Milo

November 12

“These were the potters, and those that dwelt among plants and hedges: there they dwelt with the king for his work.” (1 Chron. 4:23.)

ANYWHERE and everywhere we may dwell “with the king for his work.” We may be in a very unlikely and unfavorable place for this; it may be in a literal country life, with little enough to be seen of the “goings” of the King around us; it may be among the hedges of all sorts, hindrances in all directions; it may be furthermore, with our hands full of all manner of pottery for our daily task.
No matter! The King who placed us “there” will come and dwell there with us; the hedges are right, or He would soon do away with them. And it does not follow that what seems to hinder our way may not be for its very protection; and as for the pottery, why, that is just exactly what He has seen fit to put into our hands, and therefore it is, for the present, “His work”.—Frances Ridley Havergal.

“Go back to thy garden-plot, sweetheart!
  Go back till the evening falls,
And bind thy lilies and train thy vines,
  Till for thee the Master calls.

“Go make thy garden fair as thou canst,
  Thou workest never alone;
Perhaps he whose plot is next to thine
  Will see it and mend his own.”

The colored sunsets and starry heavens, the beautiful mountains and the shining seas, the fragrant woods and painted flowers, are not half so beautiful as a soul that is serving Jesus out of love, in the wear and tear of common, unpoetic life.
—Faber.
The most saintly spirits are often existing in those who have never distinguished themselves as authors, or left any memorial of themselves to be the theme of the world’s talk; but who have led an interior angelic life, having borne their sweet blossoms unseen like the young lily in a sequestered vale on the bank of a limpid stream.—Kenelm Digby.

12 NOVEMBER

Rescued—taken by the hand

‘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: Jonah 1:17–2:10

The Lord takes believers by the hand and saves them in defiance of themselves. The usual means are:
(i) by his Word and ordinances. Here he meets them—sometimes with an alarming word that makes them tremble; sometimes a humbling word that makes them ashamed (as when he looked upon Peter); sometimes a reviving word, accompanied with a constraining force of his love. Then like Matthew and the sons of Zebedee they can forsake all and follow. O it is a blessing to have the ordinances.
(ii) by his conduct towards them. He hides his face. They lose the blessedness they once spoke of. He makes the heavens over their heads iron and the earth brass. They walk in darkness and mourn under deadness and dryness of spirit. Thus he makes them feel the evil of their way.
(iii) by his providence. He fills their mouths with ashes and makes the world bitter—pains, sickness, poverty, crosses, loss of friends and earthly comforts. He has many scourges of this kind.
FOR MEDITATION:
When thy loved presence meets my sight,
My sun is hid, my comforts lost,
It softens care, and sweetens toil;
My graces droop, my sins revive;
The sun shines forth with double light,
Distressed, dismayed, and tempest-tossed,
The whole creation wears a smile.
My soul is only just alive!

But ah! since thou hast been away,
LORD, hear my cry and come again!
Nothing but trouble have I known;
Put all mine enemies to shame,
And Satan marks me for his prey
And let them see, ’tis not in vain
Because he sees me left alone.
That I have trusted in thy name.

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

November 11th

The supreme climb

Take now thy son … Genesis 22:2.

God’s command is—Take now, not presently. It is extraordinary how we debate! We know a thing is right, but we try to find excuses for not doing it at once. To climb to the height God shows can never be done presently, it must be done now. The sacrifice is gone through in will before it is performed actually.
“And Abraham rose up early in the morning, … and went unto the place of which God had told him” (v. 3). The wonderful simplicity of Abraham! When God spoke, he did not confer with flesh and blood. Beware when you want to confer with flesh and blood, i.e., your own sympathies, your own insight, anything that is not based on your personal relationship to God. These are the things that compete with and hinder obedience to God.
Abraham did not choose the sacrifice. Always guard against self-chosen service for God; self-sacrifice may be a disease. If God has made your cup sweet, drink it with grace; if He has made it bitter, drink it in communion with Him. If the providential order of God for you is a hard time of difficulty, go through with it, but never choose the scene of your martyrdom. God chose the crucible for Abraham, and Abraham made no demur; he went steadily through. If you are not living in touch with Him, it is easy to pass a crude verdict on God. You must go through the crucible before you have any right to pronounce a verdict, because in the crucible you learn to know God better. God is working for His highest ends until His purpose and man’s purpose become one.

