Milo

November 27

“For with God nothing shall be impossible.” (Luke 1:37.)

FAR up in the Alpine hollows, year by year God works one of His marvels. The snow-patches lie there, frozen with ice at their edge from the strife of sunny days and frosty nights; and through that ice-crust come, unscathed, flowers that bloom.
Back in the days of the by-gone summer, the little soldanelle plant spread its leaves wide and flat on the ground, to drink in the sun-rays, and it kept them stored in the root through the winter. Then spring came, and stirred the pulses even below the snow-shroud, and as it sprouted, warmth was given out in such strange measure that it thawed a little dome in the snow above its head.
Higher and higher it grew and always above it rose the bell of air, till the flower-bud formed safely within it: and at last the icy covering of the air-bell gave way and let the blossom through into the sunshine, the crystalline texture of its mauve petals sparkling like snow itself as if it bore the traces of the flight through which it had come.
And the fragile thing rings an echo in our hearts that none of the jewel-like flowers nestled in the warm turf on the slopes below could waken. We love to see the impossible done. And so does God.
Face it out to the end, cast away every shadow of hope on the human side as an absolute hindrance to the Divine, heap up all the difficulties together recklessly, and pile as many more on as you can find; you cannot get beyond the blessed climax of impossibility. Let faith swing out to Him. He is the God of the impossible.—Selected.

27 NOVEMBER

Receive his help by grace alone

‘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: Isaiah 30:15–21

Are some saying, ‘These are good things indeed, but I fear not for me.’ Why not? Where are you excepted? They are for you, if you truly desire them and will be content to receive them of grace, without money or price. They are freely given but cannot be bought. Do not expect that you must do a great deal for yourself, and that then the Lord will make up the rest. It is his own work and he will not suffer you to share the glory. But remember, none have a right to apply it who do not feel themselves empty, poor, blind and naked. Take notice it is not your holding with the truth and assenting to what others say, will make you a believer. There are some who will think well of themselves and when they hear of the troubles and fears of exercised souls are ready to say, ‘I pity them, poor things, but for my part I dare not distrust the Lord’—when yet they never knew what it was to trust him. They affect to talk like the Lord’s people, but every word betrays their ignorance. To such the Lord’s word is not, Fear not, but, Take heed lest you are deceived [Luke 21:8]. Examine, there are many false pretenders—you are healed before you are wounded, lifted up before you ever were cast down—you talk of being filled when you have never been emptied. This is not the Lord’s methods.

FOR MEDITATION: I know that I cannot make you truly religious, nor can you make yourself so. It is the Lord’s work, and I am daily praying to him to bless you indeed. But he has a time; till then, I hope you will wait upon him according to your light, in the use of appointed means. I do not wish you to affect more of religion in your appearance than you are really conscious of. There is some danger of this in a family where a religious profession is befriended. Young people are apt to imitate those about them and sometimes (which is abominable) to put on a show of religion in order to please, though their hearts have no concern in it. I have a good hope that the Lord will teach you and guide you, and that the many prayers and praises I have offered on your behalf will not be lost.
John Newton to his niece, Betsy Catlett, 17 October [1781?]

SERMON: ISAIAH 41:10 [5/5]

November 26th

The concentration of spiritual energy

… save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Gal. 6:14.

If you want to know the energy of God (i.e., the resurrection life of Jesus) in your mortal flesh, you must brood on the tragedy of God. Cut yourself off from prying personal interest in your own spiritual symptoms and consider bare-spirited the tragedy of God, and instantly the energy of God will be in you. “Look unto Me,” pay attention to the objective Source and the subjective energy will be there. We lose power if we do not concentrate on the right thing. The effect of the Cross is salvation, sanctification, healing, etc., but we are not to preach any of these, we are to preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The proclaiming of Jesus will do its own work. Concentrate on God’s centre in your preaching, and though your crowd may apparently pay no attention, they can never be the same again. If I talk my own talk, it is of no more importance to you than your talk is to me; but if I talk the truth of God, you will meet it again and so shall I. We have to concentrate on the great point of spiritual energy, the Cross, to keep in contact with that centre where all the power lies, and the energy will he let loose. In holiness movements and spiritual experience meetings the concentration is apt to be put not on the Cross of Christ, but on the effects of the Cross.
The feebleness of the churches is being criticized to-day, and the criticism is justified. One reason for the feebleness is that there has not been this concentration of spiritual energy; we have not brooded enough on the tragedy of Calvary or on the meaning of Redemption.

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]