Happy Sickness!

Affliction comes upon all! 

None are exempt from the suffering's incident to our fallen nature. The young, the old, the rich and the poor alike feel the withering touch of affliction and of sorrow. Disease invades the strongest constitution, and affliction prostrates the mightiest energy. Often those in the prime and vigor of life are laid down on the bed of sickness and made to feel that they are dying creatures. How true it is, that "How frail is humanity! How short is life, and how full of trouble!" (Job 14:1)  

The children of God are not exempted from the afflictions of this life, but it is their blessed consolation to know that in all their sorrows and sufferings, they have a caring and divine Friend to sympathize with them! Oh! How often does the blessed Jesus wonderfully manifest His love to His afflicted ones! How often does He whisper words of peace and love and consolation in their ears! How often, in the manifestation of His love, do their souls overflow with joy, even when their bodies are racked with severe pain! 

All the afflictions of the children of God are designed for their good. They come from a kind and wise heavenly Father from a God of love; and one of their designs is their purification and sanctification. Afflictions make us fit for glory. They enable us to obtain a correct view of the emptiness of all worldly vanities. They tend, through grace, to fix our souls on Jesus, in whom alone we can find true happiness and immortal joys. 

Happy sickness, that leads the soul to Jesus the only source of blessedness! Afflictions, then, promote our spiritual welfare, and are ordered for our good. 

[David Harsha] 

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Psalm 119:71 ... It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.

Psalm 119:75 ... I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me.

John 16:33 ... These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. ❤

The Holy Spirit ~

The Spirit is given to supply the Savior's absence, and to apply to our souls the redemption finished on Calvary. It is His blessed work to glorify Jesus to testify of Him. Through His power we are renewed and sanctified, filled 'with all joy and peace in believing,' and 'abound in hope' of a blissful immortality. 

The Spirit reveals the Savior to our souls in a manner that renders Him exceedingly precious in our estimation. He shows us His excellence, the perfections of His divine nature, as the brightness of the Father's glory His power, as the Creator of all things, His wisdom, His immutability, His eternity! 

The Spirit exhibits to us the amazing love of Jesus to sinners, the wonders of His incarnation, the amiableness of His life on earth, the spotless purity of His character, the unparalleled sufferings of His life, the fruits of His death, resurrection, ascension and intercession! 

The Spirit shows us His suitableness to our needs as sinners. He points us to Calvary, and whispers in our ears the cheering truth that we have redemption through the blood of Jesus, even the forgiveness of sins! 

The Spirit comforts us amid all the tribulations of earth: by assuring us that our trials are but light and momentary, by perfecting His strength in our weakness, by bringing to our remembrance the many precious words of the Lord Jesus, by communicating to us the things of God, by lifting our hearts above the world, and by pointing us to a home of rest and glory beyond the skies where tribulation, and anguish, and death, never come! 

Yes, by His divine power thus operating on our minds, He enables us to look far beyond the present. He direct faith's far-reaching eye to our Father's house, and the fountains of immortal life, flowing through those sweet fields beyond the swelling flood the sight of which makes us long to be there, that we may see Jesus as He is, and taste His goodness on the shores of the promised land! 

[David Harsha]

John 14:26 ...  But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

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"The Joy"

When the Christian has passed the valley of life, and is done with mortal care and grief, the Savior will welcome him home to glory with this joyful invitation, "Enter into the joy of your Lord." Then begins the heavenly joy of the believer. He rests with Jesus and enters into the joy of his Lord. And what is this joy? What is there about it that is so attractive? It is a joy unspeakable and full of glory. The pen cannot describe it, nor the tongue declare it. It is the joy of being with Christ, the joy of possessing the heavenly inheritance, a fullness of joy. 

The joy of heaven is full, satisfying, and eternal. It is ecstatic joy. It transports the ransomed soul with ineffable delights! This joy is to be found in the blissful presence of Christ. Blessed Jesus! You are the source and center of heavenly joy. Enable me to fix my heart upon you. Bestow upon me, your unworthy servant, the joys of your salvation. Let me not wander one moment from the path of life. Guide me safely through the wilderness, over Jordan, until, landed on Canaan's happy shores, I see you face to face, and in your presence, taste, through eternal ages, the joys of a redeemed soul. "In your presence," cries the Psalmist, "is fullness of joy." 

There is an abundance to lift every soul. There will be no lack of joy in heaven. The saints will always "be joyful in glory." How ravishing will be the joys of the redeemed in the mansions of glory! What ineffable joy will fill the soul of the believer, when he sits down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, in the kingdom of God when he reigns with Immanuel on his throne when he views all heaven's bliss as his! Amid such joys as these, surely his enraptured soul must be lost in wonder, love, and praise. 

