Turing back, never. ( Psalm 23 )

 A hymn by Anna  L .Waring brings back memories of when  my wife and I were at Bible college, it was a a  testing time for we had no income coming in,we were sorely depending on God to supply our needs.Let me also add we had three children,it was very challenging,the principal spoke to me once,and he said he would understand if we had to give up, but we didn't,God tested us, we didn't give up,and God wonderfully provided for our needs.So I am going to leave you with the words of the second verse of the  hymn by A L. Waring,

                                                         'Wherever He may guide me,

                                                          No want shall turn me back;

                                                          My Shepherd is beside me

                                                         And nothing can I lack;

                                                         His wisdom ever waketh ,

                                                         His sight is never dim;

                                                         He knows the way He taketh     

                                                        And I will walk with Him.

                                              William Plummer wrote the following, 

                      'In every undertaking God is not only our Chief,but our sole dependence.

Two important truths. ( Philippians 2 v 12 -13 )

My wife works in the care sector, and  each morning before she goes to work,I pray with her, recently she called in for a short time during the day ,and as she was leaving to go out again,I said to her ,'drive carefully,and prayerfully'.Those words indicate two things, being responsible,and yet depending on God. The two go together and are important.It was Spurgeon ,and William Carey, who had certain amount of opposition from those who where hyper Calvinist who frowned on evangelism.In the case of William Carey they disagreed with his desire to be a missionary,that did not stop him going to India and serving God.One can think of the different things we are responsible for. God calls none of us to neglect our responsibility,in all aspects of life in so called secular things and in spiritual matters.But in all matters we must never forget  our dependence on God,that's what the great apostle said when he wrote,' I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.'(Philippians 4 v13 ) he was emphasising what our Saviour said in John 15 v 5,'apart from Me you can do nothing'. that means to simply rely on  Christ working through us,yes there should be in all of us,a continual dependence on Christ, or as one put it,a  continual dependence on a living Saviour.

                                                       'Weak as you are,you shall not faint;

                                                        Or  fainting, shall not die;

                                                        Jesus, the strength of every saint,

                                                         Will aid you from on high.'

                                                                Words John Newton.

                 

Expectation. (John 3 v16)

 We continue to consider Proverbs 10 v 28, we saw the hope the righteous shall be gladness,now let us consider,'but the expectation of the wicked shall perish.' As Charles Bridges puts it,'they too have their expectation',consider Hitlers and his,' Third Reich',that would last for a thousand years ,but it lasted only 12 yrs,and he ended up committing suicide,amidst the ruins of Berlin. Wicked Haman's expectations was to destroy the Jewish race,especially Mordecai, but in a moment his expectation lay in the dust,as he was hung on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai.(Esther chap 7) The enemies of Daniel,sought to  destroy him,by  having him cast into a  den of lions,but God  delivered Daniel,and his enemies were cast into that same den of lions,and were devoured by those same lions,not only did their expectation perish, they perished.( Daniel chap 6) Now let quote what Charles Bridges says as regards the wicked,those who know not Christ,'For none have a stronger hope than those,who have no grounds for hope. (Deut 29 v19 ) And this delusion often  reaches the moment of eternity, expecting the door to be ''opened to them''but alas it was shut,they dreamt of heaven,and they woke up in hell' It is very sad,and solemn,but it is true ,the expectation of the wicked shall perish.

 

O happy day. ( Romans 5 v5 ) 1

Proverbs 10 v 28  reads,'The hope of the righteous shall be gladness; but the expectation of the wicked shall perish.'We can bring this into the New Covenant  , the righteous being true Christians, and the wicked being non-Christians. So what has the Christian got that the non-Christian does not have?,hope,a hope that goes beyond circumstances,goes beyond death itself. It was Voltaire who said,''I hate life,yet I am afraid to die'',  That was a man with no hope, the Christian has hope because he 'she,is loved by the God of hope,that love that drew salvations plan,and brought it down to the unlovely, the  demoralized, the desperate, and the downcast.None of us were innocent,far from it,but He embraced us with His love forgiving us ,and filling us with his love,through Jesus,and give us hope in this life and in the life to come. Yes the hope of the righteous shall be gladness.

