Milo

June 25

“Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward.” (Exod. 14:15.)

IMAGINE, O child of God, if you can that triumphal march! The excited children restrained from ejaculations of wonder by the perpetual hush of their parents; the most uncontrollable excitement of the women as they found themselves suddenly saved from a fate worse than death; while the men followed or accompanied them ashamed or confounded that they had ever mistrusted God or murmured against Moses; and as you see those mighty walls of water piled by the outstretched hand of the Eternal, in response to the faith of a single man, learn what God will do for His own.

Dread not any result of implicit obedience to His command; fear not the angry waters which, in their proud insolence, forbid your progress. Above the voices of many waters, the mighty breakers of the sea, “the Lord sitteth King for ever.”

A storm is only as the outskirts of His robe, the symptom of His advent, the environment of His presence.

Dare to trust Him; dare to follow Him! And discover that the very forces which barred your progress and threatened your life, at His bidding become the materials of which an avenue is made to liberty.—F. B. Meyer.

Have you come to the Red Sea place in your life,
Where, in spite of all you can do,
There is no way out, there is no way back,
There is no other way but through?
Then wait on the Lord with a trust serene
Till the night of your fear is gone;
He will send the wind, He will heap the floods,
When He says to your soul, “Go on.”

And His hand will lead you through—clear through—
Ere the watery walls roll down,
No foe can reach you, no wave can touch,
No mightiest sea can drown;
The tossing billows may rear their crests,
Their foam at your feet may break,
But over their bed you shall walk dry shod
In the path that your Lord will make.

In the morning watch, ’neath the lifted cloud,
You shall see but the Lord alone,
When He leads you on from the place of the sea
To a land that you have not known;
And your fears shall pass as your foes have passed,
You shall be no more afraid;
You shall sing His praise in a better place,
A place that His hand has made.
—Annie Johnson Flint.

25 JUNE (PREACHED 23 JUNE 1776)

The trials of a minister

‘Brethren, pray for us.’ 1 Thessalonians 5:25
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: 2 Timothy 4:1–8

We are tried in private. I should be happy indeed, if I always felt the comforts of those truths which I trust at times comfort many of you when I set them forth here. But if any of you know what it is to groan under the power of unbelief and indwelling sin, deadness in prayer and even unwillingness to pray, coldness and confusion in reading the Scripture, be assured that preaching with some earnestness and apparent pleasure, at times, does by no means secure us from these groanings. One of my greatest trials is the difference between what I may seem to be in public, and what I feel myself to be in private, which has made me often ready to compare myself to a player on a stage. We are tried in the pulpit: a consciousness of the weakness and unskilfulness of our best attempts, the evils that beset us in our most solemn services, a conviction how far we fall short ourselves of what we propose to you, and sometimes a straitness and dryness of spirit when we must speak, though we know not what we can say. If private believers are not in a frame of mind to speak they may keep silence, but ministers are like post horses—when the hour comes, they must set out, whatever disadvantages attend the journey.

FOR MEDITATION: The afternoon service approaches. Do thou give me wisdom and a blessing. There is great cause for humiliation and prayer amongst us. In vain shall I try to teach their hearts, unless thou art pleased to work.
Diary, Sunday 23 June 1776

[immediately prior to preaching this sermon]

Ah, my Lord, I seem to be something when among my fellow creatures, but am nothing in thy sight—a poor heartless worm. I had words to speak at the Great House, but to myself—words without feeling. I am beset with evils, which, like the canker upon a tree, keep me low. O Lord, put forth thy power—blow with thy wind, dissolve the ice and cause the waters to flow.161
Diary, 4 June 1776

SERMON: 1 THESSALONIANS 5:25 [3/6]

June 24th

Reconciling one’s self to the fact of sin

This is your hour, and the power of darkness. Luke 22:53.

It is not being reconciled to the fact of sin that produces all the disasters in life. You may talk about the nobility of human nature, but there is something in human nature which will laugh in the face of every ideal you have. If you refuse to agree with the fact that there is vice and self-seeking, something downright spiteful and wrong in human beings, instead of reconciling yourself to it when it strikes your life, you will compromise with it and say it is of no use to battle against it. Have you made allowance for this hour and the power of darkness, or do you take a recognition of yourself that misses out sin? In your bodily relationships and friendships do you reconcile yourself to the fact of sin? If not, you will be caught round the next corner and you will compromise with it. If you reconcile yourself to the fact of sin, you will realize the danger at once—‘Yes, I see what that would mean.’ The recognition of sin does not destroy the basis of friendship; it establishes a mutual regard for the fact that the basis of life is tragic. Always beware of an estimate of life which does not recognize the fact that there is sin.
Jesus Christ never trusted human nature, yet He was never cynical, never suspicious, because He trusted absolutely in what He could do for human nature. The pure man or woman, not the innocent, is the safeguarded man or woman. You are never safe with an innocent man or woman. Men and women have no business to be innocent; God demands that they be pure and virtuous. Innocence is the characteristic of a child; it is a blameworthy thing for a man or woman not to be reconciled to the fact of sin.

