Colin S. Smith's Blog, page 26

Encouragement for a Downcast Soul

How good of God to graciously ordain that I would be in the Psalms right now as part of my normal Bible reading routine. After more than a month of sheltering-at-home amid the COVID-19 crisis, there has been no better place to be. Recently the twin pairing of Psalm 42-43 served as the perfect antidote for discouragement in isolation.

Like many, I have been feeling the disappointment of not gathering with my local church body for several weeks. Though the messages streamed by my church, The Orchard, have been incredibly soul nourishing, much like the Psalmist, I really miss going with the throng to the house of God (Psalm 42:4). How timely to read Scripture expressing my own longing to return to the sanctuary. As my ESV footnote helpfully pointed out; we may know God has not forgotten us, but it sure feels like he is distant apart from the worship service where we meet him most fully.

The deer finds his water in the stream (42:1), but my thirst is quenched in God’s presence, and that is most often felt in public worship. Watching the weekly service at home with my family and reading the Bible daily are good things, but not the same as gathering with God’s people corporately, leaving me feeling down. I’m comforted to be reminded that a downcast soul can be common among Christians. Indeed, it’s an affliction dating back to Old Testament times.

It’s normal and right to miss church and feel discouraged, even to mourn these circumstances. It’s appropriate to feel dry outside of Christian fellowship. In fact, it can even serve as evidence that our souls are thirsting for the right things. Or better yet, the right person—our living God (42:2).

If, like me, you’re feeling the turmoil of isolation, or feeling distant from God and anxious outside of the regular comforts found at church among other believers, these Psalms are for you. Be grateful if you can see and hear your pastor preach via video each week, but between livestreams, make time to preach to yourself from God’s Word.

Not sure where to start? Let’s take a cue from Psalms 42 and 43:

1. Remember things that are part of corporate worship.

“These things I remember,

     as I pour out my soul:

how I would go with the throng

     and lead them in procession to the house of God

with glad shouts and songs of praise,

     a multitude keeping festival.” Psalm 42:4

Remember the throng. Call a friend from church and pray or read scripture together. Sing a song at home that you love to sing in worship. Play the hymns and contemporary songs that most direct your thoughts and heart to Jesus.

2. Remember God himself.

“My soul is cast down within me;

     therefore I remember you

from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,

     from Mount Mizar.

Deep calls to deep

     at the roar of your waterfalls;

all your breakers and your waves

     have gone over me.

By day the LORD commands his steadfast love,

     and at night his song is with me,

     a prayer to the God of my life.

I say to God, my rock:

     “Why have you forgotten me?

Why do I go mourning

     because of the oppression of the enemy?” Psalm 42:6-9

When it feels like his breakers and waves are washing over you, remember Isaiah 43:2: “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you.” The Psalms can be prayers to read on restless nights that help us remember God’s steadfast love never ceases, his mercies never come to an end (Lamentations 3:22). He is our rock, our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble (Psalm 46:1).

3. Pour your heart out to him.

“By day the LORD commands his steadfast love,

     and at night his song is with me,

     a prayer to the God of my life.” Psalm 42:8

Pour your heart out to the God who gave you life and sustains your life. Call to him when your heart is faint (Psalm 61:2) Tell him you feel weak and weary. Tell him you feel forgotten or abandoned. Cry out to him about the oppression you feel and the things you miss. Then ask him to lead you to the rock that is higher than you (61:2).

4. Believe you will praise him again.

“Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,

     my salvation and my God.” Psalm 42:11b

This time of sheltering at home is temporary. But even if we are kept out of our sanctuaries for many more weeks or months, those who believe in Jesus Christ will be worshipping him for all eternity. We will be face to face with our Lord and Savior in the new heavens and earth! Look forward to the promise that Christ is returning to make all things right.

5. Rejoice that he has given light and truth to lead you in the person of Jesus Christ (42:3).

“Send out your light and your truth;

     let them lead me;

let them bring me to your holy hill

     and to your dwelling!

Then I will go to the altar of God,

     to God my exceeding joy,

and I will praise you with the lyre,

     O God, my God.” Psalm 43:3-4

We are saved by grace through faith in Christ. His Holy Spirit dwells in every believer and will bring us to his dwelling place. The place he leads us is to himself, our exceeding joy. Celebrate the light and truth of the word made flesh, Jesus.

 

Bible scholars teach that when God wants us to remember something, it’s repeated in his word. Three times in these two Psalms the same language is used. Like repetitive counseling for the soul, preach these words to yourself often and be comforted like the Psalmist:

“Why are you cast down, O my soul,

and why are you in turmoil within me?

Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,

my salvation and my God.” Psalm 42:5,11; 43:5

When we gather together as God’s people to worship him, it is a great gift! This is a blessing we can look forward to for all eternity. May God use this season of yearning for his felt presence to prepare our hearts to return to corporate worship with a renewed sense of eager expectation to hear from the Lord and meet with him through his preached word.

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Photo: Unsplash

What to Do When God Seems Far Away

I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had turned and gone.

