Seeing God's Greatness and His Own Vileness

What a staggering confession Job makes at the end of his long trial. This man, once described by God Himself as blameless and upright, now lies in the dust, broken not merely by suffering but by a clearer vision of the holy God. He had spoken much about the Almighty before, and he had held fast to his integrity. But now, having encountered the grandeur, power, and sovereignty of the Lord; Job is utterly undone.

"My ears had heard of You." Like many, Job had known about God. He had right theology. He had heard of God's justice and righteousness. He had offered sacrifices and lived in reverent fear of God. But this knowledge, though sincere, was still inadequate. Now, through the furnace of affliction and the Lord's searching questions, Job sees with the eyes of his soul. "Now my eyes have seen You!" Not physically, but spiritually his understanding has been illuminated. He sees not only God's greatness, but his own vileness. Not only God's glory, but his own guilt.

True sight of God always humbles a man. It silences his arguments, shatters his pride, and brings him to his knees.  This is what happened to Isaiah: "Woe to me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips!" (Isaiah 6:5)

It happened to Peter: "Go away from me Lord; I am a sinful man!" (Luke 5:8) And here it happens to Job: "I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes." Those who truly know God will be humble and those who know themselves, cannot be proud.

When a soul truly sees God, it sees itself rightly. Self-righteousness dies. Complaints vanish. Boasting is silenced. What remains is worship and repentance a heart bowed low in the dust, not just because of sorrow, but because it now sees the holiness, wisdom, and majesty of God as never before. May we too move from hearing to seeing from a mere notional knowledge of God to firsthand experience of God's greatness. And may that vision lead us to the same place as Job: humbled, repentant, and silent before the Lord of glory.

[John Flavel]

Job 42:5-6 ... I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.

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Refinement

 Refinement is not rejection.

It’s preparation.

We pray for growth.

We pray for influence.

We pray for impact.

But we don’t always pray for the fire.

Fire exposes impurities.

Fire burns off what can’t stay.

Fire reveals what’s real.

Gold doesn’t fear heat.

It becomes purer because of it.

If this season feels intense…

If the pressure feels higher…

If the testing feels deeper…

Maybe it’s not punishment.

Maybe it’s refinement.

God doesn’t waste fire.

He uses it.

And when this season is over,

you won’t look the same.

You’ll be stronger.

Clearer.

More anchored.

More surrendered.

[David Baugh]

Job 23:10 ... But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

1 Peter 1:7 ... That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: ❤

God Causes the Temptations of the Godly

Among the many trials the Lord appoints for His people, few are as relentless and distressing as temptation. The Christian is not merely opposed by the world and the flesh; but by a personal, malicious enemy. Satan is rightly called "the tempter." (Mark 4:15) He is restless, strategic, and cruel, ever watching, ever waiting, ever laying snares for the saints. Yet even here, Scripture speaks with settled certainty: temptation itself, is sovereignly overruled by God for the good of those who love Him. 

The devil's methods are both violent and subtle. As a dragon, he assaults the soul with fiery darts, blasphemous thoughts, doubts of God's goodness, and suggestions that strike at the very foundations of faith.  (Ephesians 6:16) Like the old serpent, he is cunning beyond measure. He studies temperament, times his attacks, disguises sin in religious language and sometimes delivers poison in a golden cup! (2 Corinthians 11:14) Yet for all his craft, Satan remains a creature under restraint. He can propose objects, stir the imagination, and excite remaining corruption but he cannot force the will, nor can he move one inch beyond the limits God has set. (Job 1:12)

Here the comfort of Romans 8:28 shines with peculiar brightness. Temptation does not escape God's providence. The same Lord who permits the assault, also governs its outcome. Like a tree shaken by fierce winds, the believer becomes more deeply rooted. What Satan intends for ruin, God intends for refinement. 

First, temptation drives the soul to prayer. When the enemy presses hard, the saint flees faster to the throne of grace. "For this I implored the Lord three times," Paul says of Satan's buffeting. (2 Corinthians 12:8) Temptation exposes our weakness, strips away self-confidence, and teaches us to cry, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." (Matthew 6:13) That which sends us to prayer cannot ultimately harm us. 

