A Thanksgiving Thought

This Thanksgiving let us not only thank the Lord for those things we like and enjoy but also for those things we don't. Much of our lives are spent attempting to circumvent situations and circumstances that God has planned for us. John Piper explains that, Untold numbers of professing Christians waste their lives trying to escape the cost of love. They do not see that it is always worth it. There is more of God's glory to be seen and savored through suffering than through self-serving escape. Paul puts in like this: "Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison" (2 Corinthians 4:16-17). "Momentary" refers to a lifetime in comparison with eternity. "Slight" refers to suffering and death compared to the weight of everlasting joy in the presence of God. This is what we gain if we hold fast to Christ. This is what we waste if we don't. God designs that tribulations intensify our hope for the glory of God" (From Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper, page 73).

So as we pray tomorrow thanking Him for all the wonderful Providences we have received in the last year, let us also recall the unpleasant Providences remembering that they, too, draw us nearer to Christ and "our hope for the glory of God."

Union with Christ - Sinclair Ferguson

More on Meditative Prayer

More on meditative prayer can be found here from the Resurgence. Enjoy and be blessed.

But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. Psalm 1:2

O how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day. Psalm 119:97

An Escape From...

An escape from suffering would be an escape from the power to sympathise, and that were to be deprecated beyond all things. -C.H. Spurgeon

How very true. How can we know and help and pray for others without knowing the deep hurt that they experience? Let us embrace our suffering knowing that our kind and gracious Lord has more for us than the pains of this life. Embrace it and be enabled to help those in turmoil around you. For as believers we have a hope in this regard:

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. Revelation 21:1-4

Hold Fast

I urge you by our common faith, by my true and simple love for you. Hold fast to your glory with courage, perseverance, and strength, having over come the enemy. We are still in the world. We are still placed in the battlefield. We fight daily for our lives. Take care in order to profit from these battles and to finish what you have begun to be. It is a small thing to attain something, but it is more important to keep what you have attained. Faith and saving birth makes alive, not by being received, but by being preserved. It isn't actually attainment, but the perfecting, that keeps a man for God. The Lord taught this when He said, "Behold, thou art made whole; sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee." Imagine Him as saying this to one who confesses Him, "Lo, thou art made a confessor' sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee." Solomon, Saul, and many others were able to keep the grace given to them as long as they walked in the Lord's ways. But when they abandoned the Lord, grace abandoned them. - Cyprian (c.200-258).

Packer on Meditation

We have some idea, perhaps, what prayer is, but what is meditation? Well we may ask; for meditation is a lost art today, and Christian people suffer grievously for their ignorance of the practice. Meditation is the activity of calling to mind, and thinking over, and dwelling on, and applying to oneself, the various things that one knows about the works and ways and purposes and promises of God. It is an activity of holy thought, consciously performed in the presence of God, under the eye of God, by the help of God, as a means of communion with God. Its purpose is to clear one's mental health and spiritual vision of God, and to let His truth make its full and proper impact on one's mind and heart. It is a matter of talking to oneself about God and oneself; it is, indeed, often a matter of arguing with oneself, reasoning oneself out of moods of doubt and unbelief into a clear apprehension of God's power and grace. Its effect is ever to humble us, as we contemplate God's greatness and glory, and our own littleness and sinfulness, and to encourage and reassure us - 'comfort' us, in the old strong, Bible sense of the word - as we contemplate the unsearchable riches of divine mercy displayed in the Lord Jesus Christ. - (Taken from Knowing God by J.I. Packer, pgs. 18-19, emphasis mine.)

Thy Word is a Lamp Unto My Feet, and a Light Unto My Path

Thy Word is a Lamp Unto My Feet, and a Light Unto My Path.

When Israel knew not where to go
God made the fiery pillar glow;
By night, by day, above the camp
It led the way—their guiding lamp:
Such is Thy holy Word to me
In day of dark perplexity.
When devious paths before me spread,
And all invite my foot to tread,
I hear Thy voice behind me say—
“Believing soul, this is the way;
Walk thou in it.” O gentle Dove,
How much thy holy law I love!
My lamp and light
In the dark night.

When Paul amid the seas seemed lost,
By Adrian billows wildly tossed,
When neither sun nor star appeared,
And every wave its white head reared
Above the ship, beside his bed
An angel stood, and “Fear not” said.
Such is Thy holy Word to me
When tossed upon affliction’s sea:
When floods come in unto my soul
And the deep waters o’er me roll,
With angel voice Thy Word draws near
And says, “Tis I” why shouldst thou fear?
Through troubles great my saints must go
Into their rest, where neither woe
Nor sin can come; where every tear
From off the cheek shall disappear,
Wiped by God’s hand. “O gentle Dove”
Thy holy law how much I love?
My lamp and light
In the dark night.

When holy Stephen dauntless stood
Before the Jews, who sought his blood,
With angel face he looked on high,
And wondering through the parted sky
Saw Jesus risen from His throne
To claim the martyr as His own.
Angelic peace that sight bestowed,
With holy joy his bosom glowed;
And while the murderous stones they hurled,
His heaven–wrapt soul sought yonder world
Of rest. “My spirit, Saviour, keep,”
He cried, he kneeled, he fell asleep.
Such be Thy holy Word to me
In hour of life’s extremity!
Although no more the murdering hand
Is raised within our peaceful land—
The church has rest, and I may ne’er
Be called the martyr’s crown to wear:
Yet still, in whatsoever form
Death comes to me—in midnight storm
Whelming my bark, or in my nest
Gently dismissing me to rest—
O grant me in thy Word to see
A risen Saviour beckoning me.
No evil then my heart shall fear
In the dark valley. Thou art near!
My trembling soul and Thou, my God
Alone are there; Thy staff and rod
Shall comfort me. O gentle Dove.
How much Thy holy law I love!
My lamp and light
In the dark night.

By Robert Murray McCheyne
May 1838