Song of Solomon 5:6

Sometimes God seems far away. But God has said, “I will never leave you. I will never forsake you.” We read in Romans 8 that nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. So why does it sometimes feel like we can’t find God when we need Him most?

Song of Solomon is a book that speaks to this question. It is the story of a king’s love for his bride, and it shows us something beautiful about Christ and His love for us, even when it seems that He is far away.

As this story begins, we meet the queen who has retired to her private room. She has fallen asleep and begins to dream about the love of her life. In her dream, the king comes to her private quarters. She hears that her “beloved is knocking” (Song 5:2), but she is not prepared! She is not ready to receive him. And then by the time she opens the door, he is already gone. The queen leaves the security of the palace, searching the city streets for her beloved. And her dream becomes a nightmare when she is attacked and beaten by the city watchmen (Song 5:7). A dream like that must have had a significant effect on the queen, but what are we to learn from it?

Reading this story of a king who knocks at the door and finds his bride unresponsive, the Christian mind naturally goes to Christ, the great King, standing at the door, knocking, and calling out to His bride, the church: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock” (Rev 3:20). Far too often, the church is just like the queen: unprepared and unresponsive.

When We Are Unresponsive: Two Problems
Selfishness

The church is often self-absorbed and unresponsive to our Lord. When we’re like this, we are, in effect, saying, “We have need of nothing. Our lives are full right now; don’t call us, we’ll call you.” People who profess to love the Lord can still be very selfish.

Sometimes we make selfish excuses instead of drawing near to God. We profess to love God, but too often, we are preoccupied and self-absorbed. It’s all about us and our convenience, as A.W. Tozer comments:

“Present day evangelical Christianity is not producing saints… God is valued as being useful and Christ appreciated because of the predicaments he gets us out of. He can deliver us from the consequences of our past, relax our nerves, give us peace of mind and make our business a success. The all-consuming love that burns… is foreign to the modern religious spirit.” [1]

Vulnerability

Sometimes we don’t remember how vulnerable we are without God. At times we remember His voice later, when it’s too late. We are just like the queen in her dream. As she runs through the streets, she remembers the sound of her king knocking and saying, “Open to me, my love” (Song. 5:2). And she realizes, “He was there! He wanted to come in! I could have opened the door, but now he is gone.”

Here’s what that says to us: You may think that you can come to God when it suits you and leave Him out when you want to do your own thing. But without the Lord, you would be very vulnerable, at the mercy of dark powers that are stronger than you.

When God Hides His Face: Two Truths
1. God sometimes hides Himself from the people He loves.

This is always distressing to a true believer. Our love for the Lord is shot through with a great deal of selfishness, and yet it is true that we love Him and we are distressed when we cannot find Him.

It is important to know that the times when we cannot feel the presence of God with us are a common part of Christian experience. Job said, “Oh, that I knew where I might find him” (Job 23:3). David said, “My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day long, ‘Where is your God?’” (Ps. 42:3).

When God hides His face, one of two things will happen: either we will begin to long for Him, like David and Job, or we will rest content without His presence. The proof that a person loves God is that you cannot be happy unless you’re near Him. The person without the Spirit knows nothing of this. The person without the Spirit may say she believes in God and may even pray to ask God for help. But the person without the Spirit does not love God. The felt absence of God is only a problem for those who love Him. If it bothers you that God seems to be far from you, that says something very good about you.

2. God can use the times when He seems far away to ignite a new spiritual passion in your life.

What might have been the outcome of the queen’s nightmare? Suppose, on waking up, she were to again hear a knock on the door and the king’s voice saying, “Open to me, my love.” Do you think she would say, “I’ve just awakened from a bad dream and I can’t open the door?” Not a chance! She would rush to the door. She would open it wide and welcome the king. The dream would have ignited a new passion within her. It would fan into flame a new love for the king, and it would spark a new gratitude for all the blessings that were hers, because she belonged to the king.

For you, too, the experience of feeling that God is far away may be the means by which a new desire for God grows in your own heart. The felt distance of God can be the means by which a complacent, self-absorbed Christian comes to a new experience of hungering and thirsting after God. If you feel God is hiding His face from you, that may be the exact blessing He has in mind for you. Tell God that you love Him and that you cannot be content without Him, and it will not be long before He turns his face toward you again.

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This article was adapted from Pastor Colin’s sermon, “When God Seems Far Away”, from his series Loving and Being Loved by Christ.

[1] A.W. Tozer, The Size of the Soul (Wingspread, 2010), 48.
Photo: Unsplash

Like a Child: Drawing Near to Christ in Days of Distance

It was on a quiet, quarantine morning when I saw them. Maybe it was the consecutive days of social distance that prepared me for this encounter. Perhaps it was the loneliness of isolation that humbled me for this moment. Surely it was the Lord’s nearness, through His Word and by His Spirit, that opened my eyes to see six words leaping right off the page of my Bible. There they were in the text of Mark 10:16, familiar and at-once brand-new.

“He took them in his arms.”

What was it about this simple sentence that captured my attention and tugged at my emotions? Those six words tapped a longing within me, caused by weeks of physical separation from dear family members and friends, and my beloved church congregation. The mere thought of being enveloped in Jesus’ arms, His presence tangible, was very moving for me that morning.