But the joy of the glorified saint in the presence of Christ is beyond human comprehension or knowledge. 

[David Harsha] 

Psalm 16:11 ... Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

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Not Our Home

We are strangers and pilgrims on the earth. This present world is not our home. We are coming up from the wilderness with our faces Zionward; we are traveling to the Celestial City!

Our path is rough, but the Savior sustains us.

Our pilgrimage lies through a wilderness, but faith cheers us with a view of the glorious rest of the redeemed in our Father's house, in mansions of blessedness!

Let this consideration animate us amid the conflicts of life. In a little while we shall obtain a joyous entrance into the glorious rest above. The storms of life's ocean will soon carry us into the haven of peace, where there is no trouble.

The language of Scripture is, "Get up, go away! For this is not your resting place, because it is defiled, it is ruined beyond all remedy!" (Micah 2:10)

Your Savior, pilgrim Christian, has prepared for you a nobler rest than this polluted world!

In our Father's house are many spacious mansions, where your happy spirit, after tasting the bitter cup of life's sorrow, shall rest in eternal blessedness!

[David Harsha]

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Hebrews 13:14 ...  For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.

2 Corinthians 5:8 ... We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.❤

The World Will Lose its Charms!

There is nothing so animating to the Christian as a sight of Calvary. How despicable does the world appear in his view, when he obtains a glimpse of that cross on which his Savior died!

Everything else loses its luster when, by the eye of faith, the cross of Christ is seen. "A sight of Jesus on the cross, Makes all this world appear as dross!"

In this wicked world, the Christian thirsts for God, and pants to reach the mansions of glory. The Christian looks beyond this dying world to his eternal home in glory. The cross of Jesus enables him to soar on high, and leave the world behind him. He looks forward to the glory that is to be revealed in him. He sets his affections on things above.

Oh, keep gazing on a crucified Savior, and the world will lose its charms! We overcome the world through the cross. It is a sight of the cross of Christ that weans the affections from sublunary objects, and centers them on heavenly and divine things.

[David Harsha]

Galatians 6:14 … But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. 

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Wanderings of a Pilgrim

No man begins the journey to the heavenly home, until by the gracious influence of the Holy Spirit his soul is attracted to Christ, the Living Way, the Truth and the Life.

At that happy hour when the heart is opened and the understanding is enlightened to discern spiritual things, the Savior's love is the first to beam in the mild, sweet, constraining influence upon the soul of the renewed man.

He wonders that he was not able before to discern the beauty, the excellence and the glory of Immanuel. Now Jesus appears to him as the chief among ten thousand, and altogether lovely. Now he is ready to exclaim, "My Beloved is mine, and I am His! Whom have I in Heaven but You? There is none upon earth that I desire besides You!" (Song Of Solomon 2:16 , Psalm 73:25)

Thus enlightened by divine grace, the pilgrim turns from the City of Destruction to the Heavenly Mansions.

He leaves the crowded road which leads to eternal darkness and woe, and enters on the narrow pathway that conducts the weary traveler to realms of light and bliss.

His views are now elevated above the decaying objects around him. His affections are placed upon things above. He contemplates with rapturous delight the bleeding glories of Immanuel, and the shining abode of Zion's pilgrims in the celestial kingdom.

He has become a spiritually-minded man.

He lives and walks by faith in the Son of God.

Though in the world, he is no longer of it; but belongs to the kingdom of Jesus Christ.

As an heir of glory, as a traveler to the skies, as an expectant of eternal bliss, he looks above and beyond the troublesome scenes of earth's fleeting pilgrimage.

He enjoys the charming and sublime prospect beyond the precincts of time! He beholds in that brighter world, an ocean of glory without a shore and without a storm!

As the Christian pursues his journey, with his eye fixed on the solemn realities of eternity, earth and sublunary grandeur appear to him as transitory as the morning cloud and early morning dew, compared with those immeasurable ages of bliss, which roll before his enraptured vision.

He who has been constrained by the Savior's love, to begin the blessed journey from the wilderness of this world to the Celestial City will delight to meditate on the riches and glory of his Father's house, in the pure, unclouded realms of eternal day!

[David Harsha]

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This is Not Our Home!

We are strangers and pilgrims on the earth.  This present world is not our home. We are coming up from the wilderness with our faces Zionward; we are traveling to the Celestial City!  Our path is rough, but the Savior sustains us.

