Spiritual Times and Seasons

Spiritual Times and Seasons

Preached at Zoar Chapel, London, on Thursday Evening, July 8th, 1841, by J. C. Philpot.

"A time to kill, and a time to heal;
 a time to break down, and a time to build up;
 a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
 a time to mourn, and a time to dance."
Ecclesiastes 3:3,4.

What an instance is King Solomon of the vanity of all creature enjoyments, and the emptiness of all creature attainments! The wisest of men, and yet often doing actions of which a fool might be ashamed! Speaking, by divine inspiration, in the Proverbs, the language of most blessed instruction, and yet in conduct violating well near every precept which he had given, and acting in direct opposition to every proverb which he had inculcated! Seated in peace upon the throne of his father David, enjoying every pleasure which wealth could minister, supplied with every gratification that his senses could delight in, and then forced in his old age to write "vanity and vexation of spirit" upon them all! In his declining years reaping the bitter fruits of backsliding from God, and giving to us in this book of Ecclesiastes which appears to be the expression of his repentance his own dearly-bought experience of the utter vanity and instability of all creature enjoyments and expectations, and brought to see that there was nothing worth having but the fear of the Lord in the heart in blessed exercise, and the testimony of God in the soul!

Now, in this diversified experience through which King Solomon passed, he learned lessons which were not to be arrived at through any other channel. It was not in vain that he had every gratification presented to his carnal mind; it was not in vain that "he made himself gardens and orchards," and "got male and female singers," that "whatever his eyes desired he kept not from them, and withheld not his heart from any joy;" for "he looked on all the works that his hands had wrought, and on the labor that he had labored to do; and behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun" Ec 2:5,8,10,11. He has thus set up a beacon that we might, with God's blessing, avoid the shoals on which he struck; a lighthouse blazes forth, that we might not fall foul on the sands on which his frail bark too often ran; and thus, the Spirit of God sealing the instruction upon our souls, that we might steer clear of those reefs which the Holy Spirit has traced out by his pen in this chart of his perilous navigation.

Let no one misunderstand me. I believe that Solomon was a saved person, and that he is now in glory; but the Lord left him to do many things which showed plainly that he was but a man, and which clearly prove that he, of his own power, was not able to act up to the lessons of divine wisdom which he taught. And he is a striking instance how that, placed as he was in an eminent situation, and not being kept by the grace of God from the many temptations to which his very wealth and station exposed him, he was carried away by them to the future distress of his soul. But in this chequered path of experience he learned a lesson, the fruit of which is recorded in this chapter, that "the times and the seasons the Father has put in His own power" Acts 1:7.

Solomon's experience gave the free-will that lurked in his bosom a fatal stab, turned upside down the wisdom of the creature, broke into a thousand pieces, all his fleshly righteousness, and convinced him deeply of the sovereignty of God reigning over all his purposes, words, and works. And therefore, as the fruit of this wisdom, which was communicated through the channel of personal experience, he came to this solemn conclusion, that "for everything there was a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven;" that these times are in the hands of God; not to be precipitated, not to be retarded; not depending upon the movements of the creature; not fluctuating with the restless tide of human will and purpose, but fixed in the sovereign decrees of Jehovah, and fulfilled at such a moment and in such a manner as it pleases Him "who works all things after the counsel of His own will" Eph 1:11.

But the chief point to which I wish, with God's blessing, to call your attention this evening, is that portion of experimental truth which is set forth in the words of the text.

The work of grace upon the soul may be divided into two distinct operations of the Spirit of God upon the heart; the one is to break down the creature into nothingness and self-abasement before God; the other is to exalt the crucified Jesus as "God over all, blessed forever," upon the wreck and ruin of the creature. And these two lessons distinct, and yet so far combined as to tend to one center– the glory of God in the salvation of the soul. The blessed Spirit writes with power upon every quickened vessel of mercy– "A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance."

I. There is, then, "a time to kill"– that is, there is an appointed season in God's eternal counsels when the sentence of death is to be known and felt in the consciences of all His elect. That time cannot be hurried, that time cannot be delayed. All the counsel of parents, all the advice of instructors, all the sermons of gospel ministers, all the reading of religious books cannot hurry forward that time; and all the wretched recklessness and profaneness of our base hearts, all the snares and temptations that Satan is continually seeking to entangle the feet in, all the desperate pride, presumption, hypocrisy, unbelief, and self-righteousness of the carnal mind have no power to retard that time. The hands of that clock, of which the will of God is the spring, and His decrees the pendulum, are beyond the reach of human fingers to move on or put back.

But we observe from the text that the killing precedes the healing, and that the breaking down goes before the building up; that the elect weep before they laugh, and mourn before they dance. In this track does the Holy Spirit move; in this channel do His blessed waters flow. The first "time" then of which the text speaks is that season when the Holy Spirit takes them in hand in order to kill them. And how does He kill them? By applying with power to their consciences the spirituality of God's holy law, and thus bringing the sentence of death into their souls– the Spirit of God employing the law as a minister of condemnation to cut up all creature righteousness.

Every vessel of mercy must experience more or less of this killing work in his conscience. God has not indeed, in His Word, fixed any certain mode in which the sword shall enter a man's heart, but He has said positively and decisively that there is "a time to kill". This must be understood spiritually and experimentally, unless we believe that any "time" can legalise murder. No, the very words that follow, "a time to heal," prove that spiritual, not natural, killing is intended. The killed soul can be healed, but not the killed body. But if none are spiritually healed before they are spiritually killed, and if none shall see "the Sun of righteousness" but those upon whom He "arises with healing in His wings," every vessel of mercy, according to the depth of the Spirit's work in his heart, must know what it is to have the sentence of death and condemnation take place in his conscience.

But some shall say, "HOW am I to know whether I have been spiritually killed?" I will tell you. Have you experienced the effects of death? When we see a corpse lying in a coffin, it is not a question with us whether it is living or dead, for we see the pallid features of death stamped upon it. Thus it is with the elect of God. Do you want to know whether you have been killed? Have you experienced the fruits and effects of that killing? Has death been stamped upon your own righteousness? Has the sentence of guilt and condemnation fallen with weight and power into your conscience? Have you seen nothing in self to deliver you from "the wrath to come?" Have you stood before the bar of God an arraigned and guilty criminal? Have you gone to Him, with a halter round your neck, waiting only for the sentence of execution to drop from the mouth of the king? Has all your loveliness been turned into corruption, so that the steam of putrefaction has come up into your nostrils, and you have been in the valley of Hamon-Gog? Eze 39:11.