Minutes later, I was shaken out of my reverie as my little girl came bounding down the stairs and made a beeline for my arms. Her early morning embrace is one of my favorite things about our relationship. Every day without fail, this joyful child wakes up and runs straight to me. She doesn’t stop to wonder if I’d like to see her or hug her; she doesn’t question whether or not she belongs to me. Rather, she implicitly (and correctly!) assumes that she is welcome in my presence. How I long to embrace my heavenly Parent with that same child-like trust and joy at the start of each day!

Jesus Responds to Our Longing

All of us are experiencing longing in one way or another, aren’t we? In these days of distance, quarantine has kept us away from the places that hold our attention and the people who hold us in their arms. We long for a return to the closeness of these places and people that we knew before a tiny virus wrecked our routines and shook our security. We all feel a degree of distance from normal reality. Some of us feel distant to the degree that depression and anxiety have left us hovering at the periphery of everyday life. Some feel distant in the form of shifting status and identity. For some, our work has been deemed non-essential, and we slowly drift away from the sense of purpose we knew before. Perhaps this distance has left some of us feeling utterly insignificant, even child-like in our helplessness and inability to control the circumstances that seem so much stronger that we are.

By God’s grace for the Christian believer, days of distance and seasons of longing are attended by the loving presence and response of Jesus Christ. James 4:8 promises, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” How are we to draw near to the Great I AM, who is seated on His throne in Heaven, invisible and physically intangible to us now? Scripture helps us with many pictures of people and Jesus drawing near to one another during His earthly ministry. Jesus regularly and willingly came physically close to those who were poor, lowly, hurting, and rejected by others. The mighty King of Kings even drew near to little children, as Mark 10:13-16 reveals.

And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.

The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke all share nearly identical details of this scene where Jesus drew near to little children (Matthew 19:13-15, Luke 18:15-17). In this story, Jesus’ loving response to children reveals three life-giving truths.

1. Jesus invites us to draw near… when we long for Him.

“Let them come to me.” (Mark 10:14)

Despite His disciples’ rebuke, Jesus invited the children to draw near. He gathered them out of the crowd. He touched them with his hands. He took them in His arms. It was His act of choosing them that determined their value. He declared them valuable and welcomed them to draw close. Through faith in Jesus Christ, we have full access to a relationship with Him in which we will find our value. When we trust Him with our lives, He returns a blessing on us!

2. Jesus makes His presence available… when we come to Him unhindered.

“Do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God” (Mark 10:14).

The people bringing their children to Jesus were hindered by His own disciples. The disciples lacked belief that Jesus would want to make time for such little ones. What hinders us from drawing near to Jesus? What sin leads us to question if He would want to give us His attention? To wonder if He does delight in drawing close to us and covering us with the blessing of His presence? To doubt there is a place for us in God’s kingdom? The writer of Hebrews calls us to “throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles” (Heb. 12:1). When we humble ourselves and repent of sin, we can have intimacy with Christ because He has declared us to be His children. His Spirit will remind us of His presence now and for all eternity!

3. Jesus welcomes us into God’s kingdom… when we have child-like faith.

“Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” (Mark 10:15)

In his preface to The Chequebook of the Bank of Faith, Charles Spurgeon writes:

God is glorified when His servants trust Him implicitly. We cannot be too much like children before our heavenly Father. Our young ones never question our will or our power. Instead, having received a promise from their father, they rejoice in the prospect of its fulfillment, never doubting that it is as sure as the sun. [1]

What is child-like faith? It is wholehearted trust in God’s power to perfectly carry out His will. It is wholehearted joy in the anticipation of God’s fulfillment of every promise in His Word. It is wholehearted delight in being welcomed into God’s Kingdom.

Jesus Blesses Child-Like Faith

When we long for Him, Jesus welcomes us! When we receive Christ with child-like faith, we receive access to all that God has promised in His Word. Reading these promises in Scripture is good for the eyes of our faith. The more we read them, the more we will see that He blesses us with grace to believe that they are true. This grace helps our eyes to “see what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are” (1 John 3:1).

However we experience longing in this life, however weak and helpless we may feel, there is “a promise prepared for our present emergencies. And if we will believe it and plead it at the mercy seat through Jesus Christ, we will see the hand of the Lord stretched out to help us. Everything else will fail, but his Word never will” [2]. As we draw near to Christ, we will find His arms lovingly outstretched toward us.

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[1] Charles Spurgeon, Preface to The Chequebook of the Bank of Faith, revised and updated by Tim Chester (Wheaton: Crossway, 2019), 3.
[2] Spurgeon, Preface to The Chequebook, 2.
Photo: Unsplash

Christ’s Love For You

Once in a while I read something that makes my heart beat faster and that happened as I read a piece from Alexander Maclaren on the love of Christ.

Alexander Maclaren (1826-1910) was a Baptist pastor in Manchester, England. His Expositions of Holy Scripture were printed in 32 volumes and a set of these was given to me by a pastor in Scotland who was retiring around the time that I was ordained. They have proved to be a precious gift.

