Milo

February 19

“And every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.” (John 15:2.)

ACHILD of God was dazed by the variety of afflictions which seemed to make her their target. Walking past a vineyard in the rich autumnal glow she noticed the untrimmed appearance and the luxuriant wealth of leaves on the vines, that the ground was given over to a tangle of weeds and grass, and that the whole place looked utterly uncared for; and as she pondered, the Heavenly Gardener whispered so precious a message that she would fain pass it on:
“My dear child, are you wondering at the sequence of trials in your life? Behold that vineyard and learn of it. The gardener ceases to prune, to trim, to harrow, or to pluck the ripe fruit only when he expects nothing more from the vine during that season. It is left to itself, because the season of fruit is past and further effort for the present would yield no profit. Comparative uselessness is the condition of freedom from suffering. Do you then wish me to cease pruning your life? Shall I leave you alone?” And the comforted heart cried, “No!”
—Homera Homer-Dixon.
It is the branch that bears the fruit,
That feels the knife,
To prune it for a larger growth,
A fuller life.

Though every budding twig be lopped,
  And every grace
Of swaying tendril, springing leaf,
  Be lost a space.

O thou whose life of joy seems reft,
  Of beauty shorn;
Whose aspirations lie in dust,
  All bruised and torn,

Rejoice, tho’ each desire, each dream,
  Each hope of thine
Shall fall and fade; it is the hand
  Of Love Divine

That holds the knife, that cuts and breaks
  With tenderest touch,
That thou, whose life has borne some fruit
  May’st now bear much.

—Annie Johnson Flint.

February 18

“Have faith that whatever you ask for in prayer is already granted you, and you will find that it will be.” (Mark 11:24.)

WHEN my little son was about ten years of age, his grandmother promised him a stamp album for Christmas. Christmas came, but no stamp album, and no word from grandmother. The matter, however, was not mentioned; but when his playmates came to see his Christmas presents, I was astonished, after he had named over this and that as gifts received, to hear him add,
“And a stamp album from grandmother.”
I had heard it several times, when I called him to me, and said, “But, Georgie, you did not get an album from your grandmother. Why do you say so?”
There was a wondering look on his face, as if he thought it strange that I should ask such a question, and he replied, “Well, mamma, grandma said, so it is the same as.” I could not say a word to check his faith.
A month went by, and nothing was heard from the album. Finally, one day, I said, to test his faith, and really wondering in my heart why the album had not been sent,
“Well, Georgie, I think grandma has forgotten her promise.”
“Oh, no, mamma,” he quickly and firmly said, “she hasn’t.”
I watched the dear, trusting face, which, for a while, looked very sober, as if debating the possibilities I had suggested. Finally a bright light passed over it, and he said,
“Mamma, do you think it would do any good if I should write to her thanking her for the album?”
“I do not know,” I said, “but you might try it.”
A rich spiritual truth began to dawn upon me. In a few minutes a letter was prepared and committed to the mail, and he went off whistling his confidence in his grandma. In just a short time a letter came, saying:
“My dear Georgie: I have not forgotten my promise to you, of an album. I tried to get such a book as you desired, but could not get the sort you wanted; so I sent on to New York. It did not get here till after Christmas, and it was still not right, so I sent for another, and as it has not come as yet, I send you three dollars to get one in Chicago. Your loving grandma.”
“As he read the letter, his face was the face of a victor. “Now, mamma, didn’t I tell you?” came from the depths of a heart that never doubted, that, “against hope, believed in hope” that the stamp album would come. While he was trusting, grandma was working, and in due season faith became sight.
It is so human to want sight when we step out on the promises of God, but our Savior said to Thomas, and to the long roll of doubters who have ever since followed him: “Blessed are they who have not seen, and yet have believed.”—Mrs. Rounds.

February 17

“The land which I do give them, even the children of Israel.” (Joshua 1:2.)