These are the fruits and effects of death. I believe we are to measure our experience of this spiritual death, not so much by the way in which we have died, as by what fruits and effects have been felt in our souls. Now you must know very well whether, when you come before God, you come before Him as a guilty criminal or an accepted child; whether you call upon Him as having the sentence of condemnation in your heart, or as having the sweet voice of the blood of Jesus speaking in you better things than the blood of Abel Heb 12:24. You must know, if you will be but honest with yourself, whether in solemn moments you expect doom as your portion, or the realms of eternal light, peace, and love. You must know whether you are laboring under the "spirit of bondage," or enjoying some measure of blessed liberty; whether in your solemn approaches to God you see anger and wrath in His countenance, and tremble under His frowns, or whether you bask beneath His approving smiles. These are matters of conscience; these are things in experience which cannot be wrapped up, blinked at and evaded by a living soul.

Everyone quickened into spiritual tenderness of heart must have an inward witness that he is on one side of the line or the other. A living man whose religion moves only as the Spirit moves, and whose "faith stands not in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God," is not to be hoodwinked and blindfolded, and led away from inward teachings into uncertainties. The man who has any experience at all cannot get away from that which takes place in those secret chambers, because conscience, though it has a still voice, can neither be bribed into a false verdict, nor overawed into mute acquiescence; though it only speaks inwardly, it speaks with authority; though like Him who is the Author of it, it lifts not up its voice in the streets, yet it secretly bears an inward testimony, which must be heard and submitted to. If you, then, feel a poor, guilty, wretched criminal, condemned to die, one who sees no hope of escape from "the wrath to come" through CREATURE-RIGHTEOUSNESS, but one that stands self-condemned and self-abhorred before the bar of the most righteous God– know this, if you feel these things, if you sigh and groan and cry under the heavy burden of them, that "the sword has pierced through your own heart also," and that you have experienced "a time to kill".

But it is not merely man's righteousness that God means to kill, but also man's PRIDE. O cursed pride, that is ever lifting up its head in our hearts! Pride, that would even pull down God that it might sit upon His throne. Pride, that would trample under foot the holiest things to exalt itself! Pride, that can feed upon the letter of truth as well as upon garbage! Pride, that can wrap up itself in the monk's cowl and flaunt abroad in the attire of the harlot! Pride, that can soar aloft to the heights of creature-holiness, and wallow in the filthy kennel of impurity! That monstrous creature within us, of such ravenous and indiscriminate gluttony, that the more it devours, the more it craves, and "enlarges its desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied" Hab 2:5. Pride, that chameleon which assumes every color, that actor which can play every part, and yet which is constant to no one object or purpose but to exalt and glorify self!

There is, then, "a time to kill" pride. And oh, what cutting weapons the Lord will sometimes make use of to kill a man's pride! How He will bring him sometimes into the depths of temporal poverty, that He may make a stab at his worldly pride! How He will bring to light the iniquities of his youth, that He may mortify his self-righteous pride! How He will allow sin to break forth, if not openly, yet so powerfully within, that piercing convictions shall kill his spiritual pride! And what deep discoveries of internal corruption, what a breaking up of "the fountains of the great deep," what a leading into the chambers of imagery will the Lord sometimes employ to dig down to the root, and cut off the core of that poisonous tree– pride! The Searcher of hearts dissects and anatomizes this inbred evil, cuts down to it through the quivering and bleeding flesh, and pursues with His keen knife its multiplied windings and ramifications.

But there is "a time to kill" not only a man's pride, but also his WISDOM; to slaughter it, and, as it were, drain away the life-blood from it. How delusively does this fleshly wisdom of ours act, in endeavoring to substitute the 'mere knowledge of truth in the letter', for the teachings of God in the soul! And how many are deceived in various ways by leaning to their own wisdom, instead of feeling as fools before God, and looking up to Him for His blessed instruction! But the Lord will effectually kill creature-wisdom in the hearts of His people, by bringing them into those straits and difficulties, into those sharp and severe exercises, into those bitter and distressing temptations; where all human reasoning gives up the spirit, where knowledge and understanding are baffled and confounded, and the arm of the creature is so palsy-stricken that it cannot take any one promise out of the Word of God, to administer comfort to the troubled soul.

"I will destroy," says the Lord, "the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?" 1Cor 1:19,20; The wise man is not to "glory in his wisdom" Jer 9:23, but glory in it he will until it is killed, and he learns, at the knife's point, that the Lord "turns wise men backward, and makes their knowledge foolish" Isaiah 44:25. The best lessons are learned in affliction. A man never learns anything to profit while standing upon a lofty mountain. It is in the valley of humiliation, it is in seasons of distress, trouble, anxiety, perplexity, and temptation, that a man learns the secrets of heavenly wisdom, for in them he learns his own folly, and that "the Lord gives wisdom– out of His mouth comes knowledge and understanding" Pr 2:6.

II. But it is not all killing work. If God kills His people, it is to make them alive 1Sa 2:6; if He wounds them, it is that He may heal; if He brings down, it is that He may lift up. We cannot see it at the time. I had thought when I was in perplexity of soul, that I never would see what it was for; and I have almost told God so. It was impossible to see the object intended. Such a cloud of pitchy darkness lowered over it, that I felt in my own mind convinced that I never would be brought to see the reason of the afflictive dispensation. But I have been brought to see the reason, and to view the merciful kindness of God in bringing me into those straits and difficulties, wherein He caused the sighs and groans of my heart to ascend to His holy ears. But when we are passing under these exercises, we seem as though we could almost dare to tell God to His face, that even He Himself cannot bring good out of them– as though the matter was too crooked even for His arm to make straight. Such poor wretches are we when left to ourselves!

But there is "a time to heal;" and until the time comes as appointed in the mind of God, there is no effectual healing. We may seek to the physicians, like Asa when he was diseased in his feet 2Ch 16:12; we may go and beg some remedy from our friends; may creep under the wing of some minister; may endeavor to persuade ourselves we have received some comfort; may try to treasure up in our bosoms some text; may attempt to act faith upon some promise; may do our best to convince ourselves that we have been cured– and yet the old leprosy breaks out again. After all these 'make-believes', we do but resemble a gullible patient who has resorted to a quack for some deep-seated disease, and whose complaint bursts forth more violently when the temporary stimulus of the good-sounding remedy has ceased. He then finds every symptom aggravated, and sinks deeper into despondency, because the remedy which promised to cure, has increased the malady.

And so if the Lord has really smitten you with disease, all your quack remedies will fail, and you will be ready at times, like the poor lunatic in Bedlam, to tear off the bandaids that men would put upon you, because they only irritate you. You feel, at times, as though you could do away with them all, crying aloud, "Miserable comforters are you all" and "physicians of no value".