One of the greatest challenges for any preacher is to communicate the great truths of Scripture in language that befits their glory. Anyone who has seriously attempted to speak on the words, “God so loved the world…” knows what it is to stagger under the weight of this task.

Maclaren speaks of the love of God in a way that reflects its weight and wonder. In reading his words, I got a fresh glimpse of Christ’s love for me. That is why my heart best faster. I hope that yours does, too.

— Colin S. Smith

 

They love who know that Christ loves them
No man loves God except the man who has first learned that God loves him. ‘We love Him, because He first loved us.’ And when we say, ‘Love Christ,’ if we could not go on to say, ‘No, rather let Christ’s love come down upon you,’ – we had said worse than nothing.

The fountain that rises in my heart can only spring up heavenward because the water of it has flowed down into my heart from a higher level. All love must descend first, before it can ascend.

We have, then, no Gospel if we have only this to preach, ‘Love, and thou art saved.’ But we have a Gospel that is worth preaching when we can come to men who have no love in their hearts and say, ‘Brethren! Listen to this – You have to bring nothing, you are called to originate no affection; you have nothing to do but simply to receive the everlasting love of God in Christ His Son, which was without us, which began before us, which is unchecked by all our sins, which triumphs over all our transgressions, and which will make us – loveless, selfish, hardened, sinful men – soft, and tender, and full of divine affection, by the communication of its own self. Oh, then, look to Christ, that you may love Him!’

Do not ask yourselves, to begin with, the question, ‘Do I love Him or do I not? You will never love by that means. If a man is cold, let him go to the fire and warm himself. If he is dark, let him stand in the sunshine, and he will be light. If his heart is all clogged and clotted with sin and selfishness, let him get under the influence of the love of Christ, and look away from himself and his own feelings, toward that Savior whose love shed abroad is the sole means of kindling ours.

You have to go deeper than your feelings, your affections, your desires, your character. There you will find no resting place, no consolation, no power. Dig down to the living Rock, Christ and His infinite love for you.

They that love do so because they know that Christ loves them…

And let no man here torture himself, or limit the fullness of this message that we preach, by questioning whether Christ loves Him or not. Are you a man? Are you sinful? Have you broken God’s law? Do you need a Savior? Then put away all these questions, and believe that Christ’s personal love is streaming out for the whole world, and that there is a share for you if you like to take it and be blessed!

Taken from Alexander Maclaren: “Fear And Faith: ‘It Is The Lord!’ (John 21:7)” in Expositions of Holy Scripture. Lightly edited by Colin S. Smith

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10 Practical Helps for Fighting Fear

Fighting fear is like muscle memory: The more you fight, the more and better you will fight. But what does fighting fear look like in a practical sense? Here are 10 thoughts:

Acknowledge reality.

In Psalm 56:3, David writes, “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.” Not if, but when. A great (and freeing) place to start when you’re afraid is to acknowledge that fear is a universal human reality. Since we live in a world corrupted by sin and full of suffering, we are guaranteed to encounter what is fearful. So, it isn’t always wrong to be afraid; fear can be a God-given kindness to protect us from legitimate dangers and threats. When we are afraid, rather than condemning ourselves for feeling fear (Rom. 8:1), we can acknowledge the circumstances that brought about such a response and, when appropriate, thank God for wiring us to respond this way.

Discern the fear.

However, we shouldn’t stop there. Sometimes, our fears can subtly shift from legitimate concerns to all-consuming fixations. We can ask God to reveal when this has become the case: “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts” (Ps. 139:23, NIV). Usually, our problem with fear isn’t its existence but its enormity. Fear will arise. The question is, what weight does it hold, especially in comparison to God? Imagine a double-sided scale, where your fears are one side and God is on the other. Which side weighs more? When fear’s magnitude outweighs what is most true and real, the result will be anxiety, anger, doubt, and other bitter fruits. Fight fear by asking the Lord if it has become weightier on the scale of your heart than it should be—than he should be.

Wield Scripture.

Ephesians 6:17 calls God’s Word “the sword of the Spirit.” Hebrews 4:12 says it is “living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword,” and Psalm 29:4 testifies, “The voice of the Lord is powerful.” The truth is, we can’t fight fear unless God’s Spirit applies his living, powerful Word to our hearts, and this means we must engage with it. Remember, we fight fear by growing in the fear of the Lord—by our God weighing more to us than our fears—and we grow in the fear of the Lord by holding fast to his self-revealing words and asking his Spirit to impress them upon our minds and souls. So, think of ways to wield the Word. After I read my Bible in the morning, I leave it open on our kitchen counter so I can re-read it during the day. We can also memorize Scripture, write it on notecards, and share what we’re reading with others.

Stay present.

In Matthew 6:34, Jesus gives us a wise principle on fearfulness: “Therefore [because God is a trustworthy Father who promises to provide for you] do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” We will fight fear as we focus on the present and refuse to run ahead into the future. Jesus knows that too many thoughts about the unknown will overwhelm us and are ultimately unproductive: “Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” (v. 27). So he reminds us to take one day at a time. When you’re afraid and daunted by what’s to come, ask God to help you stay present. Trust him to supply for that particular day’s needs (v. 32). Then, when tomorrow becomes today, do it all again.

