"The same God who directs the earth in its orbit...has promised to supply thee with daily strength"

Lift up your eyes on high

And see who has created these stars,

The One who leads forth their host by number,

He calls them all by name;

Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power,

Not one of them is missing.

Isaiah 40:26

Because of God’s tender mercy,

The Morning Light from heaven is about to break upon us,

 To give light to those who sit in darkness & in the shadow of death,

And to guide us to the path of peace.”

Luke 1:78-79

 It came upon the midnight clear,

That glorious song of old,

From angels bending near the earth,

To touch their harps of gold;

Peace on the earth, good will to men,

From Heaven’s all gracious King.

The world in solemn stillness lay,

To hear the angels sing.

And ye, beneath life’s crushing load,

Whose forms are bending low,

Who toil along the climbing way

With painful steps and slow,

Look now! for glad and golden hours

Come swiftly on the wing.

O rest beside the weary road,

And hear the angels sing!

EDMUND H. SEARS

                                                                                                                                                      

God has a strong reserve with which to discharge this engagement; for He is able to do all things.  Believer, till thou canst drain dry the ocean of omnipotence, till thou canst break into pieces the towering mountains of almighty strength, thou never needest to fear.  Whilst the earth’s huge pillars stand, thou hast enough reason to abide firm in thy faith.  The same God who directs the earth in its orbit, who feeds the burning furnace of the sun, and trims the lamps of heaven, has promised to supply thee with daily strength.  While He is able to uphold the universe, dream not that He will prove unable to fulfill His own promises.  Remember what He did in the days of old, in the former generations.  Remember how He spake and it was done; how He commanded, and it stood fast.  Shall He that created the world grow weary?  He hangeth the world upon nothing; shall He who doth this be unable to support He children?  Shall He be unfaithful to His word for want of power?  Who is it that restrains the tempest?  Doth not He ride upon the wings of the wind, and make the clouds His chariots, and hold the ocean in the hollow of His hand?  How can He fail thee?  When He has put such a faithful promise as this on record, wilt thou for a moment  indulge the thought that He has outpromised Himself, and gone beyond His power to fulfill?  Ah, no!  Thou canst doubt no longer.

CHARLES SPURGEON  (1834-1892)

 There is no soul so low in it’s need but He can touch it because He has descended into the depths of Hades; now from the zenith throne of His ascended glory He can reach the furthest and remotest points of spiritual need; as the sun can cover a wider area when it sits regnant in the sky at noon, than when pillowing its chin upon the western wave.

F. B. MEYER (1847-1929)

His very word of grace is strong

As that which built the skies;

The voice that rolls the stars along

Speaks all the promises.

Engraved as in eternal brass

The mighty promise shines;

Nor can the powers of darkness ‘rase

Those everlasting lines.

How would my leaping heart rejoice,

And think my heav’n secure!

I trust the All-Creating Voice,

And faith desires no more.

ISAAC WATTS -1707

"God is not ashamed to be with those of humble state."

“My soul exalts the Lord,

And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.

 For He has had regard for the humble state of His bondslave;

For behold, from this time on all generations will count me blessed.

For the Mighty One has done great things for me;

And holy is His name…

He has brought down rulers from their thrones,

And has exalted those who were humble.”

Luke 1:46-49, 52

For thus says the High and Lofty One

Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:

“I dwell in the high and holy place,

And with him who has a contrite and humble spirit…”

Isaiah 57:15

Lord! thou hast told us that there be

Two dwellings that belong to Thee;

And those two — that's the wonder —

Are far asunder.

The one the highest heaven is,

The mansions of eternal bliss;

The other's the contrite

And humble sprite.

Not like the princes of the earth,

Who think it much below their birth

To come within the door

Of people poor.

No, such is Thy humility,

That though Thy dwelling be on high,

Thou dost Thyself abase

To the lowest place.

Thus Thou wilt him with honor crown

Who in himself is first cast down,

And humbled for his sins,

That Thy love wins.

O God! since Thou delight'st to rest

Within the humble, contrite breast,

First make me so to be;

Then dwell with me.

~THOMAS WASHBOURNE

God is not ashamed to be with those of humble state. He goes into the midst of it all, chooses one person to be His instrument, and does His miracle there, where one least expects it. He loves the lost, the forgotten, the insignificant, the outcasts, the weak, and the broken. Where men say, “lost,” he says “found;” where men say, “condemned,” he says “redeemed;” where men say “no,” he says “yes.” Where men look with indifference or superiority, He looks with burning love, such as nowhere else is to be found.

BONHOEFFER 

Sermon on Advent III, 1933

         It is not from the insignificance of man that God’s dwelling within him is so strange. It is as much the glory of God to bend His attention on an atom as to uphold the universe. But the marvel is that the habitation which He has chosen for Himself is an impure one. And when He came down from His magnificence to make this world His home, still the same character of condescension was shown through all the life of Christ. Our God selected the society of the outcasts of earth, those whom none else would speak to.

F.W. ROBERSTON

Sermons, 3^rd series