Doctrines you see clearly in the Bible, but they afford no relief to you; promises suitable to your case, but they bring no consolation to you; children of God walking in the enjoyment of sweet manifestations, but they cannot communicate their comfort to you; ministers tracing out your experience, but the Spirit of God does not bless it to you; preachers and teachers setting forth Christ as an all-sufficient Savior, but He does not manifest Himself as an all-sufficient Savior to you.

And so you go on, fearing that the time will never come when the Lord will drop a word of consolation into your soul; believing yourself to be some wretched character who has been thrust into a profession you know not how, and that the day will come when you will be manifested as a hypocrite; crying to the Lord for some blessed testimony, and He never speaking one word; endeavoring to find your experience in the Scriptures of truth, and yet such a veil over the Bible that you are unable to realize anything sweet and savory there. And yet unable to give up your religion. Trying to throw it away, yet it coming back again; going away distressed and grieved from chapel, and saying, "Oh, I will never go there again; I never get the least comfort to my soul," and yet unable to stay away, as being more miserable at home than you would be there. But you cannot hasten the time. "The times and the seasons the Father has put in His own power" Acts 1:7. But when the time comes to favor Zion, none on earth or in hell can keep back that time, any more than they can prevent the sun from rising.

There is, then, "a time to heal". And how is that healing effected? By some sweet discovery of mercy to the soul, by the eyes of the understanding being enlightened to see Jesus, and by the Holy Spirit raising up a measure of faith in the heart, whereby Christ is laid hold of, embraced in the affections, testified to by the Spirit, and enthroned within as "the hope of glory". Not that I believe all the children of God have the same clear and striking deliverance. Not that I believe that all the living family can speak with equal decision and equal certainty how Christ was made precious to them.

We often read in the accounts that gracious men have given of the Lord's dealings with their souls, and hear ministers speak from the pulpit of very clear and marked deliverances. These are 'shining characters' in the Church of God; their experience is a blessed testimony, and their sweet enjoyments and heavenly consolations are highly to be coveted; but I believe the generality of God's children are not so powerfully and blessedly delivered, as to be able, at all times, to make it out to their own satisfaction, that they have been delivered from going down into the pit.

But still there has been an indescribable sensation of pardon and peace dropped into their hearts; there has been a transient visitation of mercy, like a cloud that passes hastily over the sky, and lets fall a refreshing shower, which, for a moment, cools the air, makes the flowers exhale fragrance, hangs the dew-drops upon every sparkling blade, and causes the grass to spring up with fresh verdure. But the next day comes, the shower is dried up, the flowers droop their heads, the grass is parched and withered, and every object seems to labor under the renewed heat; so passing and so transient was the cloud in its effects.

And thus with some of the living family who have received some testimony from the Lord. His favor, like the cloud of the latter rain, was so short and so transient that though it was accompanied with real gospel effects, though the dew-drops of mercy sparkled a while, yet they were soon dried up by the sun of temptation, soon exhaled by the winds that blew upon them from the four corners of the earth. And it is this speedy dissipation of enjoyment, this rapid drying up of the dew which makes many of God's people anxiously and seriously to question whether the consolation came from heaven or not.

But all through the Christian's life there will be "a time to kill, and a time to heal". We sometimes read in books, and hear in conversation, an experience of this kind– a work of grace commencing with very powerful convictions of sin, and the soul brought almost to the very brink of hell, and then a wonderful revelation of Jesus Christ, a powerful application of His atoning blood to the conscience, and a blessed manifestation of God's love to the soul. And then what follows? If we can credit their account, they possess an unwavering assurance during the remainder of their sojourning upon earth. Sin and Satan never distress nor wound them; the flesh lies calm and tranquil, like the summer sea, never lashed up by angry gusts into a storm of fretfulness and rebellion; the sea-birds of doubt and fear never flit with screams around them, as harbingers of a tempest, but the gale of divine favor gently fills their sail, and wafts them along until they reach the harbor of endless rest. Is this consistent with the Scriptures of truth?

Does not the Word of God set forth the path of a Christian as one of trial and temptation? Can a living soul ever pass through many scenes without being killed experimentally in his feelings as one of "the flock of slaughter?" Does not a chequered experience run through the whole of a Christian's life? Does the Scripture ever afford us the least warrant to believe that a man can be walking in the footsteps of a tempted, suffering Lord, who continues for months and years together at ease in Zion, without any trouble, exercise, grief, or distress in his soul? David never was there. Jeremiah never was there. Paul never was there. Heman never was there. Asaph never was there. You will find that no saints of God, whose experience is left on record in the Bible, ever were there; but their path was one of change and vicissitude; sometimes down, sometimes up, sometimes mourning, sometimes rejoicing, but never long together in one unvaried spot.

The Spirit of the Lord, in carrying on this grand work in the hearts of God's people, will be continually operating in two distinct ways upon their souls. Jeremiah was a prophet of the Lord, and we read he was "set over the nations and over the kingdoms to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down," thus ran one part of his commission. "To build and to plant"– that was the second part of his office. These two distinct operations were to run through the whole of his mission; they were "the burden of the Lord," laid upon him at his first call to the prophetical office, and they continued during the whole of his ministry, a space of more than forty years. Did he, then, merely on ONE occasion pull down, and on one occasion build up? Was not the whole of his ministry, as evidenced in the prophecies that are contained in the book that bears his name, a continual pulling down with one hand, and building up with the other? So is it then with the ministry of the Spirit of the Lord in a vessel of mercy. He is continually killing, continually healing; continually casting down, continually raising up; now laying the soul low in the dust of self-abasement, and now building it up sweetly in Christ.

Confidence in the Blood of Jesus

By Andrew Murray


God has no other way of dealing with sin, or the sinner, save through the blood. For victory over sin and the deliverance of the sinner God has no other means or thought than "THE BLOOD OF JESUS." Yes, it is indeed something that surpasses all understanding. All the wonders of grace are focused here--the Incarnation, by which He took upon Himself our flesh and blood; the love, that spared not itself but surrendered itself to death; the righteousness, which cold not forgive sin till the penalty was borne; the substitution, by which He is the Righteous One, atoned for us the unrighteous; the atonement for sin, and the justification of the sinner, thus made possible; renewed fellowship with God; together with the cleansing, and sanctification, to fit us for the enjoyment of that fellowship; the true oneness in life with the Lord Jesus, as He gives us His blood to drink; the eternal joy of the hymn of praise, "Thou hast redeemed us to God"; all these are but rays of the wondrous light which are reflected upon us from "THE BLOOD OF JESUS."

