My Father, Pity Your Foolish Child!

Throughout His life Jesus was the Man of Sorrows, and many of His disciples go mourning all their days by reason of continued illness, unkindness, loneliness, anxiety, successive sorrows, stripes repeated before the former wounds are healed one woe treading on the heels of another, as with Job. Some thorn is always rankling. When one rocky crag has been surmounted, another has to be scaled. When one troublous torrent has been waded, another and yet other roars across our path. 

You may plead that your heavenly Father would relieve the pain, heal the sickness, spare the life, remove the danger, calm the anxiety, restore the love, restrain the sin, abate the anger, disperse the cloud, calm the storm, send the sunshine. "My Father, pity your foolish child, but bear with me while I confess that this bitter cup depresses my spirit, raises doubts, disturbs my faith, irritates my temper, drives me to frivolity, hinders prayer and tempts me to seek relief wrongfully. 

I am taught that affliction should make me humble and patient, gentle to others, weaned from earth, submissive to You but this cup seems to produce opposite results. Oh, let this cup pass from me! My soul is bowed down to the dust! My tears have been my food day and night! O my God, my soul is cast down within me; all Your waves and Your billows are gone over me. Abba, Father, let this cup pass from me! "Behold me, even me; listen to my complaint. Behold this cup how bitter it is, how full, how long I have had to drink it! In my ignorance it seems unsuited to my temperament. How wearied and faint I am! How earnestly I desire to be spared the further drinking of it. O my Father! witness these tears, hear these cries, consider my soul's agony! 

[Newman Hall] 

Matthew 26:39 ...  And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.

✫❤•°*”˜˜”*°•❤✫...•°*”˜˜”*°•.❤✫...•°*”˜˜”*°•.❤✫

Without Him ...

In a world full of God, how apt we are to forget Him! Living a life each moment of which is sustained by Him, how little we recognize His guardian care! Accomplishing in safety a long ocean voyage, we speak of the soundness of the ship, the completeness of the machinery, the efficiency of the crew, the skill of the captain, and we often lose sight of Him who gave the skill by which the ship was built and is propelled over the stormy, trackless deep.

We are "glad because we are quiet," but we often forget that it is He who "brings us to our desired haven." He rules the waves. He holds the winds in His fists. He rides upon the clouds. He directs the storm. He controls those forces of Nature by which in a moment we might be overwhelmed. We could never reach the haven unaided by God. "Without Him we can do nothing."

[Newman Hall]

Psalm 107:30 ... Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.


Psalm 89:9 ... Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them.


John 15:5 ... I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.❤

The Voice of Jesus in The Storm

Is it stormy weather with you? Do cares, disappointments, afflictions, bereavements, as a heavy cloud, deluge you with sorrow? Do spiritual troubles assail you as a hurricane, and drive your harassed soul hither and thither? Do the winds and the waves beat upon your frail bark, so that it seems about to sink? "O afflicted, tempest-tossed, and not comforted"  listen to the voice of Jesus, who comes to you in the storm, walking upon the waters, and says, "It is I! do not be afraid!

[Newman Hall]

Matthew 14:28-32 ... And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.  And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.  But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.  And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?  And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased.




Mark 6:49-50 ... But when they saw him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit, and cried out:  For they all saw him, and were troubled. And immediately he talked with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid.




John 6:18-21 ...  And the sea arose by reason of a great wind that blew. So when they had rowed about five and twenty or thirty furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the sea, and drawing nigh unto the ship: and they were afraid. But he saith unto them, It is I; be not afraid. Then they willingly received him into the ship: and immediately the ship was at the land whither they went. ❤

Coming to This World

What could more emphatically prove His love than coming to this world of sorrow and sin to suffer and die for us, when we were His enemies?

He left  His habitation in glory for the foul stable,  the homage of angels for the insults of men,  the smile of His Father for the temptations of the devil,  the raptures of Heaven for the groans of Gethsemane,  the splendors of His heavenly throne for the ignominy of the cruel cross,  the brightness of the celestial glory for the darkness of the tomb!

And why was this? It was love that prompted His sin-atoning sacrifice. Love to the undeserving, to the rebellious, to those who then crucified Him, and to those who now pierce Him by their sins!

[Newman Hall]

Romans 5:6 ... For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

1 Corinthians 15:3 ... For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;

Ephesians 5:2 ... And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.

