Milo

August 24

“I have all, and abound.” (Phil. 4:18.)

IN one of my garden books there is a chapter with a very interesting heading, “Flowers that Grow in the Gloom.” It deals with those patches in a garden which never catch the sunlight. And my guide tells me the sort of flowers which are not afraid of these dingy corners—may rather like them and flourish in them.
And there are similar things in the world of the spirit. They come out when material circumstances become stern and severe. They grow in the gloom. How can we otherwise explain some of the experiences of the Apostle Paul?
Here he is in captivity at Rome. The supreme mission of his life appears to be broken. But it is just in this besetting dinginess that flowers begin to show their faces in bright and fascinating glory. He may have seen them before, growing in the open road, but never as they now appeared in incomparable strength and beauty. Words of promise opened out their treasures as he had never seen them before.
Among those treasures were such wonderful things as the grace of Christ, the love of Christ, the joy and peace of Christ; and it seemed as though they needed an “encircling gloom” to draw out their secret and their inner glory. At any rate the realm of gloom became the home of revelation, and Paul began to realize as never before the range and wealth of his spiritual inheritance.
Who has not known men and women who, when they arrive at seasons of gloom and solitude, put on strength and hopefulness like a robe? You may imprison such folk where you please; but you shut up their treasure with them. You cannot shut it out. You may make their material lot a desert, but “the wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose.”—Dr. Jowett.
“Every flower, even the fairest, has its shadow beneath it as it swings in the sunlight.”
Where there is much light there is much shade.

24 AUGUST

The furnace of affliction

‘And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.’ Genesis 15:17
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Job 23:1–10

The whole [incident] was closed by a sign—a smoking furnace and a burning lamp—a type of the state of the church.
(i) The furnace of affliction. Here, says he, I have chosen thee [Isaiah 48:10]. Here he first finds them and we may say of the furnace—as of the Apostle, of the stream of the Rock—it follows them all the way through the wilderness [1 Corinthians 10:4]. This is to refine them. They are compared to silver—the precious metal of his grace is in them, but mixed with much dross. Therefore they stand in need of continual refining. Self-will, self-dependence, the affections cleaving to the dust. Affliction shows them what they are, what the world is, and makes them look upward and long for their rest. The furnace is also to manifest his power and faithfulness.
(ii) The burning lamp: a token of God’s presence with them in their affliction. To the upright there ariseth light in darkness [Psalm 97:11]. The wicked are all darkness—they have no knowledge, true comfort or hope. But his people have light by which they see the hand that appoints their trials: I was dumb—because thou didst it [Psalm 39:9]. His design is not to consume them but to do them good. When he has tried me, I shall come forth as gold [Job 23:10]. So Romans 8:28. They know that the fruit shall be to take away sin. They see an end. The lamp throws a light beyond the grave. I shall not always suffer thus. These light afflictions, which are but a moment, shall issue in a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory [2 Corinthians 4:17]. They have therefore comfort. Sometimes the lamp shines so bright that they can glory in tribulation.

FOR MEDITATION: The Lord’s people are sure of afflictions. If any of them are favoured with earthly comforts, yet trials are their daily lot and they groan, being burdened [2 Corinthians 5:4]. Have you light in your afflictions or do you suffer in vain? Let the redeemed of the Lord praise him. You have found him thus far faithful and he will be with you to the end.

SERMON SERIES: GENESIS, NO. 33 [2/2], GENESIS 15:17

August 23rd

Prayer choice and prayer conflict

When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and pray to thy Father which is in secret. Matthew 6:6.

Jesus did not say—‘Dream about thy Father in secret,’ but ‘pray to thy Father in secret.’ Prayer is an effort of will. After we have entered our secret place and have shut the door, the most difficult thing to do is to pray. We cannot get our minds into working order, and the first thing that conflicts is wandering thoughts. The great battle in private prayer is the overcoming of mental wool-gathering. We have to discipline our minds and concentrate on wilful prayer.
We must have a selected place for prayer and when we get there the plague of flies begins—This must be done, and that. “Shut thy door.” A secret silence means to shut the door deliberately on emotions and remember God. God is in secret, and He sees us from the secret place; He does not see us as other people see us, or as we see ourselves. When we live in the secret place it becomes impossible for us to doubt God, we become more sure of Him than of anything else. Your Father, Jesus says, is in secret and nowhere else. Enter the secret place, and right in the centre of the common round you find God there all the time. Get into the habit of dealing with God about everything. Unless in the first waking moment of the day you learn to fling the door wide back and let God in, you will work on a wrong level all day; but swing the door wide open and pray to your Father in secret, and every public thing will be stamped with the presence of God.

August 23

“He went out, not knowing whither he went.” (Heb. 11:8.)

IT is faith without sight. When we can see, it is not faith, but reasoning. In crossing the Atlantic we observed this very principle of faith. We saw no path upon the sea, nor sign of the shore. And yet day by day we were marking our path upon the chart as exactly as if there had followed us a great chalk line upon the sea. And when we came within twenty miles of land, we knew where we were as exactly as if we had seen it all three thousand miles ahead.
How had we measured and marked our course? Day by day our captain had taken his instruments and, looking up to the sky, had fixed his course by the sun. He was sailing by the heavenly, not the earthly lights.
So faith looks up and sails on, by God’s great Sun, not seeing one shore line or earthly lighthouse or path upon the way. Often its steps seem to lead into utter uncertainty, and even darkness and disaster; but He opens the way, and often makes such midnight hours the very gates of day. Let us go forth this day, not knowing, but trusting.—Days of Heaven upon Earth.
“Too many of us want to see our way through before starting new enterprises. If we could and did, from whence would come the development of our Christian graces? Faith, hope and love cannot be plucked from trees, like ripe apples. After the words ‘In the beginning’ comes the word ‘God.’ The first step turns the key into God’s power-house, and it is not only true that God helps those who help themselves, but He also helps those who cannot help themselves. You can depend upon Him every time.”
“Waiting on God brings us to our journey’s end quicker than our feet.”
The opportunity is often lost by deliberation.

23 AUGUST

Delivered from bondage

‘And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him. And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; and also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.’ Genesis 15:12–14
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: 1 Kings 8:54–61

The Lord, in this chapter, confirmed his covenant with Abraham by repeated promises and by signs—suited to establish his faith, and likewise for the instruction of his church in succeeding times. A deep sleep fell upon him (his bodily senses were overpowered, but his soul was awake to the visions of God) and a horror of darkness—an emblem of the afflictions his posterity was to meet with and of the dispensations of the law they were to be subject to.
Here Abraham is informed of:
(i) their trouble. They were to possess the land but first they were to suffer in bondage. When the time of the promise drew nigh he found them in misery and slavery—thus he made himself known as their deliverer. So it is with all the Lord’s people. He has appointed them an inheritance, but they are for a season in the enemies’ hands.
(ii) God’s vengeance on their enemies: I will judge them. The Lord will plead his people’s cause and then they shall come forth with victory and honour.

FOR MEDITATION:
JOHN NEWTON, CLERK,
Once an Infidel and Libertine,
A servant of slaves in Africa,
Was, by the rich mercy of our Lord and Saviour
JESUS CHRIST,
Preserved, restored, pardoned,
And appointed to preach the Faith
He had long laboured to destroy.
Epitaph, by John Newton

SERMON SERIES: GENESIS, NO. 33 [1/2], GENESIS 15:17