God's sin-purging medicine

(Arthur Pink, "A Fourfold Salvation" 1938)

"God chastens us for our good—that we may
 share in His holiness." Hebrews 12:10

Chastening is God's sin-purging medicine, sent . . .
  to wither our fleshly aspirations,
  to detach our hearts from carnal objects,
  to deliver us from our idols, and
  to wean us more thoroughly from the world.

God has bidden us, "put to death whatever in you
is worldly: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil
desire, and greed." (Col. 3:5) If we refuse to comply
with this unpleasant task, then we may expect God
Himself to use the pruning knife upon us!

"My son, do not take the Lord's chastening lightly,
or faint when you are reproved by Him." (Heb. 12:5)
This is a beneficial warning. So far from despising the
Lord's chastening, we should be grateful for it—that
God cares so much and takes such trouble with us,
and that His bitter medicine produces such healthful
effects. "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)

   ~  ~  ~  ~  

If we were left to ourselves

(William Secker, "The Consistent Christian" 1660)

"What makes you better than anyone else?"
    1 Corinthians 4:7

Reader, are there not the same lusts lodging in your
heart—which are reigning in wicked men's lives? The
reason why there is so little self-condemnation, is
because there is so little self-examination.

If we were left to ourselves but for a moment—we
would destroy ourselves in that moment! We can defile 
ourselves—but we cannot cleanse ourselves. The sheep
can go astray alone—but can never return to the fold,
without the assistance of the shepherd.

"Hold me up—and I shall be safe!" Psalm 119:117

   ~  ~  ~  ~  

 

The golden key, and the iron lock

(William Secker, "The Consistent Christian" 1660)

He who is Omniscient—to know your needs,
is also Omnipotent—to grant your requests.

"Ask, and receive—that your joy may be full."

Spiritual supplication is the channel to consolation.

Now none are more fruitful in divine labor—than
those who are most joyful under a sense of the
divine favor.

Death shortens our way to heaven—but
prayer sweetens our way to heaven.

There never was one new-born soul—who was still-born.

The prayerless soul—is a fruitless soul. The waters of life 
are sweet—and it is blessed to bring the vessels of prayer
to these wells. It matters not, how often you carry your
empty pitcher—to so full a river!

Christians will never lack a praying time—if they possess
a praying frame. In the morning, prayer is a golden key
—to open the heart for God's service; and in the evening,
prayer is an iron lock—to guard the heart against sin.
   

   ~  ~  ~  ~  

Only a 'kiss'

(J. R. Miller, "The Friendships of Jesus" 1897)

"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends—if you do what I command. . . . I have called you friends." John 15:13-15

The central fact in every true Christian life, is a personal friendship with Jesus. Men were called to follow Him, to leave all and cleave to Him, to believe on Him, to trust Him, to love Him, to obey Him; and the result was the transformation of their lives into His own beauty! That which alone makes one a Christian, is being a friend of Jesus.

Friendship transforms—we become like those with whom we live in close, intimate relations. Life flows into life, heart and heart are knit together, spirits blend, and the two friends become one.

We have but little to give to Christ; yet it is a comfort to know that our friendship really is precious to Him, and gives Him joy—poor and meager though its best may be. But He has infinite blessings to give to us. The friendship of Jesus includes all other blessings for time and for eternity! If Christ is our friend, all of life is made rich and beautiful to us.

"I have called you friends." No other gift He gives to us—can equal in value, the love and friendship of His heart.

When King Cyrus gave Artabazus, one of his courtiers, a 'gold cup'; he gave Chrysanthus, his favorite, only a 'kiss'. And Artabazus said to Cyrus, "The gold cup you gave me, was not so precious as the kiss you gave Chrysanthus."

No good man's money is ever worth as much as his love. Certainly the greatest honor of this earth, greater than rank or station or wealth—is the friendship of Jesus Christ.

The stories of the friendships of Jesus when He was on the earth, need cause no one to sigh, "I wish that I had lived in those days, when Jesus lived among men—that I might have been His friend too—feeling the warmth of His love, my life enriched by contact with His, and my spirit quickened by His love and grace!" The friendships of Jesus, whose stories we read in the New Testament, are only patterns of friendships into which we may now enter—if we are ready to consecrate our life to Him in faithfulness and love.

~  ~  ~  ~  ~

A threefold cord which cannot be broken!

(J. R. Miller)

"When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven!" Nehemiah 1:4

TEARS were not all. Nehemiah also carried the burden to God in prayer. He did this before he took any step himself for the relief of the suffering, and the advancement of his work. Compassion is Christlike; but tears alone are not enough. This is a lesson we should not forget in our compassion for others: God cares more for them than we do, and His compassion is deeper than ours; we may, therefore, be sure of interest upon His part—when we speak the names of our friends into His ear. Besides, He knows best how to help. We should take the burden to Him first—and then be ready to do whatever He may tell us to do.

The best way for us to help others—usually is to PRAY for them. Of course praying is not all we should do; Nehemiah did not stop with tears and prayers. He gave himself to the work in behalf of his people. He left the luxurious palace, and journeyed away to Jerusalem, and took earnest hold with both hands, giving all his energy and influence to the cause.

Likewise, more than tears and prayers are needed; there is something for us to DO. Many people can weep over distress, and then pray fervently for the relief that is needed—but never DO anything themselves!

Nehemiah's way is better: sympathy, prayer, work.

This makes a threefold cord which cannot be broken!

~  ~  ~  ~  ~

It kisses—and kills!

(George Swinnock)

"The deceitfulness of sin." Hebrews 3:13

Sin goes in a disguise—and thence is welcome.

Like Judas, it kisses—and kills!
Like Joab, it salutes—and slays!

~  ~  ~  ~  ~

Our conception of Christian life

(J. R. Miller, "The Wider Life" 1908)

"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus!" Philippians 2:5

Paul tells us that we ought to have the same spirit as Jesus, the same temper and disposition as Jesus, and the same principles as Jesus.

The life of Christ—must be the pattern of our lives. 

We can learn what were the qualities of Christ's life, by a study of the Gospels. These precious books not only tell us about Christ, of the facts of His life, the works He did, the words He spoke—they also show us His sympathy, His kindness, His helpfulness, how He lived, how He interacted with people, how He bore enmity, unkindness and persecution.

Perhaps we do not think enough of Christ's beauty of character and disposition—in forming our conception of Christian life. It is one thing to profess to be a Christian; and another thing to grow into the loveliness of Christ. One may be altogether sincere in confessing Christ—and yet be full of faults, only a beginner, having everything of Christian duty yet to learn; and all the beautiful qualities of Christian character yet to acquire.

