Milo

November 26

“And Caleb said unto her, What wouldest thou? Who answered, give me a blessing; for thou hast given me a south land; give me also springs of water. And he gave her the upper springs, and the nether springs. (Joshua 15:18, 19.)

THERE are both upper and nether springs. They are springs, not stagnant pools. There are joys and blessings that flow from above through the hottest summer and the most desert land of sorrow and trial. The lands of Achsah were “south lands,” lying under a burning sun and often parched with burning heat. But from the hills came the unfailing springs, that cooled, refreshed and fertilized all the land.
There are springs that flow in the low places of life, in the hard places, in the desert places, in the lone places, in the common places, and no matter what may be our situation, we can always find these upper springs.
Abraham found them amid the hills of Canaan. Moses found them among the rocks of Midian. David found them among the ashes of Ziklag when his property was gone, his family captives and his people talked of stoning him, but “David encouraged himself in the Lord.”
Habakkuk found them when the fig tree was withered and the fields were brown, but as he drank from them he could sing: “Yet will I rejoice in the Lord and joy in the God of my salvation.”
Isaiah found them in the awful days of Sennacherib’s invasion, when the mountains seemed hurled into the midst of the sea, but faith could sing: “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God. God is in the midst of her: she shall not be moved.”
The martyrs found them amid the flames, and reformers amid their foes and conflicts, and we can find them all the year if we have the Comforter in our hearts and have learned to say with David: “All my springs are in thee.”
How many and how precious these springs, and how much more there is to be possessed of God’s own fulness!
—A. B. Simpson.

I said: “The desert is so wide!”
I said: “The desert is so bare!
What springs to quench my thirst are there?
Whence shall I from the tempest hide?”

I said: “The desert is so lone!
Nor gentle voice, nor loving face
Will brighten any smallest space.”
I paused or ere my moan was done!

I heard a flow of hidden springs;
Before me palms rose green and fair;
The birds were singing; all the air
Did shine and stir with angels’ wings!

And One said mildly: “Why, indeed,
Take over-anxious thought for that
The morrow bringeth! See you not
The Father knoweth what you need?”

—Selected.

26 NOVEMBER

Strengthened and upheld

‘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: Haggai 2:1–9

Are you discouraged with the great difficulties of your Christian calling? See what the Lord says—I will bless thee. Though you can do nothing, yet if he helps, works in you and by you, you shall both do great things and also shall prevail. Are you afraid you shall not endure but give up at last? How can that be when the Lord has said, I will uphold thee? Sooner the stars shall fall to the earth, than you fall from your Christian course, if the Lord vouchsafes to uphold you. Farther, take notice of the manner in which the Lord strengthens, helps, upholds:
(i) with the right arm. This implies power (Psalm 89:13) and tenderness (Hosea 11:3; Deuteronomy 33).
(ii) of my righteousness. This shows the sure ground whereon our hopes are built. The righteousness of Christ as Mediator is the fountain of all our strength, sufficiency and comfort, so long as he continues the Righteous One. So long as his obedience unto death comes in remembrance, so long all these benefits shall be made over and continued to his people. It shows that his faithfulness and truth are engaged to make these things good to waiting souls. The word is gone out of his lips and his righteousness is bound for the performance.

FOR MEDITATION: This evening I preached a funeral sermon for my dearest earthly comfort, who was removed (I trust) to a better world, on the 15th inst., from Habakkuk 3:17–18. How can I sufficiently praise thee for the supports thou hast in mercy afforded me through the course of this long trial, so painful at times to the feelings of the flesh! Blessed be thy name, that I can now say from my heart, Thy will be done. My times and all my concerns are in thy hands. There I desire cheerfully to leave them. I would not form a wish, but to be and to do as thou wouldst have me.
Diary, Sunday 26 December 1790
[Newton’s wife died on 15 December 1790]

SERMON: ISAIAH 41:10 [4/5]

November 25th

The secret of spiritual coherence

But God forbid that I should glory, … Gal. 6:14.

When a man is first born again, he becomes incoherent, there is an amount of unrelated emotion about him, unrelated phases of external things. In the apostle Paul there was a strong steady coherence underneath, consequently he could let his external life change as it liked and it did not distress him, because he was rooted and grounded in God. Most of us are not spiritually coherent because we are more concerned about being coherent externally. Paul lived in the basement; the coherent critics live in the upper storey of the external statement of things, and the two do not begin to touch each other. Paul’s consistency was down in the fundamentals. The great basis of his coherence was the agony of God in the Redemption of the world, viz., the Cross of Jesus Christ.
Re-state to yourself what you believe, then do away with as much of it as possible, and get back to the bedrock of the Cross of Christ. In external history the Cross is an infinitesimal thing; from the Bible point of view it is of more importance than all the empires of the world. If we get away from brooding on the tragedy of God upon the Cross in our preaching, it produces nothing. It does not convey the energy of God to man; it may be interesting but it has no power. But preach the Cross, and the energy of God is let loose. “It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” “We preach Christ crucified.”

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]