GOD here speaks in the immediate present. It is not something He is going to do, but something He does do, this moment. So faith ever speaks. So God ever gives. So He is meeting you today, in the present moment. This is the test of faith. So long as you are waiting for a thing, hoping for it, looking for it, you are not believing. It may be hope, it may be earnest desire, but it is not faith; for “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” The command in regard to believing prayer is the present tense. “When ye pray, believe that ye receive the things that ye desire, and ye shall have them.” Have we come to that moment? Have we met God in His everlasting NOW?—Joshua, by Simpson.
True faith counts on God, and believes before it sees. Naturally, we want some evidence that our petition is granted before we believe; but when we walk by faith we need no other evidence than God’s Word. He has spoken, and according to our faith it shall be done unto us. We shall see because we have believed, and this faith sustains us in the most trying places, when everything around us seems to contradict God’s Word.
The Psalmist says, “I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of living” (Psa. 27:13). He did not see as yet the Lord’s answer to his prayers, but he believed to see; and this kept him from fainting.
If we have the faith that believes to see, it will keep us from growing discouraged. We shall “laugh at impossibilities,” we shall watch with delight to see how God is going to open up a path through the Red Sea when there is no human way out of our difficulty. It is just in such places of severe testing that our faith grows and strengthens.
Have you been waiting upon God, dear troubled one, during long nights and weary days, and have feared that you were forgotten? Nay, lift up your head, and begin to praise Him even now for the deliverance which is on its way to you.
—Life of Praise.

February 16

“Though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more.” (Nah. 1:12.)

THERE is a limit to affliction. God sends it, and re-moves it. Do you sigh and say, “When will the end be?” Let us quietly wait and patiently endure the will of the Lord till He cometh. Our Father takes away the rod when His design in using it is fully served.
If the affliction is sent for testing us, that our graces may glorify God, it will end when the Lord has made us bear witness to His praise.
We would not wish the affliction to depart until God has gotten out of us all the honor which we can possibly yield Him.
There may be today “a great calm.” Who knows how soon those raging billows will give place to a sea of glass, and the sea birds sit on the gentle waves?
After long tribulation, the flail is hung up, and the wheat rests in the garner. We may, before many hours are past, be just as happy as now we are sorrowful.
It is not hard for the Lord to turn night into day. He that sends the clouds can as easily clear the skies. Let us be of good cheer. It is better farther on. Let us sing Hallelujah by anticipation.—C. H. Spurgeon.
The great Husbandman is not always threshing. Trial is only for a season. The showers soon pass. Weeping may tarry only for the few hours of the short summer night; it must be gone at daybreak. Our light affliction is but for a moment. Trial is for a purpose, “If needs be.”
The very fact of trial proves that there is something in us very precious to our Lord; else He would not spend so much pains and time on us. Christ would not test us if He did not see the precious ore of faith mingled in the rocky matrix of our nature; and it is to bring this out into purity and beauty that He forces us through the fiery ordeal.
Be patient, O sufferer! The result will more than compensate for all our trials, when we see how they wrought out the far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. To have one word of God’s commendation; to be honored before the holy angels; to be glorified in Christ, so as to be better able to flash His glory on Himself—ah! that will more than repay for all.
—Tried by Fire.
As the weights of the clock, or the ballast in the vessel, are necessary for their right ordering, so is trouble in the soul-life. The sweetest scents are only obtained by tremendous pressure; the fairest flowers grow amid Alpine snow-solitudes; the fairest gems have suffered longest from the lapidary’s wheel; the noblest statues have borne most blows of the chisel. All, however, are under law. Nothing happens that has not been appointed with consummate care and foresight.—Daily Devotional Commentary.

20 FEBRUARY

Be sober—be vigilant

‘Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.’ Genesis 3:1
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: 1 Corinthians 1:18–31

A lesson of caution: let none be carried away by great names, so as to take things upon trust because the person who teaches them is called a scholar, a divine, a doctor or a pope. For ought I know, if Satan had appeared to Eve as an ass she might have disdained to confer with him. But the serpent was so subtle and engaging that he caught her attention. Now perhaps some of you would not be so willing to venture your souls upon your own righteousness to think so meanly as you do of the person and gospel of Christ, if you did not know that the same sentiments are maintained by persons whom you suppose wiser than yourselves. But if you are blindly led by those who are wrong themselves (and the wisdom of man is foolishness with God) what must the issue be?
We have as yet but entered upon this important subject and our time draws to a close. I must therefore only add a word of exhortation: Be sober—be vigilant. You have an adversary.

FOR MEDITATION: An advance in years and the changing dispensations of thy providence have put an end to many of my conflicts; but my heart is still the same.… O make me wise and watchful, diffident of myself and wholly dependent upon thee! As my ground changes, my enemy can change his mode of attack. My wisdom is not a match for his subtlety, nor my utmost efforts equal to his strength. I am still liable to many snares, and there are many ways in which I might still grieve thy Spirit, wound my own conscience, and even openly dishonour my profession. But if thou art pleased to hold me up, I shall be safe, and nothing short of that power which sustains the stars in their orbits can suffice to keep me from falling.
Diary, 15 December 1796 (aged 71)

SERMON SERIES: GENESIS, NO. 5 [4/4], GENESIS 3:1