"Whoever claims to live in Him—must walk as Jesus did." 1 John 2:6

~  ~  ~  ~  ~

Spiritual Strength

By Martyn-Lloyd Jones


"I find I am very feeble," says Paul, "my energy seems to flag and sometimes I feel I have no life blood in me at all. But . . . because of this relationship, I find He infuses it into me. He knows my every state and condition, He knows exactly what I need. Oh, how much He gives me! He says, "My grace is sufficient for thee", and so I can say, "when I am weak then I am strong." Sometimes I am conscious of great power; there are other times when I expect nothing, but He gives everything."

That is the romance of the Christian life. Nowhere does one experience it more than in a Christian pulpit. . . . I confess that sometimes for various reasons I come expecting nothing; but suddenly the power is given. . . . Thank God it is like that. I do my utmost, but He controls the supply and the power. . . . He is the heavenly physician and He knows every variation in my condition.

. . . Do not agonize in prayer beseeching Him for power. Do what He has told you to do. Live the Christian life. Pray, and meditate upon Him. Spend time with Him and ask Him to manifest Himself to you. And as long as you do that you can leave the rest to Him. He will give you strength--"as thy days so shall thy strength be."

For we also are weak in Him, yet we shall live with Him because of the power of God directed toward you (2 Corinthians 13:4b). I can do all things through Him who strengthens me (Philippians 4:13).

Why People Backslide; the Old Adamic Nature

Why People Backslide; the Old Adamic Nature


By John R. Rice



I remember when I first became conscious of my backsliding. I had been saved at about nine years of age. I had trusted Christ to forgive me, and I am sure He did. Three years later I joined the church, was baptized, and had received full assurance that my sins were forgiven. But my mother was dead, and my boyhood companions in the wild west Texas cow town were rough and wicked. One day it dawned on me that I had drifted far from God in my heart, I had grieved Him in my life. I had gotten to the place where prayer was not a joy and the Bible was not sweet.

I was attending special services in a little Presbyterian church. Many young people found Christ, and many Christians had their joy restored. I alone seemed left without a blessing. How sweet was the singing! What a light on the faces of the happy people! And one night as they sang,


Pass me not, O gentle Saviour,
Hear my humble cry;
While on others Thou art calling,
Do not pass me by.
I cried out, "Lord. is everybody going to get a blessing but me? Do not pass me by!"


And, thank God, all the joy came back and peace flooded my soul! I knew that my failures and my sins had been forgiven. It was as definite as if my Father had taken me in His arms and kissed away my tears and told me so!

As I walked home across the prairie that night and looked up at the stars, I made a vow to God, "O God. I will never fail You again! I will never forget my prayer time. I will never give way to temptation and sin!" You may well smile; I think perhaps a loving and kindly God smiled at my great promises that night. How well He knew my sinful nature, my frailty and sin!

It was not more than two weeks before I had sinned in a way that shocked me terribly, though I do not now remember the details. I found my joy gone. And when I went to God in prayer to confess my sins, again I made great promises, "God, I failed You this time, but if You will give me one more chance, I will not fail You again. I promise You I will be more faithful. I will be true this time, if You will only try me once more!" How little I knew that God wanted trust instead of promises, that He wanted me to depend upon Him instead of on myself. But He again gave me sweet peace.

But the tragic story was repeated, until in despair I felt I had lied to God, had failed Him, and that He must be so disappointed in me that He would never trust me again, and would never give me back the joy of His presence.

At long last I learned that I have an evil nature as well as a new nature which is from God. Like every child of God, I am two persons in one. I am the old man I was before I was saved, with a human body and human frailty and a human tendency toward sin; I am also a new creature in Christ who loves the Lord and hates sin. And I learned that God knows all about me, and that what He wants me to do is to regularly confess my sins and earnestly turn from them, depending on His never-failing mercy to forgive and cleanse, as He promised to do.

So the reason that people backslide is this old carnal nature that every saint of God has. The best people that ever lived have had a constant tendency toward sin ever since Adam (and with him the whole race) fell.

It is easier to do wrong than it is to do right. It is easier to tell a lie than it is to tell the truth. Honest, good people have to continually watch themselves so they will be accurate and truthful in their speech and to avoid deceit. It is easier to loaf than it is to work. The best Christians in the world have to watch themselves and set themselves to work diligently, to do their duty. It is easier to get angry than it is to be even-tempered, forgiving and sweet. Even Christians sometimes have to "count ten" before they speak. And how often we have to confess that we have sinned with a sharp tongue or a critical spirit.

The book of Hosea is a book on backsliding. There the prophet often speaks of Israel as if the nation were an individual who had gone away from God. And in Hosea 4:16 he says, "Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer." In Hosea 6:1 he says, "Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up." And then Hosea 11:7 says, "And my people are bent to backsliding from me."


BENT TO BACKSLIDING! God's people are bent to backsliding from Him. Oh, how true that is of every one of us!

Refusal of the Small

By Hugh Black


"By faith Moses...refused..." (Heb. 11:24).


Faith is the refusal of the small, for the sake of the large. Faith will make no decision, take no step, merely from worldly motives; for it sees past the immediate good to a richer, grander good. Worldly-wisdom is not wisdom; it is folly, the blind grasping at what is within reach. It is folly, for any present good, to cut yourself off from your true life. A good conscience, peace of heart, faith, the vision of God, the hope of glory--it is a fool's bargain (let pot-house moralists prate as they may) to barter these for any mess of pottage. To rake in the dust-heap for scraps of treasure heedless of the golden crown to be had for the looking and the taking--that was Lot's choice, and that is the choice of every soul who seeks first the world. 

Demas thought he was doing a wise thing in leaving Paul when earthly success seemed lost, but this present world, seductive though it was to him, however much it brought him, was a poor, a contemptible exchange for the days and nights with Paul, and the life lived by the Son of God. And his name is an infamy. Lot thought he was doing a wise thing in making the choice he did, but a share in the wealth of Sodom was a pitiful substitute for a place in Abram's company, and a share in Abram's thoughts and faith. And the end was a ruined home, a desolate life, and a broken heart.


Which is the wiser choice? Paul and a Roman prison and Jesus Christ--or Demas and the present world and an apostate's mind? Abram and the barren hillside and God--or Lot and the cities of the plain and Sodom's shame?

The god of popular Christianity!

(Milburn Cockrell, "The Master of the World!")

"Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth! Yours is the dominion, O LORD, and You exalt Yourself as head over all. Both riches and honor come from You, and You rule over all, and in Your hand is power and might!" 1 Chronicles 29:11-12 

In these days of man-centered religion, verses like these have been ignored. The pulpits of our land preach . . .
  a defeated God, 
  a disappointed Christ and 
  a defenseless Holy Spirit. 
Man has been deified — and God dethroned. 
God has been relegated to the background. 