June 24

“Concerning the work of my hands command ye me.” (Isa. 45:11.)

OUR Lord spoke in this tone when He said, “Father, I will.” Joshua used it when, in the supreme moment of triumph, he lifted up his spear toward the setting sun, and cried, “Sun, stand thou still!”
Elijah used it when he shut the heavens for three years and six months, and again opened them.
Luther used it when, kneeling by the dying Melanchthon, he forbade death to take his prey.
It is a marvelous relationship into which God bids us enter. We are familiar with words like those which follow in this paragraph: “I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded.” But that God should invite us to command Him, this is a change in relationship which is altogether startling!
What a difference there is between this attitude and the hesitating, halting, unbelieving prayers to which we are accustomed, and which by their perpetual repetition lose edge and point!
How often during His earthly life did Jesus put men into a position to command Him! When entering Jericho, He stood still, and said to the blind beggars:
“What will ye that I shall do unto you?” It was as though He said, “I am yours to command.”

Can we ever forget how He yielded to the Syrophenician woman the key to His resources and told her to help herself even as she would?
What mortal mind can realize the full significance of the position to which our God lovingly raises His little children? He seems to say, “All my resources are at your command.” “Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do.”
—F. B. Meyer.

Say to this mountain, “Go,
  Be cast into the sea”;
And doubt not in thine heart
  That it shall be to thee.

It shall be done, doubt not His Word,
Challenge thy mountain in the Lord!

Claim thy redemption right,
  Purchased by precious blood;
The Trinity unite
  To make it true and good.

It shall be done, obey the Word,
Challenge thy mountain in the Lord!

Self, sickness, sorrow, sin,
  The Lord did meet that day
On His beloved One,
  And thou art “loosed away.”

It has been done, rest on His Word,
Challenge thy mountain in the Lord!

Compass the frowning wall
  With silent prayer, then raise—
Before its ramparts fall—
  The victor’s shout of praise.

It shall be done, faith rests assured,
Challenge thy mountain in the Lord!

The two-leaved gates of brass,
  The bars of iron yield,
To let the faithful pass,
  Conquerors in every field.

It shall be done, the foe ignored,
Challenge thy mountain in the Lord!

Take then the faith of God,
  Free from the taint of doubt;
The miracle-working rod
  That casts all reasoning out.

It shall be done, stand on the Word,
Challenge thy mountain in the Lord!
—Selected.

24 JUNE (PREACHED 23 JUNE 1776)

Empathize with your ministers

‘Brethren, pray for us.’ 1 Thessalonians 5:25
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: 2 Corinthians 6:1–13

To pray for ministers the people must be able to feel for them. Here there is a difference. We know most of your exercises, because we share them with you in common. But you are not proper judges of ours. You do not stand in our place; we must tell you what we feel to engage your pity, but we can never tell you all. I need your prayers, and to engage them, I am desirous at this time a little to open my mind to you upon the subject of our trials. As to myself, if I had only to get through an hour in the pulpit, though I should prize your love and your prayers, I should have no very strong claim to your compassion. My outward trials are neither many or heavy, considering the usual lot of human life. But preaching is not all, and even in preaching, if the Lord has given us a love to our work and to our hearers, we have often, when we seem to speak with liberty, very painful feelings. Had we this desirable liberty always and nothing painful mixed with it, we should soon forget ourselves. This the Lord knows, and finds ways to make us remember what we are, which though necessary, are often very sharp. And though we are supported for public service and some persons may be ready to think we lead happy lives, we could (at least I could) often address you in the words of Job, Have pity upon me, O my friends, for the hand of God has touched me [Job 19:21].
FOR MEDITATION:
Chief Shepherd of thy chosen sheep,
With plenteous grace their hearts prepare,
From death and sin set free;
To execute thy will;
May every under-shepherd keep
Compassion, patience, love and care,
His eye, intent on thee!
And faithfulness and skill.

         Inflame their minds with holy zeal
         Their flocks to feed and teach;
         And let them live, and let them feel
         The sacred truths they preach.

SERMON: 1 THESSALONIANS 5:25 [2/6]