Text:
Rest in the
Lord, and wait (like waiting on tables, serving!) patiently for Him: fret not
thyself because of him/her who prospereth in his/her way, because of the
man/woman who bringeth wicked devices to pass.”
Psalm 37: 7.
Good morning,
patiently waiting Christian! In this
increasingly apostate and hostile 21st Century, you and I who are
seeking to live our lives as fully committed, Spiritually quickened,
Bible-believing Christians – are beset all around with those led of their
father, the Devil, to hinder, harm, and spoil us and bring to nought our
faithful Christian witness of the power of Almighty Lord God in Christ. Fact.
If you are NOT
experiencing such constant oppositions from the world, your own flesh, and the
Devil – please immediately examine yourself to see if you really are a truly
committed, born again, Christian! No
Christian soldier in this great Spiritual war is excused duty!
“Examine
yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove (test) your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus
Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates (rejected silver, rejected by
God). But I trust that ye shall know
that ye are not reprobates (failures).”
(2 Corinthians 13:5-6)
“Put on the
whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the
Devil. For we wrestle not against flesh
and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of
the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” (Ephesians 6:11-12)
If we are not
born again and, by God’s grace through God-given faith in Christ and His
onetime Sacrifice at Calvary’s Cross, then the Lord Jesus teaches us that we
are indeed the children of the Devil, Satan, that old vile serpent of evil,
and proud sin.
“Jesus said unto
them (the unbelieving of the day), If God were your father, ye would love Me:
for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of Myself, but He (God
the Father) sent Me. Why do you not
understand My speech? Even because ye
cannot hear (with their hearts) My word.
Ye are of your father the Devil, and the lusts of your father ye will
do...” (John 8:42-44)
The Devil and
his children are at full and total war against Christ and His children. Thus, when we Christians get weary of the
continual Spiritual battle raging against us and our Master, Jesus Christ – we
must learn to Spiritually rest in Him, renew our Spiritual strength, and
continue on steadfastly in the great war against Satan and sin.
“And the
apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and told Him all things, both
what they had done, and what they had taught.
And He said unto them, Come ye
yourselves apart into a desert (quiet and private) place, and rest a while: for
there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to
eat. And they departed into a desert
place by ship privately.” (Mark 6:30-32)
To be a
‘patiently waiting Christian’, strong in faith and steadfast in trials and
temptations, one must be found continually studying/reading God’s inspired
Word, and not only reading our written Bible, but meditating also upon what we
are being taught by the Spirit of God therein.
It is better to quietly mediate on one verse of Holy Scripture and
clearly understand what we have read, than superficially reading three chapters
of Scripture, and perceiving little of what we have quickly read.
Here’s what
Thomas Brooks (1608-1680) wrote on the subject of Bible mediation:
“Meditate, practice, pray: You must meditate and
dwell upon what you read; otherwise your pains and mine will be lost. The
more any man is in the contemplation of truth, the more deep and firm
impression is made upon his heart by truth. Heavenly meditation brings out
the sweetness that is in divine truths. Not those who get most but
those who keep most, are richest. So not
those who hear most, or read most, but those
who meditate most, are most edified and enriched.
“You must also practice and live out what you read. To read much and practice nothing - is to hunt much and catch nothing. Ah! What cause have most to sigh, that they have heard so much, and read so much and yet done so little!
“You must also pray over what you read. Many read much, and pray little, and therefore get little by all they read. Galen writes of a fish called Uranoscopos (Starfish), that has but one eye, which looks continually up to heaven. When a Christian has one eye upon his book--the other should be looking up to heaven for a blessing upon what he reads!” (Thomas Brooks, "The Unsearchable Riches of Christ")
As a writer C.H. Spurgeon (1834 –1892) said of him, “Brooks scatters stars with both hands, with an eagle eye of faith as well as the eagle eye of imagination.”
“You must also practice and live out what you read. To read much and practice nothing - is to hunt much and catch nothing. Ah! What cause have most to sigh, that they have heard so much, and read so much and yet done so little!
“You must also pray over what you read. Many read much, and pray little, and therefore get little by all they read. Galen writes of a fish called Uranoscopos (Starfish), that has but one eye, which looks continually up to heaven. When a Christian has one eye upon his book--the other should be looking up to heaven for a blessing upon what he reads!” (Thomas Brooks, "The Unsearchable Riches of Christ")
As a writer C.H. Spurgeon (1834 –1892) said of him, “Brooks scatters stars with both hands, with an eagle eye of faith as well as the eagle eye of imagination.”
Thus, Brooks the Seventeenth Century Puritan, and
Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the Nineteenth Century Neo-Puritan – both godly men of
renown in Christ Jesus – were made wise to the Spiritual benefit of mediating
on the Word of God. By doing so, they
were both, in their own particular time in history, enabled of the Lord to be
‘patiently waiting Christians. They drew Spiritual strength and faith from
their Bibles; meditating deeply on what they read; practicing Christ’s way to
live; and in turn, waiting with expectancy the return of our Lord and Saviour –
Jesus the risen Christ.
“And the things that thou hast heard of me among many
witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach
others also.” (2 Timothy 2:2)
Thought: Happy is that man who possesses a Bible!
Happier still is he who reads it! Happiest of all is he who not only reads it,
but obeys it, and makes it the rule of his faith and practice!” (J.C. Ryle, 1816-1900, in Practical Religion,
page 97)
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