The God most people believe in has benevolent intentions, yet He is unable to carry them out. He wants to bless men, but they will not let Him. The average church-goer thinks Satan has gained the upper hand, and that God is to be pitied rather than worshiped. The god of popular Christianity has a weak smile and a halo! 

To suppose in the slightest that God has failed, or that He has been defeated, is the height of foolishness and the depth of impiety! The religious world needs to get God off the charity list! 

The Bible knows nothing of a defeated, disappointed, and defenseless God. The God of the Bible is the "Almighty God" (Genesis 17:1) Who has all power in Heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18). With Him nothing is impossible (Luke 1:37) or too hard (Jeremiah 32:17). His eternal purpose is being worked out. Everything is going according to His plan, and all things are under His control. 

The God of the Bible is the Supreme Being in the universe! He is the most High, higher than the highest. He has no superiors and no equals. 
God is God. He does . . .
  as He pleases,
  only as He pleases,
  always as He pleases. 

"He is in one mind, and who can turn Him? What His soul desires, even that He does" (Job 23:13). Agreeing with this is Psalm 115:3: "But our God is in the heavens: He has done whatever He has pleased." As the Master of the World He declares: "My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure!" (Isaiah 46:10) 

God is the Supreme Being and the Sovereign of the universe. He exercises His power . . .
  as He wills,
  when He wills,
  where He wills. 
"All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing. But He does according to His will in the host of Heaven, and among the inhabitants of earth. No one can ward off His hand or say to Him: What have You done?" (Daniel 4:35) 

God governs all His creatures and their actions. The events that take place on earth do not take place by chance, or fate, or luck. The so-called accidents are not even incidents with the Master of the World. He numbered the hairs of our head and noted the sparrow's fall in eternity past by His "determinate counsel and foreknowledge" (Acts 2:23). 

The Master of the World set the bounds of our habitation on earth. The number of our months is with Him, and our days are appointed! 

God is holding the helm of the universe, and regulating all events. The Master of the World "works all things after the counsel of His own will" (Ephesians 1:11). It is God's eternal right to do all His pleasure. He is not accountable to any of His creatures. Job 33:13 declares: "He gives no account of any of His matters." 

God controls all things — or nothing. 
He must either rule — or be ruled. 
He must either sway — or be swayed. 
He must either accomplish His will — or be thwarted by His creatures. 
He is not obligated to leave the affairs of this world to be governed by accident, chance, or the will of sinful men. 

If we admit that God absolutely governs all things according to the counsel of His own will, then we admit that He has determined what shall and what shall not transpire in time and eternity. To deny His universal control of all things, is to deny His eternal power and Godhead. If He has the power and wisdom to determine all events — then He can cause all things to work together for good to those who love Him (Romans 8:28).

The Kingdom of God and Your Part in it

The Kingdom of God and Your Part in it


By Henry Drummond


"The futility of saving men by speech" is not a whole truth, but it is the large part of a truth. Imagine a life-saving crew trying to save wrecked mariners simply by calling to them, and not throwing out a life line or putting off in a boat after them! It is a case of life for life--a man laying down his own life for others, as Christ did.

In talking to a man you want to win, talk to him in his own language. If you want to get hold of an agnostic, try to translate what you have to say into simple words--words that will not be in every case the words in which you got it. It is not cant. Religion has its technical terms just as science, but it can be overdone; and, besides, it is an exceedingly valuable discipline for one's self. Take a text and say, "What does that mean in 19th century English;" and in doing that you will learn the lesson that it is the spirit of truth that does one good, and not the form of words. The form does not matter, if it does you good and draws you nearer to God. Do not be suspicious of it, if it is God's truth, in whatever form it may be.

One has to do a great deal more than display his Christianity. He must not only talk it, but live it. What is the secret of Christianity? It is not picking out a man here and a man there and making them fit to go to heaven. Christ came to this world, as He Himself said, to found a society. Have you ever thought of that conception of Christianity? For hundreds of years it has been utterly lost sight of. It is only lately that men are getting to see the great Christian doctrine of the Kingdom of God. This great phrase was never off Christ's lips. "The Kingdom of God" is by far the commonest phrase in His speech. Have you ever given a month of your life to find out what Christ meant by "the Kingdom of God?" Every day as we pray, "Thy Kingdom come," has our Christian consciousness taken in the tremendous sweep of that prayer, and seen how it covers the length and breadth of this great world and every human being? Christ was continually telling what it was. The Kingdom of heaven is like unto this. The kingdom of heaven is like unto that. If there is one thing more prominent than another in Christ's language it is in explaining what the kingdom of heaven is, and in what the subjects of that kingdom are to busy themselves. The kingdom of God is a society for the best men working for the best end, with the highest motive according to the best principle. The Kingdom of God was to come without observation. Christ likened it to leaven, and one cannot get a better understanding of the meaning of His phrase than by taking His own metaphors. The world is sunken, Christ said, and it must be raised. Leaven comes from the same word as lever. It is that which lifts, elevates, or raises. Christ founded a society of men for the purpose of raising men. This leaven was not to disturb the form of or overturn any institution. When you put leaven into a vessel with anything that is to be leavened, it does not affect the outward form of it; but it changes its spirit.

The Kingdom of God is like leaven. It is to act, raising men by contagion, by the contact of one life with another. Did you ever put a little leaven under a microscope? If you did, you found it was a minute plant, perhaps one six-thousandth of an inch in diameter, with such an amazing power of propagation that, simply in contact with the dough, it has the effect of lifting it by means of the life that is in it. And so the virtue of the Christian's life, not by tempting it in the way of forcing it, but by its spontaneous, natural and beautiful goodness, reacts upon others. When men observe the fragrance of Christ and are reminded of Him, a longing comes over them to live like Him and breathe that air and have that calm, that beauty of character, and all that unconscious influence going out as a contagion to others. By these men the world is raised.

But that is not all. The world is not only sunken, it is sinful. Those of you who know life even an inch below the surface, know that even in this Christian country, in our great cities, the world is rotten. Have you ever thought of the sin of the world? Think of the sin in your own being. Think that the man in the next house has the same amount of sin in him, and all the people in your street are like that. Multiply that by the number of all the streets in your city, and that by the number of cities in your country, and that by the number of countries in the world, and you have a ghastly spectre under which your imagination staggers.

That, however, is only a single glimpse of this sinful world, for the sin can be taken away: "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." How does He do it? By forgiving the sin of the world, and by taking it away, through you and me and other subjects of His kingdom.