Our pilgrimage lies through a wilderness, but faith cheers us with a view of the glorious rest of the redeemed in our Father's house, in mansions of blessedness!

Let this consideration animate us amid the conflicts of life. In a little while we shall obtain a joyous entrance into the glorious rest above. The storms of life's ocean will soon carry us into the haven of peace, where there is no trouble.

The language of inspiration is, "Get up, go away! For this is not your resting place, because it is defiled, it is ruined beyond all remedy!" (Micah 2:10)

Your Savior, pilgrim Christian, has prepared for you a nobler rest than this polluted world!

In His Father's house are many spacious mansions, where your happy spirit, after tasting the bitter cup of life's sorrow, shall rest in eternal blessedness!

[David Harsha]

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2 Corinthians 5:8 … We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

Hebrews 13:14 … For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.

John 14:2 … In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.❤

Our True Home

Heaven is now our true, abiding home.  While on earth we are strangers and pilgrims, far from our final rest. And while such is our condition here, should we not often think of our heavenly home? Should not Heaven attract us more and more as we journey through life?  Shall we still cleave to earth, since Christ has obtained eternal salvation for us, and passed into the heavens to prepare a way for our entrance into those unending joys in the presence of God?

Oh, let our best affections be placed on those spiritual and divine things above. Let the noblest aspirations of our minds be after a more intimate knowledge of Jesus.  Let us look beyond this valley of tears and keep our eyes fixed on that better country where the Savior ever reigns in glorious majesty; where the fountains of bliss ever flow; where the tree of life ever spreads its delightful shade, and yields its immortal fruits;  where all is unending joy, and love, and peace and felicity!

Let our hearts be more and more disentangled from the cares and temptations of the present life.  Let us live in the world as those who are not of it; as those whose treasure is in Heaven, and whose hearts are there also.  The nearer a Christian comes to Heaven, the less he loves or esteems this present world.  May our affections rise heavenward, endeavoring to bring the realities of future, eternal things more vividly before our minds, and to realize our interest in them.

O my soul, rise above these earthly scenes; and, on the wings of faith, soar to the realms of the blessed, where Jesus is enthroned in unspeakable glory reigning as my life, my hope, and my treasure!

"Blessed Jesus, we beseech You to show us Your glory, and to raise our hearts, our hopes, and our desires, to that blessed world to which You have ascended. O may our souls be daily rising, in holy thought, towards our home where the ransomed of the Lord shall forever obtain joy and gladness. May our thoughts become heavenly, and our hearts be attuned to those songs with which the arches of Heaven shall resound to all eternity! O my Savior, wean my heart from earth, and enable me to place my affection on things above!"

[David Harsha]


Philippians 3:20 … For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:


1 Chronicles 29:15 … For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.


Colossians 3:2 … Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.❤

Weary Mariner

To the children of God, afflictions are sent in mercy. They are directed by love. They are designed   to draw us more closely to the Savior,  to mortify indwelling sin,  to purify our hearts,  to wean us from earth,  to elevate our affections to that blessed world where there shall be no more pain.

Every breeze of earthly sorrow is only wafting us to those high and heavenly abodes, where temporal ills are forever unknown! Oh, then, when ready to sink under the accumulated ills of life let us come to the Savior in the time of trouble.

Weary mariner on life's tempestuous ocean, when afflictions cloud your sky, and billows roar around you then cling to the Savior in grateful, confiding love. Amid all your difficulties and dangers, He will whisper consolation to you, and support your fainting soul with the richest consolation and the choicest promises.

You will then be enabled to bear the trials of life with composure knowing that, like the Captain of our salvation, you must also be made perfect through suffering; and that these light and momentary afflictions are working for you a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory!  You will then experience the sweetness of the divine promises and in the midst of outward trouble, enjoy inward peace.

[David Harsha]

Proverbs 3:11-12 ... My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of his correction:  For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.


Hebrews 12:8 ... But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

James 1:2-4 ... My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. ❤

His Own Father

He drinks the bitter cup of God's wrath due to sin.  The powers of darkness fiercely assail Him.  He enjoys no sensible communion with Heaven. It is the gloomiest period in His whole life.  But at length His agony is so piercing that He is constrained to utter the most touching words of grief, "My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?"

His Father--His own Father, in whose bosom He had lain from eternity! His Father, by whom He was always beloved--has withdrawn the light of His countenance from Him! And from His cross arises a most piercing and agonizing cry, "My God, my God why have You forsaken Me?"