Second, temptation strengthens resistance to sin. The more fiercely the devil urges, the more clearly the believer learns to hate the evil set before him. Joseph's refusal was sharpened, not softened, by the persistence of temptation. (Genesis 39:9) God turns Satan's spur into a bridle, making the soul recoil from the very sins it is urged to commit. 

Third, temptation humbles pride. Paul's "thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan" was given was given so that he would not exalt himself. (2 Corinthians 12:7) Far better to be humbled by temptation, than proud of success. God will sooner allow a saint to feel their frailty than to trust their own strength. 

Fourth, temptation tests and proves grace. The devil tempts to destroy, but God permits temptation to reveal sincerity. Faith is shown not in the absence of battle, but in steadfast resistance. Courage shines brightest when the conflict is fiercest. (James 1:12)  

Fifth, temptation equips believers to comfort others. Those who have wrestled with the enemy are best suited to warn, guide, and encourage fellow pilgrims. "We are not ignorant of his schemes." (2 Corinthians 2:11) The scars of battle become instruments of mercy. 

Sixth, temptation draws forth the tender compassion of Jesus. "He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered; He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted." (Hebrews 2:18) When the soul is bruised, Christ intercedes; when the battle rages, grace is supplied. 

Seventh, temptation loosens our attachment to this world and makes us long for Heaven. Here on earth the fight never ends; there the enemy is forever silenced. The weary soldier looks for the crown. (2 Timothy 4:7-8) Even when a believer is temporarily overcome, it works for his spiritual good. Peter's fall shattered his pride and produced deeper humility, greater watchfulness, and truer dependence on Jesus. (Luke 22:62; John 21:15-17)

Thus, the old serpent is continually outwitted by divine wisdom. Temptation becomes a crosswind that carries the saints toward glory. The enemy rages, but Jesus reigns. And the God who permits the battle, ensures the victory. 

[Thomas Watson] 

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1 Corinthians 15:57 ... But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 8:28 ...  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. ❤

Purifying Fires of Christ's Furnace!

O my soul, what deep need is there for this refining and purifying of your Lord what inward corruption, what carnality, what worldliness, what self-seeking, what creature idolatry, what God dishonoring unbelief! All these imperatively demand the searching, burning, purifying fires of Christ's furnace! 

My soul, your Refiner and Purifier is Jesus! It is a consolatory thought that our refining is in the hands of Jesus - in the hands that were pierced for us on the cross! Jesus shapes all your trials! Jesus sends all your afflictions! Jesus mixes all your sorrows! Jesus shapes and balances all the clouds of your pilgrimage! Jesus prepares and heats the furnace that refines you as silver and purifies you as gold! 

Then, O my soul, tremble not at the knife that wounds you, at the flame that scorches you, at the cloud that shades you, at the billows that surge above you. Jesus is in it all, and you are as safe as though you had reached the blissful climate where the vine needs no pruning, and where the ore needs no purifying, where the sky is never darkened, and upon whose golden sands where no storms of adversity ever blow, or waves of sorrow ever break. Mark the Refiner's position. "He will SIT as a refiner and purifier of silver." (Malachi 3:3)

It would be fatal to his purpose, if the human refiner were to leave his post while the liquid mass was seething in the cauldron. But there he patiently sits, watching and tempering the flame, and removing the refuse and the dross as it floats upon the surface of the molten ore. Just so, Christ sits as a Refiner and with an eye that never slumbers, and with a patience that never wearies, and with a love that never chills, and with a faithfulness that never falters, He watches and controls the process that purifies our hearts, burnishes our graces, sanctifies our nature, and impresses more vividly His own image of loveliness upon our soul. If He places you in the fire, He will bring you through the fire, "that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it is tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ." (1 Peter 1:7)

But sweet and soothing are the truth that the believer is not alone in the fire! The Refiner is with us, as with the three Hebrew children passing through the king's burning furnace. The Lord will have us be polished stones. As some believers are more rusty and some more alloyed than others they need a rougher file, and a hotter furnace! 

This may account for the great severity of trial through which some of the Lord's precious jewels are called to pass. Not less dear to His heart, are they for this refining. Look up, my soul, to your Refiner! The knife is in a father's hand! The flame is under a Savior's control! Be still, be humble, be submissive. 

[Octavius Windslow] 

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Micah 6:9 ... The Lord's voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it.