Christians, the followers of Christ, He said, are the salt of the earth, and it is that salt that takes away the rottenness of the world. He takes away the guilt and the power of it, and you help Him to remove it by being salt in the society in which you live. Salt is that which keeps society from becoming rotten. You put salt upon fish or meat to prevent it from becoming rotten; and it is the Christian men and women in this country who prevent it from becoming absolutely rotten. Christianity is the great antiseptic of society. If you were to take Christianity out of New York, Chicago, Berlin, or Paris, those cities, in a few generations, would go to pieces, even physically, and be swept off the earth. Now, we are to be the salt of Chicago, New York and the great cities of the world. It is our business to make cities and to keep those cities sweet--not only to scavenge away the rottenness after it has grown there, but to prevent the new generation that is growing up from becoming rotten. The work of salt is to prevent this, as well as to cure it. Keep those children pure to the end of their lives. We do not emphasize half enough the prevention side of Christian society. We do not emphasize half enough the making of Christian environment in which a Christ-like life shall be possible--new houses, pure air and water, good schools, bringing the influences of sweetest life and purity to keep those young lives from succumbing to the influences which surround them. The world which you and I have to lift is not only the world of the poor; but we have to lift up our country.

One thing, gentlemen, strikes the stranger in coming to this country. He goes to a city like Boston, and finds the merchants of that city with their heads buried in their ledgers, wholly occupied with their private business, while a few Irishmen, holding the city offices, are carrying on their municipal government. Some one has defined dirt as matter in the wrong place; and it is matter in the wrong place for a company of Irishmen to regulate the affairs of the city of Boston. Therefore, gentlemen, if you are the subjects of the Kingdom of God, you must give to the world and to your country a reformed Boston, a reformed Chicago, above all a reformed New York. You have been taught in your schools of your duties as citizens; but you are taught in this Book just as plainly your duties as Christian citizens. These cities are making the people that are living in them. People will not be righteous. In this country there is not only little honesty and honorableness in municipal life; but, what is a thousand times worse, there is little in its possibility. In my country I have never known or heard of a member of the government, either municipal or state, proving false to his trust. It is your duty to restore righteousness in the high places of this government. Let the people see examples which will help them in their Christian life. I cannot speak too strongly about that, because I know that the thing in process of time can be done. We have had rotten municipal government, and the Christian men of the place have taken the thing up and said, we have determined this shall not be. In the old cities, they have put man after man into the municipal chair simply because they were Christian men, because they would deal with the people righteously, and carry out the programme of Christianity for the city. Let me tell you of the work of some university men in the city of London. They went to a district in the East End--a God-forsaken and sunken place, occupied for miles entirely by working people. They rented a house and became known as settlers in that poor district. They gave themselves no airs of superiority. They did not tell the people they had come to do them good. They went in there and made friends with the people. The leaven went in among the dough. The salt went in beside that which was corrupt. We keep the grains of salt all together, and the other things all together; but the very place where the salt ought not to be is beside the salt. It ought to be scattered over the meat. Well, these men were not in a great hurry. They waited some months and got to know a number of the workmen, and got to understand one another. They had studied the city, and the workingmen were astonished at how much the young fellows knew about city government, city life and education, and sanitation, cleansing and purity in all directions. One day there came a great war of labor. The working men put their heads together and said, "These young fellows have heads. Let us go and talk the matter over with them." In a few months those young men were the arbiters of a strike, and at a single word from them three or four thousand families were saved from being thrown out of work on a great strike. Is that not a Christian thing to do? If you understand the conception of the Kingdom of God as a society of the best men working for the best ends for the amelioration of human life, you will agree with me. 

Muddy streams and broken, leaky cisterns

(By John MacDuff)

"Come! Whoever is thirsty, let him come—and
 whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of
 the water of life!" Revelation 22:17

Thirsty? who is not thirsty? It is the cry of
universal humanity! Who does not feel that this
world is presenting us with muddy streams and
broken, leaky cisterns. Who does not feel, in
their moments of deep and calm reflection, when
we are brought face to face with the great enigma
of existence—that the world is serving up faded
flowers instead of those redolent with imperishable
fragrance, and glowing with unfading bloom.

Prodigal! Wanderer from God, exile from peace,
roaming the forest haunts of sin, plunging deeper
and deeper into their midnight of ruin and despair;
has an arrow wounded your heart? Are you, in your
agony, seeking rest and finding none—having the
gnawing feeling of dissatisfaction with all created
things, and an undefined longing for a solace they
cannot give? Yes! for your gaping, bleeding wound
there is "balm in Gilead, and a Physician there!"

"Yes, Lord! I come! Thirsty, faint, forlorn, wounded,
 weary! I come, just as I am, without one plea. You
 are all I need, all I require—in sickness and health,
 in joy and in sorrow, in life and in death, in time
 and through eternity!"

However low we may sink

(J. C. Philpot, "Letters & Memoir")

What a mercy it is to have a faithful, gracious, and
compassionate High Priest who can sympathize with
His poor, tried, tempted family—so that however
low we may sink . . .
  His piteous eye can see us in our low estate,
  His gracious ear hear our cries,
  His loving heart melt over us, and
  His strong arm pluck us from our destructions!

Oh, what would we do without such a gracious
and most suitable Savior as our blessed Jesus!
How He seems to rise more and more . . .
  in our estimation,
  in our thoughts,
  in our desires,
  in our affections, 
as we see and feel . . .
  what a wreck and ruin we are,
  what dreadful havoc sin has made with us,
  what miserable outcasts we are by nature.

But oh, how needful it is, dear friend, to be
brought down in our soul to be the . . .
  chief of sinners,
  viler than the vilest,
  worse than the worst,
that we may really and truly believe in, and cleave
unto, this most precious and suitable Savior!
Yours affectionately in the Lord,
J. C. Philpot, October 1, 1868

A hundred doctrines floating in the head

(J. C. Philpot)

By five minutes real communion with the Lord . . .
  we learn more,
  we know more,
  we receive more,
  we feel more, and
  we experience more
than by a thousand years of merely studying
the Scriptures, or using external forms, rites,
and ceremonies.
 
One truth written by the Spirit in the heart,
will bring forth more fruit in the life, than 
a hundred doctrines floating in the head.

A real friend

(Thomas Reade, "Christian Meditations")

"There is a Friend who sticks closer than a brother."
Proverbs 18:24

Few people are insensible to the happiness of
friendship, though few, comparatively, possess
a real friend. Worldly friendships are often little
better than "confederacies in vice, and leagues
in pleasure."

In the midst of this ever changing, faithless world,
there is a Friend that loves at all times—a Brother
that is born for adversity.

Jesus is His precious name.

Love is His endeared character.

His faithfulness never fails.

He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

In the midst of disquietude—He can give rest.

