keep up the strain, God does not expect you to.’ And you say—‘Well, I suppose I was expecting too much.’ It sounds humble to say it, but it means that reliance on God has gone and reliance on worldly opinion has come in. The danger is lest, no longer relying on God, you ignore the lifting up of your eyes to Him. Only when God brings you to a sudden halt, will you realize how you have been losing out. Whenever there is a leakage, remedy it immediately. Recognize that something has been coming between you and God, and get it readjusted at once.

November 24

“Be still, and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10.)

IS there any note of music in all the chorus as mighty as the emphatic pause? Is there any word in all the Psalter more eloquent than that one word, Selah (Pause)? Is there anything more thrilling and awful than the hush that comes before the bursting of the tempest and the strange quiet that seems to fall upon all nature before some preternatural phenomenon or convulsion? Is there anything that can touch our hearts as the power of stillness?
There is for the heart that will cease from itself, “the peace of God that passeth all understanding,” a “quietness and confidence” which is the source of all strength, a sweet peace “which nothing can offend,” a deep rest which the world can neither give nor take away. There is in the deepest center of the soul a chamber of peace where God dwells, and where, if we will only enter in and hush every other sound, we can hear His still, small voice.
There is in the swiftest wheel that revolves upon its axis a place in the very center, where there is no movement at all; and so in the busiest life there may be a place where we dwell alone with God, in eternal stillness. There is only one way to know God. “Be still, and know.” “God is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.”—Selected.
“All-loving Father, sometimes we have walked under starless skies that dripped darkness like drenching rain. We despaired of starshine or moonlight or sunrise. The sullen blackness gloomed above us as if it would last forever. And out of the dark there spoke no soothing voice to mend our broken hearts. We would gladly have welcomed some wild thunder peal to break the torturing stillness of that over-brooding night.
“But Thy winsome whisper of eternal love spoke more sweetly to our bruised and bleeding souls than any winds that breathe across Aeolian harps. It was Thy ‘still small voice’ that spoke to us. We were listening and we heard. We looked and saw Thy face radiant with the light of love. And when we heard Thy voice and saw Thy face, new life came back to us as life comes back to withered blooms that drink the summer rain.”

24 NOVEMBER

When it comes to a pinch

‘Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.’ Isaiah 41:10
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: 2 Chronicles 20:1–17

This promise supposes that the people of God are subject to fears, or the admonition, Fear not, would be in vain. Their fears are many and often great, and indeed if the Lord did not interpose with his promises, would be very just likewise.
(i) For a season they are under legal fear of God (Job 23:15 [Therefore am I troubled at his presence: when I consider, I am afraid of him]).
(ii) They are afraid of their own hearts when they look within. They are amazed, and disheartened, and ready to say, ‘Alas, this vile nature will be too hard for me at last.’
(iii) They are afraid of outward enemies: the world and Satan. Sometimes the world’s frowns make them afraid; and they no less fear its smiles—they see it has prevailed over many and they fear for themselves. They are afraid of Satan. They know he is strong, cunning, watchful. He eyes them close, assaults them often, and they escape not always without a wound.
The promise supposes that they have no ability of their own, thus they feel and readily acknowledge, as Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles 20:12. And though they profess and desire to trust the Lord, yet when it comes to a pinch they find it not easy to keep their hold.
It supposes that those who have God on their side have no just cause for fear, be their discouragements or difficulties ever so many or great (Romans 8:31 [What shall we then say …? If God be for us, who can be against us?]).
FOR MEDITATION:
Why should I fear the darkest hour,
Though sin would fill me with distress,
Or tremble at the tempter’s power?
The throne of grace I dare address;
JESUS vouchsafes to be my tower.
For JESUS is my righteousness.

         Against me earth and hell combine;
         But on my side is power divine;
         JESUS is all, and He is mine.

SERMON: ISAIAH 41:10 [2/5]