Zechariah 13:9 ... And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God.

Job 23:10 ... But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. ❤

God's Rod is a Pencil to Draw Christ's Image Upon Us!

Affliction is never accidental for the believer. Every trial, pain, and hardship is sovereignly appointed by God for His glory and our good. The world sees suffering as meaningless, or merely as an obstacle to their happiness. But Scripture teaches that suffering is a tool in the hands of our loving Father to purify our faith, to humble our pride, and to draw us nearer to Jesus. 

God often uses affliction: to bring His people to repentance, to teach them humility, to refine them in the furnace of affliction, to draw them closer to Himself, to cause them to live a more holy life, to strengthen their faith, and to conform them to Christ. God's rod is a pencil to draw Christ's image upon us! God's people never grow strong in grace without trials. 

Troubles are the tools with which God polishes His jewels. The pruning knife is never out of His hand, and it is never used without wisdom or love. Affliction is not the end of the story. One day, every tear will be wiped away, every pain will be no more, and we will see our trials as God's instruments that shaped us for eternity. Until that day, we endure with faith, knowing that God is working out His perfect plan. 

[Charles H. Spurgeon] 

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Job 23:10 ... But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

Romans 8:18 ... For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

2 Corinthians 4:17-18 ... For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.❤

Repent!!

Man cannot be righteous in God’s sight until he repents of his own expectation that he can be righteous in his own sight. God is not mighty toward man until man is weak toward God. 

[Edward Carnell]

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Joel 2:13 ...  And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.

Isaiah 1:18 ... Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

Job 33:26 ...  He shall pray unto God, and he will be favourable unto him: and he shall see his face with joy: for he will render unto man his righteousness. ❤

Gold Suffering

In order to be able to truly judge rightly you must know what it is to suffer injustice. Sensitivity in this area is what He is after, for His people will judge the nations in righteousness. 

The trying of your faith purges out insensitivity and iniquity. He has not let go of your hand. He will stand with you in your trial and the fiery furnace. 

Those who seek to move in His authority will walk a path similar to the path He walked. Suffering produces the beautiful gold of good character. His life surrounds you. Take heart. 

[Troi Nelson Cockayne]

Psalm 105:19  ...  Until the time that his word came: the word of the Lord tried him.

Job 23:10 ... But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.❤

God Shoots Many Kinds of Arrows!

We pray here, that we may have grace to submit to God's will patiently, in whatever He inflicts. Patient submission to God's will, is a gracious frame of soul, whereby a Christian is content to be at God's disposal and acquiesces in His wisdom. "It is the Lord's will, let Him do what He thinks best!" (1 Samuel 3:18)  

Patient submission to the will of God, lies in seeing His hand in the affliction. "Affliction does not spring from the soil, and trouble does not sprout from the earth!" (Job 5:6) Affliction does not come by chance! Job eyed God in all that befell him. "The Lord gave me everything I had, and the Lord has taken it away. Praise the name of the Lord!" (Job 1:21) Job looks beyond second causes, he sees God in the affliction! "The Lord has taken it away." 

There can be no submission to God's will, until there is an acknowledging of God's hand in the affliction. Patient submission to God's will, lies in justifying God. God is holy and just, not only when He punishes the wicked, but when He afflicts the righteous. "Now we are being punished because of our wickedness and our great guilt. But we have actually been punished far less than we deserve." (Ezra 9:13)  

While we live here in this valley of tears, patient submission to God's will is much needed. The Lord sometimes lays heavy afflictions upon us. "Your arrows have struck deep, and Your blows are crushing me!" (Psalm 38:2) God sometimes lays many afflictions upon us. "He multiplies my wounds." (Job 9:17) God shoots many kinds of arrows! 

