Milo

4 OCTOBER

He sees from beginning to end

‘And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?’ Genesis 18:17–18
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Psalm 139:1–18

Leaving what is specially applicable to Abraham, let us inquire what observations we may draw for our own use from the reasons the Lord himself gives, why he would not hide this thing from Abraham. The reasons are two: the one suited to confirm our faith, the other [see 4/4] to animate us in our duty.
The first is, seeing that Abraham.… The Lord had in view all that he had intended to do for and by Abraham from the first. He was present to the Lord’s mind from the time of his calling, yea long before his birth, as the father of many nations, the father of the faithful. And he makes the full and final good he intended for him, an argument for the favour he was about to show him, that is to say, ‘This is not too much for the man whom I delight to honour.’ I believe some of you will easily perceive how this thought may be applied to the comfort of believers in general. When first awakened, they seem at an uncertainty, come to the Lord upon a peradventure, and meet with many a perplexing hour afterwards—but all this while the Lord sees the whole of their course from beginning to end, sees them as they will stand accepted before him in glory. He has given them his Son and appointed them a kingdom. Having designed them to such an end, what shall he withhold from them by the way (Romans 8:32)? [Do you] think you hear the Lord saying, ‘Shall I refuse that person bread, or leave him to sink in trouble, seeing he shall ere long see my face in glory?’ If he suffers you to meet with many trials, it is not for want of care, or power or compassion, because he has chosen you and designed great things for you; he will surely deliver you and you shall glorify him.

FOR MEDITATION: ‘He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?’ (Romans 8:32, NIV).

SERMON SERIES: GENESIS, NO. 38 [3/4], GENESIS 18:17–19

October 3rd

The sphere of ministration

This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting. Mark 9:29.

“Why could not we cast him out?” The answer lies in a personal relationship to Jesus Christ. This kind can come forth by nothing but by concentration and redoubled concentration on Him. We can ever remain powerless, as were the disciples, by trying to do God’s work not in concentration on His power, but by ideas drawn from our own temperament. We slander God by our very eagerness to work for Him without knowing Him.
You are brought face to face with a difficult case and nothing happens externally, and yet you know that emancipation will be given because you are concentrated on Jesus Christ. This is your line of service—to see that there is nothing between Jesus and yourself. Is there? If there is, you must get through it, not by ignoring it in irritation, or by mounting up, but by facing it and getting through it into the presence of Jesus Christ. Then that very thing, and all you have been through in connection with it, will glorify Jesus Christ in a way you will never know till you see Him face to face.
We must be able to mount up with wings as eagles; but we must also know how to come down. The power of the saint lies in the coming down and the living down. “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me,” said Paul, and the things he referred to were mostly humiliating things. It is in our power to refuse to be humiliated and to say—‘No, thank you, I much prefer to be on the mountain top with God.’ Can I face things as they actually are in the light of the reality of Jesus Christ, or do things as they are efface altogether my faith in Him, and put me into a panic?

October 3

“And after the earthquake a fire; and after the fire a sound of gentle stillness.” (1 Kings 19:12, R. V., margin.)

ASOUL, who made rapid progress in her understanding of the Lord, was once asked the secret of her easy advancement. She replied tersely, “Mind the checks.” And the reason that many of us do not know and better understand Him is, we do not give heed to His gentle checks, His delicate restraints and constraints. His is a still, small voice. A still voice can hardly be heard. It must be felt. A steady, gentle pressure upon the heart and mind like the touch of a morning zephyr to your face. A small voice, quietly, almost timidly spoken in your heart, but if heeded growing noiselessly clearer to your inner ear. His voice is for the ear of love, and love is intent upon hearing even faintest whispers. There comes a time also when love ceases to speak if not responded to, or believed in. He is love, and if you would know Him and His voice, give constant ear to His gentle touches. In conversation, when about to utter some word, give heed to that gentle voice, mind the check and refrain from speech. When about to pursue some course that seems all clear and right and there comes quietly to your spirit a suggestion that has in it the force almost of a conviction, give heed, even if changed plans seem highest folly from standpoint of human wisdom. Learn also to wait on God for the unfolding of His will. Let God form your plans about everything in your mind and heart and then let Him execute them. Do not possess any wisdom of your own. For many times His execution will seem so contradictory to the plan He gave. He will seem to work against Himself. Simply listen, obey and trust God even when it seems highest folly so to do. He will in the end make “all things work together,” but so many times in the first appearance of the outworking of His plans,

“In His own world He is content
To play a losing game.”