In the midst of sorrow—He can give comfort.

In the midst of weakness—He can impart strength.

In the midst of confusion—He can give counsel.

Oh! what a friend is this!

Wherever we are, He is a friend at hand to cheer
and support. When we read His word, He speaks to
us—when we pray, we speak to Him. He is near to
those who fear Him, and He sheds His choicest gifts
on those who love Him.

Such a friend is Jesus to His redeemed people.

There is no happiness but in Christ.

He is the fountain of living water—the source
from where our every blessing flows!


O! my soul, never look for peace from the creature
—nor expect it from yourself.

When it comes in the guise of a friend

(J. C. Philpot, "Peace, Tribulation, Victory" 1847)

"Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."

Does not this show that the world is an enemy to
the Lord, and to the Lord's people? and never so
much an enemy—never to be so much dreaded—as
when it comes in the guise of a friend. When it . . .
  steals upon your heart,
  engrosses your thoughts,
  wins your affections,
  draws away your mind from God,
—then it is to be dreaded.

When the world smites us as an enemy—its
blows are not to be feared. It is when it smiles
upon us as a friend—it is most to be dreaded.

When our eyes begin to drink it in,
when our ears begin to listen to its voice,
when our hearts become entangled in its fascinations,
when our minds get filled with its anxieties,
when our affections depart from the Lord
and cleave to the things of time and sense,
—then the world is to be dreaded. 

Devotional Hours with the Bible, Volume 1 By J.R. Miller

Devotional Hours with the Bible, Volume 1

By J.R. Miller

Table of Contents

› Introduction - Devotional Hours with the Bible J. R. Miller, 1908 Volume 1. From the Creation--to the Exodus This eight volume set was published between 1 ...read

› Chapter 1 - In the Beginning God - Genesis 1-2 Genesis is the book of beginnings. The first chapter is one of the most wonderful portions of the Bible. It takes us back far beyond al ...read

› Chapter 2 - The First Temptation - Genesis 3 The story of the first temptation is intensely interesting. We do not need to perplex ourselves with its form. There is enough in it that ...read

› Chapter 3 - The Story of Cain and Abel - Genesis 4 Cain was the first child born on earth. The coming of the first baby, is always an important event in a home--but the birth of the first ...read

› Chapter 4 - The Story of Enoch - Genesis 14-15 The history of the world is not told in detail in Genesis. We have only a glimpse here and there of the life of the first days. But a ...read

› Chapter 5 - The Story of the Flood - Genesis 6-9 Whatever the physical cause of the Flood may have been, the moral cause was sin! This is made clear in the narrative in Genesis. It was ...read

› Chapter 6 - The Call of Abraham - Genesis 12:1-10 The purpose of the Bible is not to give the history of the human race--but to tell the story of redemption. In a sense, this begins ...read

› Chapter 7 - Abraham and Lot - Genesis 12:10-20, 13 The story begins in Egypt. How did it happen that Abraham was there? Why had he left his promised land? We have the account in ...read

› Chapter 8 - God's Promise to Abraham - Genesis 14-15 Lot had made a "good deal," as men say, in getting for his own such a rich section of the land. No doubt he congratulated himself on ...read

› Chapter 9 - Abraham's Intercession for Sodom - Genesis 18 Three travelers came one day to Abraham's tent door. They were strangers--he did not know them. Yet he treated them with warm-hearted ho ...read

› Chapter 10 - The Outcome of Lot's Choice - Genesis 19 Abraham ended his intercession, and the two angels went on their way. In the evening they reached the gate of Sodom. There they found Lo ...read

› Chapter 11 - The Offering of Isaac - Genesis 21-22 The record of the birth of Isaac is made as quietly and simply as if it had been an event of very small importance. The birth of a ba ...read

› Chapter 12 - Isaac and His Sons - Genesis 24-25 With the birth of Isaac, Abraham saw the beginning of the fulfillment of the Divine promise. He was to have a great posterity. For a ...read

› Chapter 13 - Isaac the Peacemaker - Genesis 26 Isaac was a child of old age, his father being a hundred, and his mother ninety, when he was born. His name means "laughter," thus being ...read

› Chapter 14 - Jacob's Dream at Bethel - Genesis 28 Nothing is more beautiful than an ideal home. Love rules in all its life. The members are as one, in their fellowship and association. E ...read

› Chapter 15 - Jacob a Prince with God - Genesis 32-33 There are twenty years between Jacob's vision of the ladder--and this night at Jabbok. Jacob journeyed from Bethel, about five hundre ...read

› Chapter 16 - Discords in the Family of Jacob - When Jacob returned to his father's house, Esau met him with four hundred men. If Esau's intent was hostile, he was appeased by Jacob's generous kindn ...read

› Chapter 17 - Joseph and his Dreams - They said one to another, "Behold, here comes that dreamer!" Genesis 37:19 When a story of providence begins--we never know what the end will be. I ...read

› Chapter 18 - From Prison to Palace - "Then Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and they quickly brought him from the dungeon." Genesis 41:14 The story reads like a romance novel! In the morning, ...read

› Chapter 19 - An Interpreter for God - Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I had a dream, and no one can interpret it. But I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it. ...read

› Chapter 20 - Joseph and his Brothers - "Then Joseph kissed each of his brothers and wept over them, and then they began talking freely with him." Genesis 45:15 It was a startling revelat ...read

› Chapter 21 - Joseph and his Father - "But when they told Jacob all that Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to transport him, the spirit of their fat ...read

› Chapter 22 - Joseph in Old Age and Death - "And Joseph made the sons of Israel swear an oath and said--God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up from this place." G ...read

› Chapter 23 - Israel Oppressed in Egypt - Exodus 1 After the funeral of Jacob, Joseph and his brothers returned to Egypt. Why did they not stay in Canaan? Was not Canaan the land of promise ...read

› Chapter 24 - The Childhood of Moses - Exodus 2 Everybody is interested in a baby--that is, everybody who has a gentle heart. The babies of the Bible are especially interesting. Next to ...read

› Chapter 25 - The Call of Moses - Exodus 2-3 The training of Moses took eighty years. For a great mission the preparation must be wide and thorough. Perhaps many of us would do larg ...read

› Chapter 26 - Moses and Pharaoh - It was hard to get Moses to accept the leadership of his people. He almost missed the glory of his life, by urging his unworthiness and unfitness. But ...read

› Chapter 27 - The Institution of the Passover - Exodus 12 The time had come for the departure of the children of Israel from Egypt. The struggle with Pharaoh had been long and bitter. He had resi ...read

› Chapter 28 - Crossing the Red Sea - Exodus 14 "At midnight the LORD struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of ...read