God sometimes afflicts with POVERTY, which is a great affliction. To have an estate reduced almost to nothing, is hard to flesh and blood. "The Almighty has made life very bitter for me. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me home empty." (Ruth 1:20-21)  

God sometimes afflicts with REPROACH. Dirt may be cast upon a pearl. Just so, those names may be blotted, which are written in the Book of Life. Piety shields from Hell, but not from slander. God sometimes afflicts with the DEATH of loved ones. "Son of man, I am going to take away your dearest treasure. Suddenly she will die!" (Ezekiel 24:16)  

God sometimes afflicts with INFIRMITY of body. Sickness takes away the comfort of life. Sometimes God lets the infirmity continue long. Some diseases are chronic and linger and hang about the body for many years. The Lord is pleased to exercise many of His precious ones with chronic infirmities. God tries His people with various afflictions so that they have need of patient submission to His will. Murmuring is not consistent with submission to God's will. Murmuring is the height of impatience; it is a kind of mutiny in the soul against God. "They began to murmur against God!" (Numbers 21:5)  

When water is hot, then the scum boils up! When the heart is heated with anger against God, then murmuring boils up! Murmuring springs from pride! Men think they have deserved better at God's hand; and, when they begin to swell with pride, they spit poison! 

[Thomas Watson] 

Hebrews 12:5-6 ... And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. ❤

Destroyed Nest

Job's nest was very comfortable and appeared to be very secure. It was on high, and not to be easily reached. He knew that death could reach it, but he thought that nothing else would disturb it. His conduct was consistent, his conscience was quiet, God was his Father, and providence was his friend. "I thought: Surely I shall die in my nest!" 

But alas! Suddenly a 'storm' arose, the nest was destroyed, and the poor bird lay bleeding and exposed! No earthly nest is out of danger! Temporal comforts are only lent to us. The higher the tree in which we build, the more exposed we are to the whirlwind and the storm! Here on earth, we have no continuing city. 

In one moment, our fine nest may be devastated! Let us therefore endeavor to leave our matters fully with the Lord and learn to be content with His appointments. We must die! But when, and where, and how--should be left with the Lord. Five minutes after death, it will matter very little whether we died on a bed of down, in a luxurious mansion, and surrounded by kind friends OR as a poor diseased beggar, dying alone in squalor! 

Present comforts may all leave us, and our soft nest may be scattered to the winds, but nothing can disturb our salvation and future glory! 

[James Smith] 

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Job 29:18 ... Then I said, I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand. 

Hebrews 11:13 ...These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 

Hebrews 11:16 ... But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city. ❤

Absolute Sovereignty!!

One has stated, "God does not permit things to happen. He purposed all that comes to pass in time, before time began. And all that He ordained from eternity and performs in time, is good." 

Sadly, many in Christendom do not accept the teaching of God's absolute Sovereignty over His world. I offer the following Scriptures without comment, for your perusal: 

"Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the Lord?" Exodus 4:11 

"See now that I myself am He! There is no god besides me. I put to death and I bring to life, I have wounded and I will heal, and no one can deliver out of my hand." Deuteronomy 32:39 

"The Lord brings death and makes alive; He brings down to the grave and raises up. The Lord sends poverty and wealth; He humbles and He exalts." 1 Samuel 2:6-7

"Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?" Job 2:10 

"For hardship does not spring from the soil, nor does trouble sprout from the ground." Job 5:6 

"For He wounds, but He also binds up; He injures, but His hands also heal." Job 5:18 "When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other." Ecclesiastes 7:14 

"This is what the Lord says: As I have brought all this great calamity on this people, so I will give them all the prosperity I have promised them." Jeremiah 32:42 

"Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?" Lamentations 3:38 

"When disaster comes to a city, has not the Lord caused it?" Amos 3:6

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What a Solemn Thing!!

Daniel 5:1, 4-6, 26-28, 30-31. King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for a thousand of his nobles and drank wine with them. As they drank the wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone. Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. The king watched the hand as it wrote. His face turned pale, and he was so frightened that his knees knocked together, and his legs gave way! This is what these words mean: "God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end. You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting. Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians." That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain, and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom! 

What a solemn thing to die at such a moment! Yet how many are there, who, if not slain like him yet are called away from the midst of the mirth and pleasures of this life, as unprepared to die as this heathen king! 

 It was so at the time of the Flood! 

 It will be so at the end of the world! 

 It is so daily and hourly! 

"The foolish virgins" greatly outnumber those who are wise; and have their oil to seek when the bridegroom arrived. 

