Milo

November 10

“Under hopeless circumstances he hopefully believed.” (Rom. 4:18.) (Weymouth.)

ABRAHAM’S faith seemed to be in a thorough correspondence with the power and constant faithfulness of Jehovah. In the outward circumstances in which he was placed, he had not the greatest cause to expect fulfillment of the promise. Yet he believed the Word of the Lord, and looked forward to the time when his seed should be as the stars of heaven for multitude.
O my soul, thou hast not one single promise only, like Abraham, but a thousand promises, and many patterns of faithful believers before thee: it behooves thee, therefore, to rely with confidence upon the Word of God. And though He delayeth His help, and the evil seemeth to grow worse and worse, be not weak, but rather strong, and rejoice, since the most glorious promises of God are generally fulfilled in such a wondrous manner that He steps forth to save us at a time when there is the least appearance of it.
He commonly brings His help in our greatest extremity, that His finger may plainly appear in our deliverance. And this method He chooses that we may not trust upon anything that we see or feel, as we are always apt to do, but only upon His bare Word, which we may depend upon in every state.
—C. H. Von Bogatzky.
Remember it is the very time for faith to work when sight ceases. The greater the difficulties, the easier for faith; as long as there remain certain natural prospects, faith does not get on even as easily as where natural prospects fail.
—George Mueller.

10 NOVEMBER

Linger no longer

‘And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the LORD being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city.’ Genesis 19:16
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Revelation 3:14–22

But my text leads me to speak of Lot himself. Is it not strange even Lot lingered? The passage is of general application. The world, like Sodom, lies in wickedness. Believers are like Lot—the Lord informs them of the consequences of sin and says, Come out from among them, that ye be not consumed. They hear and obey. Yet they are so faint, so half in earnest, so lingering, that the Lord’s mercy is as much magnified in bearing with them after he has called them, as in calling them at first. However, he will not suffer them to perish, but employs various means by which he, as it were, takes hold of them by the hand and pulls them away by force. Let us speak to these things. The Lord’s people are prone to linger. Perhaps some of you may wonder at Lot, and think that if you were sure this place was to be instantly destroyed, you would hasten as soon and as far from it as you could. But they who know their own hearts will wonder least at him. His life was given him for a prey, but he must leave his house, his substance, his children, behind him. His heart cleaved too much to these things and the command was sudden. Now to us all these things are transacted in a spiritual manner; the judgement is yet unsure and distant, and present objects strike powerfully upon the senses. We are not to leave the world absolutely, but to forsake it in our affections while we are yet in it. Here is a call for much self denial: to forgo the love of the world—its pleasures, its friendships—to endure its scoffs, to be accounted mockers and to suffer mocks and taunts and hard treatment. The Lord pity and pardon us, these things make too much impression upon our spirits and cause us strangely to linger.

FOR MEDITATION: Let us pray for grace to linger no longer—for a powerful sense of the truth of his Word, that we may believe, act and endure, as seeing him who is invisible.

SERMON SERIES: GENESIS, NO. 41 [2/4], GENESIS 19:16

November 9th

Sacramental service

Who now rejoice in My sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ.… Col. 1:24.

The Christian worker has to be a sacramental ‘go-between,’ to be so identified with his Lord and the reality of His Redemption that He can continually bring His creating life through him. It is not the strength of one man’s personality being superimposed on another, but the real presence of Christ coming through the elements of the worker’s life. When we preach the historic facts of the life and death of Our Lord as they are conveyed in the New Testament, our words are made sacramental; God uses them on the ground of His Redemption to create in those who listen that which is not created otherwise. If we preach the effects of Redemption in human life instead of the revelation regarding Jesus, the result in those who listen is not new birth, but refined spiritual culture, and the Spirit of God cannot witness to it because such preaching is in another domain. We have to see that we are in such living sympathy with God that as we proclaim His truth He can create in souls the things which He alone can do.
‘What a wonderful personality!’ ‘What a fascinating man!’ ‘Such marvellous insight!’ What chance has the Gospel of God through all that? It cannot get through, because the line of attraction is always the line of appeal. If a man attracts by his personality, his appeal is along that line; if he is identified with his Lord’s personality, then the appeal is along the line of what Jesus Christ can do. The danger is to glory in men; Jesus says we are to lift Him up.

November 9

“They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn and grow as the vine.” (Hosea 14:7.)

THE day closed with heavy showers. The plants in my garden were beaten down before the pelting storm, and I saw one flower that I had admired for its beauty and loved for its fragrance exposed to the pitiless storm. The flower fell, shut up its petals, dropped its head; and I saw that all its glory was gone. “I must wait till next year,” I said, “before I see that beautiful thing again.”
That night passed, and morning came; the sun shone again, and the morning brought strength to the flower. The light looked at it, and the flower looked at the light. There was contact and communion, and power passed into the flower. It held up its head, opened its petals, regained its glory, and seemed fairer than before. I wonder how it took place—this feeble thing coming into contact with the strong thing, and gaining strength!
I cannot tell how it is that I should be able to receive into my being a power to do and to bear by communion with God, but I know it is a fact.
Are you in peril through some crushing, heavy trial? Seek this communion with Christ, and you will receive strength and be able to conquer. “I will strengthen thee.”

YESTERDAY’S GRIEF

The rain that fell a-yesterday is ruby on the roses,
Silver on the poplar leaf, and gold on willow stem;
The grief that chanced a-yesterday is silence that incloses
Holy loves when time and change shall never trouble them.

The rain that fell a-yesterday makes all the hillsides glisten,
Coral on the laurel and beryl on the grass;
The grief that chanced a-yesterday has taught the soul to listen
For whispers of eternity in all the winds that pass.
O faint-of-heart, storm-beaten, this rain will gleam tomorrow,
Flame within the columbine and jewels on the thorn,
Heaven in the forget-me-not; though sorrow now be sorrow,
Yet sorrow shall be beauty in the magic of the morn.
—Katherine Lee Bates.

9 NOVEMBER

Secured by his mark

‘And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the LORD being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city.’ Genesis 19:16
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Genesis 19:1–14

As the cry of Sodom’s sin, so the cry of Lot’s prayers had been heard of the Lord. Judgement must take place, but a mark is set upon him. The angels were sent to deliver him. They found that though Lot dwelt in Sodom, he was not of it. To him they were welcome guests—but the inhabitants would have offered them violence. This filled up the measure of their iniquities. An observation or two from the verses before my text, I must not omit:
(i) the angel’s question, Hast thou here any besides? Ah, some of the Lord’s people who see the destruction of Sodom approaching will feel this. Was it proper for you to speak, what complaints should I hear from different parts—I have a rebellious child, or a parent growing old in sin—or a wife or a husband. Well, complain to the Lord—pray for them yet more earnestly.
(ii) Lot’s endeavours to save his sons-in-law; but they would not be warned, and their wives, though the children of pious Lot, were equally hardened. Let those who have light, take care how they marry with the profane and wicked, lest they become like them.

FOR MEDITATION: The evening hymn on Sunday 11 June 1775, ‘which I composed with a view to the present troubles in America, and gave a brief sketch of the past and present state of the nation, with a view to engage the people to attendance on our Tuesday morning meetings, by apprising them of the importance of the crisis.’ [The 5am weekly Tuesday morning prayer meetings drew over a hundred people.]

The gathering clouds, with aspect dark,
The humble souls who mourn and pray,
A rising storm presage;
The LORD approves and knows;
Oh! to be hid within the ark,
His mark secures them in the day
And sheltered from its rage!
When vengeance strikes his foes.

SERMON SERIES: GENESIS, NO. 41 [1/4], GENESIS 19:16