"He is King of the poor...His tenderness is almighty..."

In all their affliction He was afflicted,

And the Angel of His Presence saved them;

In His love and in His pity He redeemed them;

And He bore them and carried them

All the days of old.

Isaiah 63:9

For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Hebrews 4:15-16

         Believing in Jesus, we can travel on, through one wild parish after another, upon English soil, and see, as I have done, the labourer who tills the land worse housed than the horse he drives, worse clothed than the sheep he shears, worse nourished that the hog he feeds—and yet not despair; for the Prince of sufferers is the labourer’s Saviour; He has tasted hunger, and thirst, and weariness, poverty, oppression, and neglect; the very tramp who wanders houseless on the moorside is His brother; in his sufferings the Saviour of the world has shared, when the foxes had holes, and the birds of the air had nests, while the Son of God had not where to lay His head. He is the King of the poor, first-born among many brethren; His tenderness is almighty, and for the poor He has prepared deliverance, perhaps in this world, surely in the world to come ~boundless deliverance, out of the treasures of His boundless love.

         Oh, sad hearts and suffering! Anxious and weary ones! Look to the Cross. There hung your King! The King of sorrowing souls, and more, the King of sorrows. Ay, pain and grief, tyranny and desertion, death and hell, He has face them one and all, and tried their strength, and taught them His, and conquered them right royally! And, since He hung upon that torturing Cross, sorrow is divine, Godlike, as joy itself. All that man’s fallen nature dreads and despises, God honoured on the Cross, and took unto Himself, and blest and consecrated forever…. Blessed are wisdom and courage, and health and beauty, love and marriage, childhood and manhood, corn and wine, fruits and flowers, for Christ redeemed them by His life. And blessed, too, are tears and shame, blessed are weakness and ugliness, blessed are agony and sickness, blessed the sad remembrance of our sins, and a broken heart, and a repentant spirit. Blessed is death, and blest the unknown realms, where souls await the resurrection day, for Christ redeemed them by His death. Blessed are all things, weak as well as strong…for all are His, and He is ours; and all are ours, and we are His forever.

Think not thou canst sigh a sigh,

And thy Maker is not by:

Think not thou canst weep a tear,

And thy Maker is not near.

Oh, He gives to us His joy,

That our grief He may destroy:

Till our grief is fled and gone

He doth sit by us and moan.

         Outside Holy Scripture there has not been a more intimate apprehension of the fellow-suffering of God than these words of Blake—

He doth sit by us and moan.

CHARLES KINGSLEY

~National Sermons

"Here is the better way of getting free from care..."

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:6-7

We tell Thee of our care,

Of the sore burden, pressing day by day,

And in the light and pity of Thy face,

The burden melts away.

We breathe our secret wish,

The importunate longing which no man may see;

We ask it humbly, or, more restful still,

We leave it all to Thee.

The thorns are turned to flowers;

All dark perplexities seem light and fair;

A mist is lifted from the heavy hours,

And Thou art everywhere.

SUSAN COOLIDGE

         “In nothing be anxious.”  How exacting is the ideal! Harassing care is to play no part in the believer’s life. Worry is an alloy which always debases the fine metal of the Christian character. It mars and spoils it. And so the counsel is unconditional, and covers every period and sphere in human life. Anxiety is to be banished from everything. It is not to be permitted the smallest foothold in the Kingdom of our Lord.

         The root idea of the Greek word, which is here translated “anxious,” is a divided mind. The mind is looking two ways, is vibrating between two attractions; and it has found no place as yet where it can settle down and be at rest. Hence the sense of weariness caused by anxiety. The root idea of the English word “anxious,” like that of “anger,” is choking. Under the pressure of this anxiety one becomes apprehensive, solicitous, confused; and every cloud becomes a darker cloud, and every weight becomes a heavier weight, and every outlook more ominous and dreadful. It is to be a prophet of night rather than sunshine, of tears rather than songs.

         Certain it is that life is not so plain and simple as it used to be. The burdens of existence and duty seem to grow heavier and heavier; and at the same time the men and women of today seem to be getting more nervous and highly strung than those of other generations, and less able to bear their burdens calmly and silently and patiently. Thus, on every hand, we are told that nervousness and worry are amongst the chief banes of modern life; and that it is worry, and not work, that wears out so many people before their time.