So if you would know His voice, never consider results or possible effects. Obey even when He asks you to move in the dark. He Himself will be gloriously light in you. And there will spring up rapidly in your heart an acquaintanceship and a fellowship with God which will be overpowering in itself to hold you and Him together, even in severest testings and under most terrible pressures.—Way of Faith.

3 OCTOBER

For our instruction

‘And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?’ Genesis 18:17
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: 2 Peter 3:1–18

How unspeakable the condescension of this expression, Shall I hide …? Would not Abraham have sufficient cause of thankfulness if he himself was spared, though he had known nothing of the destruction of Sodom till he afterwards saw the smoke of the country ascending like the smoke of a furnace? But it was the Lord’s pleasure to honour him. The case of Abraham is not to be so far drawn into a precedent for all believers as to give us expectations that he will give us a prophetical view of his providential dispensations before they come to pass, but only in general, that he will hide nothing from them that fear him and walk humbly before him, in which their good and his glory is concerned—though by a careful attention to the Word of God and what the Scripture calls the signs of the times, perhaps a clearer view of the Lord’s hand and design in his providences is attainable than what we are ordinarily aware of. It was upon several accounts desirable that Abraham should know of the Lord’s purpose against Sodom before it took place. It was to be an unusual judgement such as had never before been heard of. And his people may expect that in very extraordinary dispensations he may appear in an extraordinary way for their support. So our Lord gave his disciples notice of the approaching destruction of Jerusalem and I doubt not but there are many prophecies as yet unfulfilled that, when the time of their accomplishment draws nigh, will give his people a light into his proceedings, though at present they seem dark to us. The Lord’s notice likewise was designed to engage Abraham’s intercession, which was to be recorded for our instruction to teach us how we should be affected when the judgements of God are in the earth.
FOR MEDITATION: On the commencement of hostilities in America
[written for 11 June 1775]
Ye saints, unite in wrestling prayer;
May we, at least, with one consent,
If yet there may be hope;
Fall low before the throne;
Who knows but Mercy yet may spare,
With tears the nation’s sins lament,
And bid the angel stop?
The church’s, and our own.

SERMON SERIES: GENESIS, NO. 38 [2/4], GENESIS 18:17–19

October 2nd

The sphere of humiliation

If Thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us. Mark 9:22.

After every time of exaltation we are brought down with a sudden rush into things as they are, where it is neither beautiful nor poetic nor thrilling. The height of the mountain top is measured by the drab drudgery of the valley; but it is in the valley that we have to live for the glory of God. We see His glory on the mount, but we never live for His glory there. It is in the sphere of humiliation that we find our true worth to God, that is where our faithfulness is revealed. Most of us can do things if we are always at the heroic pitch because of the natural selfishness of our hearts, but God wants us at the drab commonplace pitch, where we live in the valley according to our personal relationship to Him. Peter thought it would be a fine thing for them to remain on the mount, but Jesus Christ took the disciples down from the mount into the valley—the place where the meaning of the vision is explained.
“If Thou canst do anything …” It takes the valley of humiliation to root the scepticism out of us. Look back at your own experience, and you will find that until you learned Who Jesus was, you were a cunning sceptic about His power. When you were on the mount, you could believe anything, but what about the time when you were up against facts in the valley? You may be able to give a testimony to sanctification, but what about the thing that is a humiliation to you just now? The last time you were on the mount with God, you saw that all power in heaven and in earth belonged to Jesus—will you be sceptical now in the valley of humiliation?