November 11

“He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass.” (Psalm 72:6.)

AMOS speaks of the king’s mowings. Our King has many scythes, and is perpetually mowing His lawns. The musical tinkle of the whetstone on the scythe portends the cutting down of myriads of green blades, daisies and other flowers. Beautiful as they were in the morning, within an hour or two they lie in long, faded rows.
Thus in human life we make a brave show, before the scythe of pain, the shears of disappointment, the sickle of death.
There is no method of obtaining a velvety lawn but by repeated mowings; and there is no way of developing tenderness, evenness, sympathy, but by the passing of God’s scythes. How constantly the Word of God compares man to grass, and His glory to its flower! But when grass is mown, and all the tender shoots are bleeding, and desolation reigns where flowers were bursting, it is the most acceptable time for showers of rain falling soft and warm.
O soul, thou hast been mown! Time after time the King has come to thee with His sharp scythe. Do not dread the scythe—it is sure to be followed by the shower.—F. B. Meyer.

“When across the heart deep waves of sorrow
  Break, as on a dry and barren shore;
When hope glistens with no bright tomorrow,
  And the storm seems sweeping evermore;

“When the cup of every earthly gladness
  Bears no taste of the life-giving stream;
And high hopes, as though to mock our sadness,
  Fade and die as in some fitful dream,

“Who shall hush the weary spirit’s chiding?
  Who the aching void within shall fill?
Who shall whisper of a peace abiding,
  And each surging billow calmly still?

“Only He whose wounded heart was broken
  With the bitter cross and thorny crown;
Whose dear love glad words of joy had spoken,
  Who His life for us laid meekly down.

“Blessed Healer, all our burdens lighten;
Give us peace, Thine own sweet peace, we pray!

Keep us near Thee till the morn shall brighten,
And all the mists and shadows flee away!”

11 NOVEMBER

The Lord’s patience and mercy

‘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: Isaiah 1:9–20

To some of you, we seem as mockers; we can only repeat our message and leave it with your consciences, entreating the Lord to give a blessing, while we declare the danger and the remedy. That Lot escaped at last, is ascribed to the Lord’s mercy. He might justly have been left to perish with the rest. O the patience of the Lord towards his own people. Indeed it is in some respects more wonderful than his long forbearance of the wicked. These know not what they do. But believers sin and trifle against knowledge and love and experience. On this account they may be said to be though scarcely saved. They have so often provoked the Lord, that if his mercy was not infinite, he would be weary of them and cast them off for ever.

Annotated Letters to a Wife, 4 August 1796, aged 70:
O my LORD! If I would recollect or recount thy mercies they are more in number than the sands! The best part of my childhood and youth was vanity and folly but before I attained the age of man I became exceeding vile indeed and was seated in the chair of a scorner in early life. Troubles and miseries I for a time endured, were my own. I brought them upon myself by forsaking thy good and pleasant paths and choosing the way of transgressors, which I found very hard. They led to slavery, contempt, famine and despair, but my recovery from that dreadful state was wholly of thee. How exact were the terms upon which my deliverance from Africa depended. Had the ship passed one quarter of an hour sooner I had died there a wretch as I had lived.

FOR MEDITATION: We are passengers in a ship in which the Lord’s cause and faithfulness are embarked with us, and therefore we need not fear sinking. The infallible pilot will guide us safely through the storms.
John Newton to John Ryland, 28 January 1781

SERMON SERIES: GENESIS, NO. 41 [3/4], GENESIS 19:16