Oh, how mysterious, how solemn, how affecting is this cry! I t is the most doleful that ever came from the lips of Christ during His sorrowful sojourn from the manger to the cross.  Ah! Why does He hang on yonder cross, uttering these doleful words 'with strong crying and tears'?

It was not the nails which pierced His hands and feet, nor the agony of a crucifixion, which caused this mournful cry. He was now offering Himself a sacrifice for sins. As our Surety, He suffered all that divine justice required to bring the sinner back to God and to glory.

Here is the great mystery of Godliness: the Father bruises the Son, and puts Him to grief for our sakes! All those cries, and tears, and groans of Him whom the Father appointed to accomplish our salvation were for us.

On His shoulders was laid the enormous load of our guilt. Oh, what can we render to our Divine Savior, for His amazing and unparalleled love to us?

Matthew 27:46 ... And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? ❤

Christ Crucified

Ponder the amazing love exhibited in the death of Christ. Would you see the highest manifestation of eternal love? Then contemplate Christ crucified! Here is the grand exhibition of infinite love.  In the crucifixion of the glorious Redeemer, the brightest love that ever shone on earth is displayed.

What boundless love is seen here; the infinite love of Christ, shining in all its glory!  What but infinite love brought Him from the height of glory and bliss to the depths of sufferings;  from the throne of Heaven to the cross of Calvary!  What but infinite love made Him a suffering man, and a dying Savior!  What but infinite love made Him hasten to Jerusalem, to suffer for rebellious sinners!  What but infinite love led Him to Gethsemane, to endure those agonies for sinners, where His blessed form was covered with bloody sweat!  What but infinite love nailed Him to the cross, there to bleed and die for sinners!

Think of this, wonder at it, be amazed at it!

Christ, the glorious Son of God dying for you, a vile sinner, a rebel worm!  O admire that love which pitied you in your lost condition, visited your world, and raised you from the depths of sin and suffering to become an heir of eternal bliss and glory!

How vast is this love! The all surpassing love of a dying Savior! Your breadths and lengths have never been compassed by a human thought;  your depths never fathomed by a created intelligence;  your heights never scanned by a seraph's gaze!

Stupendous love!

What a theme; the dying love of the crucified Son of God!  Well may angels desire to dwell on this mystery!  Well may saints be enraptured with this profound subject!  What heart is so obdurate as not to be melted by its touching exhibition or so benighted as not to be dazzled by its glory!  How wonderful! That He who kindled up the stars of Heaven should take upon Him our nature, and die in our room and stead!

Amazing love!

This is the wonder of wonders, the unsearchable riches of Christ!

Truly, the love of Christ surpasses knowledge!

[David Harsha]

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John 15:13 ...  Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.


Romans 5:10 ... For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.


Ephesians 3:8 ... Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;

Galatians 2:20 ... I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.❤

Look At The King

Contemplate your blessed Redeemer, seated on His great white throne, encircled with heavenly glory. It is the sight of a glorified Savior, that will make the Heaven of the believer.

Endeavor now, by the eye of faith, to behold the Lord Jesus in all His matchless beauty and excellence. Contemplate   His glorious character,   His infinite mercy,   His unparalleled condescension,   and His boundless love!

There is enough in Jesus to employ the soul in rapturous meditation through a vast eternity! His excellence, His goodness, and His love can never be fathomed!

O keep your eye fixed on this adorable Savior, while you sojourn in this valley of tears; and in a little while you shall see Him as He is; face to face, and ascribe to Him unceasing praise! Look at the King in His beauty.

[David Harsha]

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Psalm 27:4 ... One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple.

Isaiah 33:17 ...  Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off.

Song of Solomon 5:16 ... His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.❤

Look At The King

Contemplate your blessed Redeemer, seated on His great white throne, encircled with heavenly glory!
 

Look at the King in His beauty!

It is the sight of a glorified Savior—that will make the heaven of the believer.
 

Endeavor now, by the eye of faith, to behold the Lord Jesus in all His matchless beauty and excellence.

 

Contemplate . . .  His glorious character;   His infinite mercy;   His unparalleled condescension,  and His boundless love!
 

There is enough in Jesus to employ the soul in rapturous meditation through a vast eternity!
 

His excellence, His goodness, and His love—can never be fathomed!

O keep your eye fixed on this adorable Savior, while you sojourn in this valley of tears; and in a little while you shall see Him as He is; face to face, and ascribe to Him unceasing praise!
 

 

[David Harsha]

 

 

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Isaiah 33:17 ... Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off.

 

 

1 Chronicles 16:29 ... Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come before him: worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.

 

 

Psalm 24:7 ... Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.

 

 

Revelation 5:12 ... Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. ❤