Ephesians 3:19 ... And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.❤

The Best Friend

Some brothers are not friends. But the brotherhood of Jesus is one that possesses all the qualities of truest Friendship. The man Christ Jesus, the Elder Brother, illustrates the word; "There is a Friend that sticks closer than a brother."

Of all the gifts of God, next to Himself, there is not one so precious as a true friend. This is a treasure which no gold can buy, no genius invent, no power produce. The wealthiest are poor without it, and an empire's crown would be a worthless bauble, if, amid the crowd of courtiers who do it homage, there are none who, for his own sake, love the wearer of it.

Friendship implies reciprocity, mutual sympathy, respect, affection, service. It is much more than kindness shown by one and received by another; much more than beneficence on the one hand and gratitude on the other. There are conventional uses of the word which give a very inadequate idea of its true meaning. A mere acquaintance, known enough to be recognized in the street, is sometimes so designated. With more reason we might thus speak of one who has done us some valuable service. Those also for whom we feel compassion and sympathy, or to whom we have ourselves shown kindness, we may regard as friends, because we have "befriended" them.

But "friendship" implies much more; there must be corresponding communion. It is not enough that one should render and another receive affection and service, each must love and serve the other; kindred sympathies stretching their tendrils to intertwine each with each. Beneficence however generous in the one, and gratitude however sincere in the other, are not enough to secure the special charm of friendship, when the interests, honor and happiness of both are shared.

Such true friendship gilds all pleasures, soothes all sorrows, decorates with flowers the roughest path, and cheers with songs the darkest night. A true friend, strong to help, wise to counsel, tender to sympathize, unselfish, unchanging is a priceless gift from God. Oh, then, what must be the blessedness of those to whom Jesus, the model Friend, the infinitely mighty, wise, tender, and faithful One, says, "YOU ARE MY FRIENDS."

[Newman Hall]

John 15:15 ... Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

James 2:23 ... And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.

Proverbs 18:24 ... A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.❤

Golgotha!

Golgotha was a spot of all others the most disgraceful; and so He who occupied the loftiest seat of honor in heaven stooped to the very lowest, in order to lift up to the highest those for whom Golgotha had been a more fitting place.

Golgotha was a region of death. Here was the palace of the last enemy; here he held his revels. It was death's chief temple; here ghastly sacrifices were continually offered up. Here, at the very citadel of death, they led Christ to do battle with death.

Golgotha! There is a legend that it was the very center of the earth's surface, the middle point of the habitable globe. We think nothing of the legend, but very much of the truth it suggests. For the cross of Christ is the true center of the church, where all believers meet, of all tribes and nations, of all parties and sects. Here all may forget their differences; here all, who from different directions converge, are one church.

Golgotha! There is a legend that the body of Adam was buried there, and that the blood of Christ trickled down until it reached the bones; which then were clothed again with flesh and revived. We think nothing of the legend, but very much of the truth which it suggests. For when by faith the blood of Christ is applied to our guilty souls, the old Adam, dead by sin, lives again, but lives renewed and purified. Christ is the second Adam, who remedies the ruin of the first, and by whom paradise lost becomes paradise regained.

Golgotha! It was the "place of a skull." And all are going there. Every possession, every enjoyment, has death for its goal. However beautiful the path, it leads us ever onward to Golgotha. How closely does affection bind us to our friends! But they, too, are traveling to Golgotha; and every day brings us nearer to that "place of a skull." Those who have everything to make life happy, as well as those to whom life is a dreary waste of disappointment, are on their way to Golgotha! Those who are radiant with health and beauty, as well as those who are sickly or deformed, and to whom existence is a burden, are on their way to Golgotha! Those who have riches, and honor, and fame, and power, as well as the poor, the unknown or despised, are on their way to Golgotha!

But if by faith we are disciples and followers of Jesus, our Golgotha is changed by His. No longer the place of a skull, it becomes the gateway of glory. Sorrow turns to joy, sickness to health, poverty to riches, when, in company with Jesus, we are on our way to Golgotha. Yes, afflictions all become blessings, and death is life, through the grace of Him who was led to Golgotha.

 

[Newman Hall]

 

 

 ✞✞✞

 

 

 

John 19:17-18 ... And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha:  Where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst.

 

 

Matthew 27:33-34 ... And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull,  They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink.

 

 

Mark 15:22 ... And they bring him unto the place Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, The place of a skull.

 

 

1 Peter 3:18 ... For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:❤