Lost sinner! Might not God justly destroy you instantly with fire, as He did Nadab and Abihu? "So, fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord!" (Leviticus 10:2) Might not God cause the earth to swallow you up, as He did to Korah and his rebellious followers? (Numbers 16:31) How many sudden deaths take place all around you, some old, some young, and some in the prime of life! Are the illnesses and accidents which you see or feel, no warnings? But you have a handwriting; yes, the handwriting of God Himself! You may see it in the Scriptures of truth. There you may see written as with a sunbeam, "God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end. You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting." 

All hope of entering Heaven will be quickly taken from you, if you do not turn unto God with your whole heart! While you are living at ease, and putting the thoughts of death far from you, God may be saying, "You fool! This night your soul shall be required of you!" And oh, how terrible would this be to you! "What hope has the godless when he is cut off, when God takes away his life?" (Job 27:8) "How suddenly are they destroyed, completely swept away by terrors!" (Psalm 73:19)  

Your soul must be covered with the sin-atoning blood of Jesus, or your sins will infallibly plunge you into everlasting perdition! Seize then the fleeting hour. Adore your God that you have not been taken away, as thousands of your fellow-creatures have been with all your sins upon you! 

"Today, while it is called today, do not harden your heart," (Hebrews 4:7) lest you perish in impenitence and unbelief! May the Lord grant that it may never be so with us! 

[Charles Simeon]

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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. ❤

Conviction...

 You are in a very dangerous place if you lose the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

God is most angry with someone when He no longer corrects them. 

Repent.

Psalm 7:11 ... God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day.

Romans 1:28 ...  And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;

Job 4:9 ... By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed.

Deuteronomy 31:17 ... Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them; so that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us, because our God is not among us?

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God's Chastening Rod!

They know from whence all their trials spring even from the hand of God Himself! They see their afflictions to be the fruit of their heavenly Father's love, sent for the production of the most gracious ends. They feel within themselves the humbling, sanctifying efficacy of their afflictions. They perceive that their trials are instrumental to the carrying on of God's work within them, and to the enhancing of that weight of glory which shall be granted to them at the last day. They know that their afflictions, of whatever kind they are, "do not spring out of the ground!" (Job 5:6) 

They understand that their trials are all appointed by God in number, weight, measure, and duration. If it is disease of body, it is God who inflicts the wound. If the trial comes from any other quarter, it still is God's chastening rod that strikes us, with a view to our spiritual good, "that we may be made partakers of His holiness. 

They realize that "no discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." (Hebrews 12:11) 

Our trials, of whatever kind, are to humble us, to purge away our dross, to make us cleave more closely to our Savior, and to fit us for our eternal rest! To view them in this light will greatly compose our minds. Instead of murmuring against the Lord we shall be thankful to Him. Instead of increasing our misery our trials shall be a source of joy. "Hear the rod and the One who appointed it!" (Micah 6:9) 

There is no rod which has not a voice to us. By putting us into His furnace, we shall be purged from our dross, and come out of it as vessels better fitted for His service! (Malachi 3:2-3) Well therefore may the consideration of the end for which afflictions are sent, and of the benefit to be derived from them; reconcile us to the difficulty of them and dispose us patiently to wait for the removal of them. Could Job have foreseen the outcome of his troubles, they would have been deprived of more than half their weight! 

All of our afflictions, of whatever kind they are, will endure but a little time! The Apostle speaks of all, even the heaviest afflictions, as "light and momentary!" "What is your life? You are but a mist that appears for a little while, and then vanishes away!" (James 4:14) And when once this frail life is ended, there is an everlasting termination of all our sorrows! Every genuine believer enters immediately into "God's presence, where there is fullness of joy for evermore!" Into that blissful world, nothing that is afflictive can ever enter to disturb their peace! "God will wipe every tear from our eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever!" (Revelation 21:4)  

How little will the transient clouds that once occasioned a momentary gloom be remembered, when our dwelling is forever fixed in the full splendor of the Sun of Righteousness. Surely, we need not be much cast down at trials, however painful to flesh and blood when we consider that their duration is but as the twinkling of an eye, and that they will so soon terminate in inconceivable and everlasting felicity! 

[Charles Simeon] 

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 1 Peter 1:6 ... Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:

 2 Corinthians 4:17 ... For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; ❤

Jesus Mask

Breathe deep the breath of His Spirit and do not lose sight of True Love. Those who follow Him will experience that life which is truly life. Air and beauty are His gifts to you, His beloved. Breathe deep the words of LIFE and spend time abiding in the soil of His love. 