Limit media consumption.

While modern media can be a wonderful gift, it can also be an unhelpful weight. News media thrives on feeding our fears, posting sensational headlines to grab eyeballs and rivet attention. Of course, we don’t want to be uninformed, but we should consider the effects. Is the media making us more fearful and anxious? Are we spending more time absorbing the news than we are God’s Word and other life-giving resources? Fight fear by limiting media consumption and tuning your eyes and ears instead to what is “excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things” (Phil. 4:8).

Practice thanksgiving.

I say “practice” because thanksgiving doesn’t come naturally to us; grumbling and complaining do. Since we are forgetful creatures, God constantly reminds us in Scripture to “remember”: remember his character, his works, his promises, his good gifts and new mercies, his Son. As we practice thanksgiving with our mouths—verbally in prayer, in conversation with other believers, or perhaps through writing—we will promote a posture of worship within our hearts. Rather than following our feelings and our fears, we lead our hearts by faith. We fight fear with thanksgiving and praise to the One who is worthy to be feared.

Read biographies.

When I’m fearful (and discouraged by my fears), I’ve been helped by great books, particularly biographies on believers who encountered their own fearful circumstances and learned to trust and treasure God within them. Add the following books to your pile and be spurred on in faith: A Chance to Die, Bonhoeffer, A Passion for the Impossible, Here I Stand, Amy Carmichael, The Life of Martyn Lloyd-Jones, 12 Faithful Men, and 12 Faithful Women.

Tell someone.

Fear flourishes in silence and darkness, but when brought into the light—when confessed and spoken about—it loses some of its power. We can start by telling our Heavenly Father about our fears in prayer (Phil. 4:6-7), and then we will be helped to tell a trusted friend or two. Sometimes, in the process of talking about what we’re most afraid of, we’re led to recognize untruths we have believed, unhelpful or even sinful patterns we’ve adopted, and most important, how our fears have become more weighty to us than the Lord. Wise friends will listen and then counsel us in the truth (Prov. 20:5), and we can provide that same ministry for a fearful friend.

Get outside.

King David knew the worth of creation for reorienting his gaze to the Creator. In Psalm 19:1 he writes, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” Then in Psalm 8:3-4 he says,

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,

what is man that you are mindful of him,

and the son of man that you care for him?

We can follow suit. Fight fear by taking a walk (even a trip!), and note the beauty and majesty of God’s careful handiwork. He created so we would worship him; he made so we would marvel at his glory. Let the fear of the Lord increase in your soul as you look away from your fears and to his power and beauty as revealed in creation.

Remember God’s grace.

Ultimately, fearful people need the gospel: the good news that God sent his Son into the world to restore in sinner’s hearts a right fear of him. When we are united to Jesus by faith—when we have confessed our need to be rescued and receive Christ as our Rescuer—then his presence goes with us every moment of every day, in the person of his Spirit. When we are afraid, we will fight fear as we remember God’s grace: his all-satisfying, all-sufficient supply of spiritual help. He not only saved us when we first believed, but he continues to save us as we believe: from ourselves, the temptations of this world, and from the evil one. He promises, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9). So, we remember his grace amid our fears, that even if the worst comes to pass, God will give us what we need, and he will walk with us.

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Photo: Unsplash

Ten Soul-Expanding Quotes from John Murray’s Behind a Frowning Providence

It is rare to read a short booklet that instantly blesses you and lifts you to depend afresh on the Lord. A few months back I came upon one of those rare treasures in Behind a Frowning Providence. This is an excellent booklet written by former Princeton and Westminster systematic theologian John J. Murray (who actually went to be with the Lord earlier this month).

This is one of the shortest, yet deepest; most accessible, yet convicting booklets I’ve ever read. Below are 10 quotes to give you a taste. May your soul expand, suffering Christian, as you feast on this eternally-minded, biblically-rich booklet. Banner of Truth has an excellent edition of the book.

1. Providence is that marvelous working of God by which all the events and happenings in His universe accomplish the purpose He has in mind.

2. In it [providence] God sent His Son into this world for the purpose of redeeming a people. He set His love on hell-deserving sinners and chose them in Christ before the foundation of the world.

3. When adversity comes into our lives we tend to react in one of two ways. We may say that it is from a source other than God and He has no power to stop it; or we may say it is an evidence of God’s anger against us. Either way we are guilty of casting aspersions on the character of our Father and consequently of perverting our attitude to Him.

4. People are looking for a problem-free Christianity. The health, wealth and success gospel is having a field day. Purveyors of such a gospel look the part. Unfortunately, the hollowness of such views becomes apparent when suffering, sorrow or disappointment comes. Then it becomes clear that we need a faith that is grounded in God’s Word.

5. The test of a person’s Christianity is what happens in the storm, when the house is battered in the winds of affliction.

