Milo

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?

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