Milo

7 JULY

‘Consequences’

‘And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.’ Genesis 4:8
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: 1 Samuel 18:1–30

Observe the progress of sin: Cain first indulged anger and then proceeded to murder. One is the seed, the other the fruit. Therefore, whoever hateth his brother is a murderer in the sight of God [Matthew 5:21–22]—if he was not restrained by his providence he would proceed to the outward act. Take heed of indulging dislike and ill will—it may lead you farther than you are aware, to do injury, if not to touch the life. However, the law of God will condemn you, even for evil thoughts.
Note the nature of a religious profession and what it will expose you to: look through the whole Bible—you may trace the same spirit. Isaac, the child of the promise, was mocked by Ishmael. This the Apostle calls persecution [Galatians 4:29]. The life of Jacob was sought by Esau because God gave him the blessing. So David was hunted like a partridge upon the mountains. Christ and his apostles were despised and opposed even to the death. Marvel not if the world hate you. And see the necessity of a continual dependence upon grace, that you may not fear them who can kill the body but can do no more. For if you are strengthened by faith in him who is invisible, you will dare to obey God rather than man.
What we owe to the providence and goodness of God in restraining the wrath of man! The same spirit is always awake, but he who rules the stormy wind and the raging waves of the sea, keeps it within bounds. Especially in our land and day, we have reason to be thankful.

FOR MEDITATION: If therefore you meet with some unkind reflections and misrepresentations from men of unfeeling and mercenary spirits, you will bear it patiently when you think of him who endured the contradiction of sinners against himself.
John Newton to William Wilberforce, 4 August [1793]

[during the struggle to abolish the slave trade]

SERMON SERIES: GENESIS, NO. 12 [2/4], GENESIS 4:8

John Newton and Marylynn Rouse, 365 Days with Newton (Leominster, UK: Day One Publications, 2006), 198.

July 6th

Vision and reality

And the parched ground shall become a pool. Isaiah 35:7.

We always have visions before a thing is made real. When we realize that although the vision is real, it is not real in us, then is the time that Satan comes in with his temptations, and we are apt to say it is no use to go on. Instead of the vision becoming real, there has come the valley of humiliation.

‘Life is not as idle ore,
But iron dug from central gloom,
And batter’d by the shocks of doom
To shape and use.’

God gives us the vision, then He takes us down to the valley to batter us into the shape of the vision, and it is in the valley that so many of us faint and give way. Every vision will be made real if we will have patience. Think of the enormous leisure of God! He is never in a hurry. We are always in such a frantic hurry. In the light of the glory of the vision we go forth to do things, but the vision is not real in us yet; and God has to take us into the valley, and put us through fires and floods to batter us into shape, until we get to the place where He can trust us with the veritable reality. Ever since we had the vision God has been at work, getting us into the shape of the ideal, and over and over again we escape from His hand and try to batter ourselves into our own shape.
The vision is not a castle in the air, but a vision of what God wants you to be. Let Him put you on His wheel and whirl you as He likes, and as sure as God is God and you are you, you will turn out exactly in accordance with the vision. Don’t lose heart in the process. If you have ever had the vision of God, you may try as you like to be satisfied on a lower level, but God will never let you.

July 6

“Neither know we what to do; but our eyes are upon thee.” (2 Chron. 20:12.)

A LIFE was lost in Israel because a pair of human hands were laid unbidden upon the ark of God. They were placed upon it with the best intent, to steady it when trembling and shaking as the oxen drew it along the rough way; but they touched God’s work presumptuously, and they fell paralyzed and lifeless. Much of the life of faith consists in letting things alone.
If we wholly trust an interest to God, we must keep our hands off it; and He will guard it for us better than we can help Him. “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.”
Things may seem to be going all wrong, but He knows as well as we; and He will arise in the right moment if we are really trusting Him so fully as to let Him work in His own way and time. There is nothing so masterly as inactivity in some things, and there is nothing so hurtful as restless working, for God has undertaken to work His sovereign will.
—A. B. Simpson.
“Being perplexed, I say,
‘Lord, make it right!
Night is as day to Thee,
Darkness as light.
I am afraid to touch
Things that involve so much;
My trembling hand may shake,
My skilless hand may break;
Thine can make no mistake.’

“Being in doubt I say,
  ‘Lord, make it plain;
Which is the true, safe way?
  Which would be gain?
I am not wise to know,
Nor sure of foot to go;
What is so clear to Thee,
Lord, make it clear to me!’ ”

It is such a comfort to drop the tangles of life into God’s hands and leave them there.

6 JULY

A murderous heart

‘And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.’ Genesis 4:8
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Genesis 4:8–16

We have here the first effort of Satan to manifest his enmity against the servants of God. It is a specimen, or sample, of the religious history of mankind from the beginning to this day. We have the murder of Abel, the cry of his blood, the judgement of Cain.
The murder. Cain talked with Abel. The subject of the converse is not recorded. If we may conjecture from what we hear with our own ears, it is not improbable that Abel was reproached as a hypocrite, despised as an enthusiast and a bigot, and that Abel’s humble joy in the Lord’s acceptance and his steadfastness in preferring sacrifices with blood, together with the free and faithful advice he gave his brother to acquaint himself with God and be at peace, provoked Cain to slay him. Something like this may perhaps be inferred from the Apostle’s account of the cause (1 John 3:12). Now from hence we may observe for our own instruction the desperate wickedness of the heart. The carnal mind of Cain was enmity against God. He thought himself injured and affronted because Abel was preferred. His Maker was out of his reach and therefore he wreaked his displeasure against his faithful servant. Thus it is with all persecutors in whatever degree they are permitted to act. For thy sake we are killed [Romans 8:36]. If a person does not show any sign of the fear, love and image of God, he shall pass unnoticed; but if he does, he will be sure to meet with opposition.

FOR MEDITATION: We have likewise to encounter with the spirit of the world that knows not God, and cannot well bear with those who serve him according to the gospel. Through mercy we are exempted from those heavy sufferings by stripes, imprisonment and death, which many believers have been called to. Yet in one way or other, we experience what the Apostle says, that all who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Unkindness and opposition we shall be sure to meet with, and often from our dearest friends (Matthew 10:35–36).
John Newton to William Wilberforce (the MP’s uncle), 4 July 1771

SERMON SERIES: GENESIS, NO. 12 [1/4], GENESIS 4:8

July 5th

Don’t calculate without God

Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in Him; and He shall bring it to pass. Psalm 37:5.

Don’t calculate without God.
God seems to have a delightful way of upsetting the things we have calculated on without taking Him into account. We get into circumstances which were not chosen by God, and suddenly we find we have been calculating without God; He has not entered in as a living factor. The one thing that keeps us from the possibility of worrying is bringing God in as the greatest factor in all our calculations.
In our religion it is customary to put God first, but we are apt to think it is an impertinence to put Him first in the practical issues of our lives. If we imagine we have to put on our Sunday moods before we come near to God, we will never come near Him. We must come as we are.
Don’t calculate with the evil in view.
Does God really mean us to take no account of the evil? “Love … taketh no account of the evil.” Love is not ignorant of the existence of the evil, but it does not take it in as a calculating factor. Apart from God, we do reckon with evil; we calculate with it in view and work all reasonings from that standpoint.
Don’t calculate with the rainy day in view.
You cannot lay up for a rainy day if you are trusting Jesus Christ. Jesus said—“Let not your heart be troubled.” God will not keep your heart from being troubled. It is a command—“Let not …” Haul yourself up a hundred and one times a day in order to do it, until you get into the habit of putting God first and calculating with Him in view.