6. What latent corruption there is within! We are like a petro-chemical plant. It takes only a spark to set us alight… Think of the break-out of sin in the lives of so many of the saints. Abraham with his deceit; Job with his rash words; Moses with his anger· Asaph with his murmuring; Paul with his pride. Job could say, ‘I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes’ (Job 42:6). Asaph had to say, ‘I was foolish and ignorant, I was as a beast before thee’ (Psalm 73:22). Such discoveries make us think less of ourselves and therefore lead us to think more of the Lord Jesus Christ. They bring new depths of repentance and a recovery of a true sense of our own sinfulness.

7. There are areas of the Word of God that we cannot comprehend until we have experienced suffering. For thirty years of my Christian life I neither understood nor was particularly drawn to the book of Job. Along with a particular time of suffering came the help to understanding it. Martin Luther had a similar testimony: ‘Affliction is the Christian’s theologian’; ‘I never knew the meaning of God’s Word until I came into affliction’; ‘My temptations have been my masters in divinity’; ‘No man, without trials and temptations, can attain a true understanding of the Holy Scriptures’.

8. People are usually more anxious to get rid of the problem than they are to find the purpose of God in it. ‘Afflictions’, says Matthew Henry ‘are continued no longer than till they have done their work’. It is also our responsibility to pray that our afflictions will be sanctified to us.

9. God has forged an inseparable link between sufferings and glory. That was the road that Christ took. He was made complete as our Saviour ‘through sufferings’. He endured. He was without sin. How much more is suffering part of the road that leads sinners to perfection and glory! What abundant cause we have to be reconciled to our sufferings!

10. We must not be deceived by the current view that invites us to get rid of our troubles and sicknesses and then rejoice. The New Testament calls on us to rejoice in the midst of sufferings. Indeed we ought to be alarmed if we have no experience of suffering, for we suffer with Him that we may be glorified together. There is no glory without suffering.

Do your heart, soul, and mind a favor and read the whole booklet by Murray free here. It will only take about 30 minutes, but I am confident it will be helpful throughout all your life and even for all eternity.

10 Quotes from Faith That Lasts

Faith That Lasts: How to Find Joy in Your Walk with God is a brief book by Pastor Colin Smith on Hebrews 5-6. This passage is notoriously difficult, but the book isn’t. Pastor Colin introduces us to three characters—Drifting, Defiant, and Doubting—and then tells us what God has to say to each one.

The genius of Faith That Lasts is not the way Hebrews 6 is explained, or the arguments for the Drifting, Defiant, or Doubting person to return to Jesus—though both are solid and compelling. The genius of Faith That Lasts is the way one pastor humbly pleads with the reader to respond to God’s Word.

Buy a copy and read it. You’ll probably want to buy and few more and give them away. Faith That Lasts is 84 pages, but you can read it in about an hour. Here are my ten favorite quotes from the book:

10. On Lasting Faith

This book is about faith that lasts, and the first thing to say is that lasting faith is the only kind of faith worth having. (18)

9. On “Once Saved, Always Saved”

There’s a phrase often used among Christians that conveys a wonderful truth and at the same time conceals a dangerous error: “Once saved, always saved.” (19)

8. On Self-Righteousness

As long as you hold onto the idea that you can produce a life that will win the favor of God, you won’t see why you need Jesus. (27)

7. On Our Only Hope

You need Jesus because death will not be the end for you. There is an eternal judgment that you cannot avoid, and Jesus Christ is your only hope. (32)

6. On the Hardest People to Reach

The hardest people to reach are not those who have never heard the gospel. Nor are they those who live in open and flagrant rebellion against God. The hardest people to reach are the ones who have tasted the truth and turned away. (36-7)

5. On Assurance

Assurance is the comfort, peace, and joy of knowing that Christ is yours and you are His forever. (58)

4. On Faith & Assurance

Faith is knowing that Jesus saves. Assurance is knowing that Jesus has saved you. (60)

3. On the Marks of a Christian

Jesus said, “By their fruits you shall know them” (Matthew 7:20). How many blackberries do you need to find on a bush before you know it’s a blackberry bush? It’s not a hundred. (68-9)

2. On God’s Love

When your experience tempts you to doubt God’s love, look at the cross. (74)

1. On Heaven

Your arrival in heaven does not depend on the strength of your faith but on the strength of your Savior. (77)

Pastor Colin’s Guest Interview on Nancy Guthrie Podcast

The Gospel Coalition featured a podcast today from Nancy Guthrie’s latest Help Me Teach the Bible podcast.

In the podcast, Nancy and Pastor Colin discuss how to teach the Old Testament book of Lamentations to grieving people.

Nancy approached Pastor Colin about the podcast after reviewing his latest book called For All Who Grieve.

Learn more and listen to the interview at The Gospel Coalition website.

 

Photo: The Gospel Coalition

Set Your Minds on Things Above

Set your minds on things above. (Colossians 3:2)

All of us are on our way, either to something that is infinitely better, or to something that is infinitely worse. People sometimes talk about “living your best life now.” That’s only possible if you are going to hell. If hell is your future, your best life is now.

But if you are going to heaven, your best life is to still to come. For a person outside Christ, this life is as good as it gets. But for a person in Christ, your pain in this world is the only pain you will ever experience. Your struggles in this world are the only struggles you will ever endure.