                                                        'O happy day ! that fixed my choice

                                                         On Thee , my Saviour and my God;'

                                                         

Now I see.. ( John 14 v1-6 )

 We owe a lot to science, but what science doesn't give us is moral guidelines, and for all their knowledge can they tell us,'Who we are,were ,where are we going,and what's the meaning of life,the fact is they don't know.The good news is,the word of God gives us the answer. Who are we ?, contrary to what many say we are those whom God has created,and that makes us special. we didn't  self evolve, that is not in our power to do .The word of God says we are fearfully and wonderfully made,God is our Father through creation,though that relationship has been affected by our sin.Where are we going?it is a good question,are we just existing ?with no real meaning?,alas because of sin that is what most people are doing,they have shut God out of their lives,to them that's all there is? It seems that humanity is always seeking something,.why is there that emptiness in all of us that we cannot fill?,we keep searching yet  never finding that something..It is Augustine who said ,'God made men for Himself and they will be restless until they find their rest in Him'. Without  God there is no meaning to life , no matter who you are,.

                                           'I heard myself saying I am lost and  confused,

                                           I heard a voice saying,follow Me,Who are you 

                                           I asked?, I am Jesus, follow Me' and I will bring

                                           you to the land not of questions but of answers,

                                           and you shall see the face of God'.

                                               (The last part of this I owe to D .Kidner)

                                  

                                                 

Clean and unclean. ( 1 Peter 1 v15-16)

 In Leviticus  10  Aaron's sons did something sinful they went against what God had commanded, and so God slew them.In God's eyes disobedience  is a very serious thing,this applies to everybody,Christian and non-Christian. even Moses had to learn that lesson Exodus 4 v 24 -26,he had not circumcised his son,only his wife's intervention saved him.Whatever reason Moses had for not doing it, in God's eyes he was guilty of sinning against what God commanded .Coming back to Lev 10 ,God speaks to Aaron  tells him clearly what was the required obedience within the tabernacle. 'So that you can distinguish between the holy and the common, between the clean and unclean.'We move unto chapter 11, God tells Israel what they should eat and what they shouldn't eat,or what is Kosher  and what is not kosher,they had to obey God,eating only what was clean in God's eyes,and not eating what is unclean in God's eyes. These food laws do not apply to us now (1 Timothy 4 v 3-5/ Mark 7 v20 ) but the principal remains as to what God considers clean and unclean,sin and not sinful, holy and that which is unholy. Gods'  word to us is very clear,Ephesians 1 v 4 reads,'For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy, and blameless in His sight'. We must make the right choice,that is God's choice,not  the worlds choice,not the devils choice,not even our choice, but God's choice.

                                                       'Oh God make me as holy

                                                       as a pardoned sinner can be.'

                                                               R M. Mc Cheyne.

Surprise me. ( Philippians 4 v 4 -7 )

 It is Charles Bridges who said in relation to prayer ,''Let God be your first port of call'',I must confess  sometimes I don't.We do need to be reminded of what Charles says, I know I do,so I thank God  for this reminder.Let me just share something with you as regards prayer,recently my dear wife ordered a few items from a catalog ,she wasn't sure how to go about it,so she asked her sister to do it for her.It was only the next day ,she received a  text telling her it was coming but she noticed that our address shown on the text  was not  altogether  right ,and this caused her to be concerned, so I said to her let us pray about it,so I prayed and  asked God to sort things out. I had  go out for a while and when I came back  I went and had a shower,and as I was showering,I prayed,and asked God to answer my prayer,and that He might  surprise me .I got out of the shower and was dressing and I heard the doorbell ring,it was the items that my wife had ordered,Yes he did surprise me,and  my wife ,and then I reminded her that  we should pray and thank God, and that is what we did.