Milo

October 2

“And he took them, and went aside privately into a desert place.” (Luke 9:10.)

IN order to grow in grace, we must be much alone. It is not in society that the soul grows most vigorously. In one single quiet hour of prayer it will often make more Progress than in days of company with others. It is in the desert that the dew falls freshest and the air is purest.—Andrew Bonar.

“Come ye yourselves apart and rest awhile,
Weary, I know it, of the press and throng,
Wipe from your brow the sweat and dust of toil,
And in My quiet strength again be strong.

“Come ye aside from all the world holds dear,
For converse which the world has never known,
Alone with Me, and with My Father here,
With Me and with My Father not alone.

“Come, tell Me all that ye have said and done,
Your victories and failures, hopes and fears.
I know how hardly souls are wooed and won:
My choicest wreaths are always wet with tears.

“Come ye and rest; the journey is too great,
And ye will faint beside the way and sink;
The bread of life is here for you to eat,
And here for you the wine of love to drink.

“Then fresh from converse with your Lord return,
And work till daylight softens into even:
The brief hours are not lost in which ye learn
More of your Master and His rest in Heaven.”

2 OCTOBER

From strength to strength

‘And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?’ Genesis 18:17
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Genesis 18:17–33

The farther we proceed in the history of Abraham, we find his privileges and blessings still increase. When the Lord called him, he went forth not knowing whither; he had only a general promise and was to wait the Lord’s time and way for the rest. The Lord showed him more from time to time. The promise was frequently repeated and always (as we have observed in going through the preceding chapters) with a farther enlargement. In the seventeenth chapter the Lord informed him what should be the state of his posterity after his decease. In this chapter he fixed the precise time when his son Isaac should be born. Having thus satisfaction in what more immediately concerned him himself, the Lord now admits him, as it were, into his counsel, and intimates an unwillingness to execute his judgments against Sodom without acquainting his servant Abraham with what he was about to do. Thus he was led on from strength to strength. His path was like the shining light advancing more and more in nearness and communion with the Lord whom he served [Proverbs 4:18].
FOR MEDITATION:
Poor, weak, and worthless though I am,
He ransomed me from hell with blood,
I have a rich almighty friend;
And by his power my foes controlled;
JESUS, the Saviour, is his name,
He found me, wandering far from GOD,
He freely loves, and without end.
And brought me to his chosen fold.

He cheers my heart, my wants supplies,
And says that I shall shortly be
Enthroned with him above the skies,
O! what a friend is CHRIST to me.

SERMON SERIES: GENESIS, NO. 38 [1/4], GENESIS 18:17–19

October 1st

The sphere of exaltation

Jesus leadeth them up into a high mountain apart by themselves. Mark 9:2.

We have all had times on the mount, when we have seen things from God’s standpoint and have wanted to stay there; but God will never allow us to stay there. The test of our spiritual life is the power to descend; if we have power to rise only, something is wrong. It is a great thing to be on the mount with God, but a man only gets there in order that afterwards he may get down among the devil-possessed and lift them up. We are not built for the mountains and the dawns and aesthetic affinities, those are for moments of inspiration, that is all. We are built for the valley, for the ordinary stuff we are in, and that is where we have to prove our mettle. Spiritual selfishness always wants repeated moments on the mount. We feel we could talk like angels and live like angels, if only we could stay on the mount. The times of exaltation are exceptional, they have their meaning in our life with God, but we must beware lest our spiritual selfishness wants to make them the only time.
We are apt to think that everything that happens is to be turned into useful teaching, it is to be turned into something better than teaching, viz., into character. The mount is not meant to teach us anything, it is meant to make us something. There is a great snare in asking—‘What is the use of it?’ In spiritual matters we can never calculate on that line. The moments on the mountain top are rare moments, and they are meant for something in God’s purpose.

October 1

“It is good for me that I have been afflicted.” (Psalm 119:71.)

IT is a remarkable circumstance that the most brilliant colors of plants are to be seen on the highest mountains, in spots that are most exposed to the wildest weather. The brightest lichens and mosses, the loveliest gems of wild flowers, abound far up on the bleak, storm-scalped peak.
One of the richest displays of organic coloring I ever beheld was near the summit of Mount Chenebettaz, a hill about 10,000 feet high, immediately above the great St. Bernard Hospice. The whole face of an extensive rock was covered with a most vivid yellow lichen which shone in the sunshine like the golden battlement of an enchanted castle.
There, in that lofty region, amid the most frowning desolation, exposed to the fiercest tempest of the sky, this lichen exhibited a glory of color such as it never showed in the sheltered valley. I have two specimens of the same lichen before me while I write these lines, one from the great St. Bernard, and the other from the wall of a Scottish castle, deeply embossed among sycamore trees; and the difference in point of form and coloring between them is most striking.
The specimen nurtured amid the wild storms of the mountain peak is of a lovely primrose hue, and is smooth in texture and complete in outline, while the specimen nurtured amid the soft airs and the delicate showers of the lowland valley is of a dim rusty hue, and is scurfy in texture, and broken in outline.
And is it not so with the Christian who is afflicted, tempesttossed, and not comforted? Till the storms and vicissitudes of God’s providence beat upon him again and again, his character appears marred and clouded; but trials clear away the obscurity, perfect the outlines of his disposition, and give brightness and blessing to his life.

Amidst my list of blessings infinite
Stands this the foremost, that my heart has bled;
For all I bless Thee, most for the severe.
—Hugh Macmillan.

1 OCTOBER (PREACHED NEW YEAR’S MORNING, 1770)

O look to Jesus

‘I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.’ 1 Corinthians 15:31
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Psalm 33:1–22

The advantages of dying daily:
(i) it has an immediate tendency to maintain in our souls a constant reverence of God, which is the spring and life of all true obedience. If you daily resign yourself to him as if you were going immediately into his presence, and do so sincerely, it will have an habitual effect upon the frame of your mind.
(ii) it teaches that moderation in all earthly things which becomes our profession [of faith]. From whence come our eager pursuits, our anxious fears, our liftings up and our castings down, our anger, impatience, disputes and jars? Alas, are not these plain proofs [that as] yet we are but little acquainted with this heavenly art of dying daily? Yea, may we not all take shame and say, ‘Teach us so to number our days’ [Psalm 90:12]?
(iii) it will animate to a faithful and diligent discharge of present duty. What thy hand finds to do, do it now, and do it with all thy might [Ecclesiastes 9:10].
(iv) it will prepare us for dying comfortably. This many desire. I will not limit the Lord, but in the way of means, we can hardly expect to die comfortably unless we endeavour to die daily.
I am afraid some of you understand but little of this subject. Yet die you must. And will you be thoughtless about it? If you had but a journey or a voyage before you, you would be often enquiring about it, asking questions, making provision. And can you be careless about your last journey?

FOR MEDITATION: I am now far advancing in my seventy-fourth year, and should be thankful for whatever the Lord sends to remind me that I cannot be long here.… I see little here worth living for, but my Christian profession and my ministry. I hope to be willing to live my appointed time; and I hope and pray that when the Lord shall call me hence, he will make me willing to go. Without him I can do nothing. Without the promised support of his grace, I am neither fit to die nor fit to live. I am to yield all up to him, and to say, ‘What and when and how thou wilt.’
John Newton to Mrs Barbara Wilberforce, 28 November 1798

SERMON: 1 CORINTHIANS 15:31 [6/6]