This is as tough as it gets for you, because your future is absolutely glorious! Without Christ this world is as near as you will get to heaven. With Christ this world is as near as you will get to hell. It is better to suffer any illness, endure any sorrow, carry any burden and be in Christ, than it is to enjoy any lifestyle you can imagine without Him.

Today, I have the joy of lifting your eyes up to your future joy in heaven, so that you will find strength, courage, and comfort to endure the difficulties of life that confront you today.

In heaven, you will serve God as you always wished you could

They are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple. (Revelation 7:15)

Every Christian serves Christ, but none of us serves the Lord as we would like to serve Him. All who love Christ worship Him, but none of us worships as we would like to worship. Don’t you find yourself at times asking, “Why is my heart so sluggish? Why is my response to the grace of God so restrained, so calculating?”

Every Christian wants to serve Christ, but we find ourselves in conflict, “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mark 14:38). We throw ourselves into serving Christ and into living for Christ, and then we get tired or we become discouraged. We get bogged down in our unsolved problems and our unanswered questions, but it will not always be so. In heaven you will serve God as you always wished you could. “Day and night” they serve Him. No tiredness there!

Here, we go through seasons of feeling distant from God, and we want to have a new and fresh experience of God. But in heaven you will be before His throne. You will be with Him, and you will enjoy Him forever!

In heaven, Christ will lead you into ever increasing joy

The Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water. (Revelation 7:16)

You may think, “Heaven’s going to be a wonderful place where I’m going to discover all kinds of marvelous things.” Yes it will, but John is telling us, “It’s better than that.” What’s missing?

Christ is the great Shepherd of His people. He feeds them and that is why they are never hungry (7:16). And He leads them—Christ does this for us on earth, and He will do this for us in heaven too, “the Lamb will… guide them to springs of living water!” The great joy of heaven is that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself will lead you into ever increasing delight.

Perhaps you have a favorite place to vacation. You keep going back, and over the years, you’ve gotten to know it better and better. After many years, you know most of what there is to know. You have eaten at every restaurant. You have shopped at every store. But you will never get to that place in heaven. Heaven will be an infinite world of new discoveries, and Jesus Christ will unfold them to you.

Thomas Boston says, “The divine perfections will be an unbounded field, in which the glorified shall walk eternally, seeing more and more of God; since they can never come to the end of the infinite. They may bring their vessels to this ocean every moment, and fill them with new waters.”[1]

This joy will go on increasing forever! Think about looking through a photo album. The joys you experience in life remain in your memory so that you continue to derive happiness from them—things that happened ten years ago or twenty years ago.

Jonathan Edwards asks, “Do you think it will be any less in heaven?” The joys of heaven will accumulate: “Their knowledge will increase to eternity; and if their knowledge, their holiness; for as they increase in the knowledge of God, they will see more of his excellency (beauty), and the more they see of his excellency (beauty) the more they will love him, and the more they love God, the more delight and happiness they will have in him.”[2] Friends, we are talking about exponentially increasing joy! What will that be like after a million, million ages?

In heaven, all your wounds will finally be healed

God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. (Revelation 7:17)

Every tear! Literally, the tears will be wiped “out of their eyes.” This is telling us God removes, not only the tears, but also the source that produces the tears—even our tear ducts! The baggage you carried—there’s nothing to carry now. It’s gone. The temptations you battled—there are no battles now. The pain you suffered—there’s no suffering now.

John sees the glory of heaven, the presence of Jesus, the glory of the new creation, but then like a drumbeat you have this repeated statement of what will not be there: No death; no mourning. No sins to confess; no temptations to overcome. No sickness to suffer; no pain to endure. No crosses to carry; no fears to face.

All your questions will be answered. All your doubts will be resolved. All your longings fulfilled. All your needs met. Your joy will be complete. And God will wipe away every tear from your eyes. If you have been washed in the blood of Christ, it will not be long before you are there too.

Longing to depart, ready to stay

Look at what lies ahead of you, and it will help you to face whatever you are facing today. Donald Macleod reminds us that heaven is our Father’s house: “What a grief it must be to God that so few of His children want to go home! Here we are, in enemy territory, amid the sufferings of the present time, beset by sin and seeing our Father’s name dishonored all around us and yet we want to stay!”

Macleod recalls Paul’s longing to depart and be with Christ, which the apostle says is “better by far.” But at the same time, Paul says that he has to be ready to stay and continue serving the church. “This surely is the healthy Christian attitude: Willing to stay, for the sake of the work still to be done, but longing to get home.”[3]

Serving Christ will be your great delight in heaven, so find joy by serving Him now. Following Christ will lead you to springs of living water in heaven, so find life by following Christ now. Christ will wipe every tear from your eye in heaven, so find comfort by drawing near to Him now.