Your life, the seed, your destiny, the flower, time in the elements of His presence brings forth the LIFE intended. Weed the garden of your mind. Steward the care needed to bring forth your divine plantings that He has called you to. Allow breathing space and remove anything that would choke your growth. Inhale the beauty of His love for you and dwell in the fragrance of heaven. 

[Troi Nelson Cockayne]

Philippians 4:8 ... Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.

Job 33:4 ... The spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life. ❤

All That Occurs in His Wide Empire!

Upon the whole history of this solemn event, is stamped the record of the absolute sovereignty of God. It is not an enemy who has done this! God is sovereign, and this is the hand of God! All that occurs in His wide empire, from the falling of a leaf to the extinction of a race; from the death of a sparrow to the blotting out of a star; is only the fiat of Him, who is from everlasting-to-everlasting God whose counsel shall stand and who will do all His good pleasure. There is a God who reigns in the earth! 

"Affliction does not come forth from the dust; neither does trouble spring out of the ground" (Job 5:6) but "the Lord God omnipotent reigns!" (Revelation 19:6) God is sovereign on His throne! All the powers and processes of nature are but the ministers who do His pleasure. Rising above the roaring of the ocean, above the moaning of the blast, above even the shrieks of drowning men is heard the solemn voice of the Almighty, saying in tones of overwhelming majesty, "Be still and know that I am God!" (Psalm 46:10) 

Let us enthrone above these scenes of apparent disorder and arbitrary infliction a Sovereign God, a God of wisdom, a God of power, a God of love, who sees the end from the beginning, and orders all things according to the counsel of His will and here at least we have an anchorage for Faith, a place where she can cling, and look up amid the jarring elements, and say, "Even so, Father, for so it seems good in Your sight!" (Luke 10:21) Who would not prefer, if called on to submit uncomplainingly and absolutely to the most trying circumstances and dealings that these should be ordered by a wise, just and good Being one whose infinite wisdom enabled Him to devise the best things, whose infinite power enabled Him to accomplish them, and whose infinite goodness disposed Him to exert that power. Who would not choose that a father's hand should pour the bitter cup which he was to drink even to the dregs? 

Oh! to be taught that a Sovereign God rides upon the billows and directs the storms which have swept all our idols away and left us beggared and forlorn is a lesson worth to the tried and tempted soul of man, all that it costs to learn it. To my own mind this fearful event in all its horrors is full of teaching on that great point which lies at the foundation of all religion, but which men are so constantly prone to forget that there is a Sovereign God in the heavens before whom all must bow, and to whom all must give account! 

[Ebenezer Rogers]

Daniel 4:35 ... And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?

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The Hope of The Hypocrite...

Many professing Christians appear fine to others but are themselves under the dominion of some besetting sin. They are secretly indulging pride, envy, malice, covetousness, lewdness, or some other bosom lust. They do not live near to God in their secret chamber or aspire after conformity to His will as revealed in His Word. They are more anxious to appear pious, than to be so; and to be applauded by men, than to be approved by God. 

It rarely happens that a hypocrite continues long to deceive those who are intimately acquainted with his private habits. He cannot maintain a consistency of character, for lack of an inward principle of saving grace. Hypocrites eventually "make shipwreck either of their faith or of a good conscience." (1 Timothy 1:19) Lot's wife was a monument of a hypocrite in the Old Testament, and Demas was a monument of a hypocrite in the New. Just so, similar monuments of a hypocrite are yet found in every church today! 

Let us follow the hypocrite into the eternal world what is his condition there? Alas! alas! However high he was in his own estimation or in that of others he is now fallen; indeed, and all his towering hopes are now swept away with the broom of destruction! Even while he is here carrying on his deception, though it is unsuspected by himself or others, and though his hypocrisy is not in act, but in heart only he is "treasuring up wrath for himself" for "the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Christ Jesus!" (Romans 2:16)

Possibly he may carry his hope with him into the eternal world, and almost presume to argue with his omniscient Judge. But "He will say to them, I never knew you! Depart from me, you who practice iniquity!" (Matthew 7:23) And then their state shall be so superlatively wretched, that those who sink the deepest into perdition are said to "take their portion with the hypocrites!" (Matthew 24:51)

[Charles Simeon] 

 Job 11:20 ... But the eyes of the wicked shall fail, and they shall not escape, and their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost.

 Job 27:8 ... For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul? ❤

The Infinite Distance ...

We must ever bear in mind the infinite distance between us and our holy Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer. He is the great, the incomprehensible God! You are poor sinful worms crushed before the moth! He is the eternal and infinitely wise God! "You are of yesterday and know nothing!" 

Get but a proper understanding of the infinite distance between you and God, and you will take your proper place at His footstool. You will receive whatever He shall speak in His blessed Word, with humility and confidence. You will trust Him for acting with unerring wisdom and goodness, even when His dispensations are most dark and mysterious. You will be submissive to His chastisements, and obedient to His will as revealed in His Word. Your insignificance as creatures will constrain you to bow before Him, and to say, "He is the LORD! let Him do what is good in His eyes!" (1 Samuel 3:18) 

Your vileness as sinners will make you to regard every mercy you enjoy with unbounded gratitude; and especially that greatest of all mercies the gift of his only dear Son to die for your sins. With what wonder and admiration, you will embrace His astonishing salvation. With what simplicity of mind, you will live by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ! With what zeal and diligence, you will devote yourselves to His service! 

We say again: If only God is exalted in your eyes, and you are abased in the dust then God will be glorified, and your souls be blessed both in time and eternity! 

[Charles Simeon] 

Job 4:17-19 ... Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker?  Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly: How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth?

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A Bag, a Book, and a Bottle!

God takes great care to comfort His people in their many trials and sorrows in this world. One of the goals which He commands His preachers to have, is the comfort of His people. He says, "Comfort, comfort My people." (Isaiah 40:1) Here are three things described in the Word of God that should be of great comfort to every believer: 

1. God has made A BAG FOR OUR SINS. Job said, "My transgression is sealed up in a bag, and you sew up my iniquity." (Job 14:17) In ancient times when men died at sea, their bodies were placed in a weighted bag which was sewn together and sealed. Then they were cast into the depths of the sea. That is what God has done with our sins. They are cast "into the depths of the sea." (Micah 7:19) When Christ died for our sins which were imputed to Him, He put them all away. They were buried in the sea of God's infinite forgiveness, put away never to be brought up again. God almighty will never charge us with sin, impute sin to us, remember our sins against us, or treat us any less graciously because of our sin. That is the forgiveness of God! "Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin." (Romans 4:8) 

 2. The Lord has written A BOOK FOR OUR NAMES. Take heart child of God. Your name is written in the book of God! Before the worlds were made, the Lord God inscribed the names of His elect in the Lamb's book of life. In that book God has recorded, not only the names of the chosen heirs of Heaven, but also all things pertaining to them. The Lamb's book of life is the book of God's eternal purpose of grace, predestination, and election. The fact that our names are written in that book means that our salvation is a matter of absolute certainty; and that all things work together for our good by God's arrangement to secure our predestined end, which is perfect conformity to Christ. When our Lord says, "Rejoice because your names are written in Heaven," (Luke 10:20) He is telling us that we have nothing to fear. All is well with those whose names are written in Heaven! 

 3. Moreover, the Lord God keeps A BOTTLE FOR OUR TEARS. "You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in Your bottle. You have recorded each one in Your book." (Psalm 56:8) It was customary at ancient Egyptian funerals for mourners to have a small cloth or sponge to wipe away their tears. Then they were squeezed into a small vial, a tear bottle, and placed in the tomb with the dead, symbolizing the care the mourners had for the one who had died. Even so, the Lord our God, our heavenly Father, our almighty Savior, and our holy Comforter, tenderly cares for us. We are the very apple of His eye. The Lord our God has put our sins in a bag and buried them, written our names in a book to remember them, and placed our tears in a bottle to show His tender care for us. 

Could anything be more comforting in this world of sin, sorrow, and death?

[Don Fortner]

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Marvels!!

We must not cease to wonder at the great marvels of our God. 

[Charles Spurgeon]

Psalm 9:1 ... I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works.

1 Chronicles 16:24 ... Declare his glory among the heathen; his marvellous works among all nations.

Job 37:5 ... God thundereth marvellously with his voice; great things doeth he, which we cannot comprehend. ❤