—

[1] Thomas Boston, Human Nature in Its Fourfold State, p. 302, Sovereign Grace, 2000
[2] Jonathan Edwards, Works, Vol. 2, p. 618, Banner of Truth, 1974
[3] Donald Macleod, “Monthly Record of the Free Church of Scotland,” p. 125, 1990
This article is adapted from Pastor Colin’s message “Heaven,” from the series The Inside Story of Your Future Life, Feb. 26, 2012.
Photo: Unsplash

Five Comforts from the Great Plague

Throughout the summer of 1665 there were literally bodies piled up on the city streets of London. Every evening the town crier shouted “Bring out your dead” and men came around with carts to haul the latest victims of the Bubonic Plague off to one of two mass graves outside the city. When someone fell ill they were sealed up in their homes with their families, and a red cross was painted on their front door with the words “Lord, have mercy on us” underneath.

Tens of thousands in London were dead by July of that summer, and over a hundred thousand by August. One can only imagine the sheer panic that engulfed the citizens. If a family had enough money, they quickly left their homes and moved away. The king of England, Charles II and his family fled to Oxford, but the vast-majority could not afford that luxury, and since they did not know that the illness was communicated by poor hygiene, the plague spread like wildfire in a city which at that time, simply left garbage and other filth on the streets to rot.

Many churches shuttered their doors and their ministers escaped the city. But there was a pastor who stayed in the thick of it all by the name of Thomas Brooks. Brooks was a puritan from a well-to-do family and he pastored a church in north London. His church happened to be located in an area that was well known for its poverty and immorality. Because of this, it was to a particularly vulnerable segment of London that he ministered, and there was a lack of even basic supplies in the area. Even though Brooks’ family had money and he could have fled, he knew that doing so would leave his people without a pastor, and since he loved them, he decided to stay as a faithful shepherd to his flock.

It was during the outbreak that Brooks fearlessly preached to his people, visiting them and caring for the sick and dying. And it was then that he penned a classic short work called “A Heavenly Cordial.” The book’s full title is actually, A Heavenly Cordial, for those servants of the Lord that have had the plague and are recovered, or that now have it; also for those that have escaped it, though their relations and friends have been either visited, or swept away by it. It is in this book that Brooks outlined what he calls “Divine Maxims” or “conclusions” that he gleaned from the Scriptures during the outbreak. He had hoped that these would be a comfort to God’s people in the midst of that terrible time.

The following outlines five of those maxims in modern terms which may be of help to us today:

1. Outward circumstances do not necessarily indicate God’s pleasure or displeasure with us.

Jesus gave His disciples a crucial lesson regarding this point.

As [Jesus] went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.” (John 9:1-3)

Oh, this is so important! Bad circumstances don’t always mean God is upset with a person. Sometimes the “worst” of men escape the plague, and the “best” of men are taken away by it. So, we must not assume that God is angry with us if we catch a disease, just as we must not assume God’s pleasure if we escape it! God’s ultimate approval or disapproval is based on one thing only: A person’s relationship with Jesus Christ.

2. Plagues do not change God’s affections toward His people.

Do not listen to the voice of the evil one which may whisper to you, “If God really loved you, you wouldn’t be suffering like this.” That is simply not true. Many saints throughout the ages have suffered horrible illnesses, but nevertheless the Apostle Paul’s words still stand.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?… No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. (Romans 8:35,37)

3. Pestilence and plagues can only reach the outward man. They cannot reach our souls.

The very worst that any disease can do is kill our bodies, but if we have a relationship with Jesus Christ our souls are safe and cannot be touched by any virus! Therefore we must not fear that which can kill the body and do no more, rather, the plague should cause us to turn our eyes toward God.

[Fear Him] who has the power to throw both body and soul into hell. (Matthew 10:28)

4. No Godly person dies from any calamity until God’s work in them and through them is finished.

God knows the days of our lives.

In your books were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. (Psalm 139:16)

He prepares good works in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10), and no Christian ever dies until the things that God has for us in this world are complete.

5. If a Christian dies by disease, they receive no loss but only gain!

That is what the Apostle Paul is talking about when he says,

For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. (Philippians 1:21)

All that pestilence and disease can do to the believer is bring them to glory. And though the godly man may not be delivered from the plague, he shall certainly be delivered by the plague! Brooks writes, “The death of the body destroys the body of death…death cures all diseases [for the believer] at once!” And if a Christian dies from the plague, “the chair of pestilence shall be to him a chair of State, by which he shall be brought into the presence of the King of kings.”

It is only with such a view of the devastating plague, that a man like Thomas Brooks could find the courage to boldly remain in London and minister to others. Brooks was a great example for us, especially now while we are dealing with our own pandemic. He concluded his short treatise with these words, “If a godly man dies of the pestilence, he shall never be haunted, tempted, and buffeted by Satan anymore; he shall never see a cloud, a frown, or a wrinkle in the face of God anymore…it shall free him from all his sins, sorrows, tears, temptations, oppressions, oppositions, and persecutions.” Oh, what a comfort that should be to all of us right now! If we trust in the Lord Jesus Christ we have nothing to fear.

—

[1] “A Heavenly Cordial.” The Works of Thomas Brooks Volume VI, by Thomas Brooks and Alexander Balloch Grosart, Banner of Truth Trust, 2001, pp. 411–434.
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Photo: Unsplash