         The folly of anxiety —It accomplishes nothing and it weakens us and wears us out. There would be some justification for anxiety were there any good in it, but there is not. Nothing is accomplished by it. Under a habit of anxiety the body loses its vigor, the mind loses its tone, the will loses its force, and the heart loses its resiliency and sweetness.

         The cause of anxiety is distrust of God. Faith in God and a soul overwhelmed with misgivings come pretty near being mutually exclusive. At any rate a heart filled with the worry which narrows our spiritual horizons, and turns the sweet light of the stars into horrible darkness, has small place in it for any living and sustaining confidence in Him who notes the fall of a sparrow, and who has assured us that He is ready to take upon His own heart all our burdens of care. He has promised that all things shall work together for good to them that love Him. Our necessities, our wants, our natural burdens, are not surprises to God. He understands them all, feels them all. But in the midst of them all —He wishes us to trust Him.

         Relief can never be obtained, and the Divine command of the text obeyed, but a mere effort of will. No man can shake off care simply by trying to do so. Neither can it be done by arguing with ourselves as to its uselessness and hurtfulness; nor yet can it be done, nor should it be attempted, by hardening ourselves into an unfeeling stoical indifference. Here is the better way of getting free from care. It is to cast our care on Him who cares for us. It is to bring the burden, which we can neither bear nor shake off and leave it at the Lord’s feet in prayer. Prayer is the only real and thorough cure for care. To flee with it within the veil, and to fall with it at the feet of God, is the only mode of being truly eased of the burden of anxiety and gloom. So “in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made know unto God.”

JAMES HASTINGS

Philippians

"We ought not to rest content in the mists of the valley..."

“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”

Matthew 6:33

Jesus said to him, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”

Matthew 22:37

Silently the heart may be kept fragrant with God’s felt presence, and sunny with the light of His face. There are towns nestling beneath the Alps, every narrow filthy alley of which looks to the great solemn snow peaks, and the inhabitants, amid all the squalor of their surroundings, have that apocalypse of wonder ever before them, if they would only lift their eyes. So we, if we will, may live with the majesties and beauties of the great white throne and of Him that sat on it closing every vista and filling the end of every commonplace passage in our lives.

      ALEXANDER MACLAREN

Each believer should be thirsting for God, for the living God, and longing to climb the hill of the Lord, and see Him face to face. We ought not to rest content in the mists of the valley when the summit of Tabor awaits us. My soul thirsteth to drink deep of the cup which is reserved for those who reach the mountain's brow, and bathe their brows in heaven. How pure are the dews of the hills, how fresh is the mountain air, how rich the fare of the dwellers aloft, whose windows look into the New Jerusalem! Many saints are content to live like men in coal mines, who see not the sun; they eat dust like the serpent when they might taste the ambrosial meat of angels; they are content to wear the miner's garb when they might put on king's robes; tears mar their faces when they might anoint them with celestial oil. Satisfied I am that many a believer pines in a dungeon when he might walk on the palace roof, and view the goodly land and Lebanon.

Rouse thee, O believer, from thy low condition! Cast away thy sloth, thy lethargy, thy coldness, or whatever interferes with thy chaste and pure love to Christ, thy soul's Husband. Make Him the source, the centre, and the circumference of all thy soul's range of delight. What enchants thee into such folly as to remain in a pit when thou mayst sit on a throne? Live not in the lowlands of bondage now that mountain liberty is conferred upon thee. Rest no longer satisfied with thy dwarfish attainments, but press forward to things more sublime and heavenly. Aspire to a higher, a nobler, a fuller life. Upward to heaven! Nearer to God!

"When wilt Thou come unto me, Lord?

Oh come, my Lord most dear!

Come near, come nearer, nearer still,

I'm blest when Thou art near."

C.H. SPURGEON

"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

"...here is the word which tells us that God will make our feet "like hinds' feet."

For who is God, except the LORD?  And who is a rock, except our God?  It is God who arms me with strength, and makes my way blameless.  He makes my feet like hinds' feet, and sets me upon my high places.                                                                                                          Psalm 18:31-33

Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food… Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.  The LORD God is my strength, and He will make my feet like hinds' feet, and He will make me to walk upon my high places.                                                                                    Habakkuk 3:17-19

        I think of Wordsworth's lines, in which he describes a natural lady, made by Nature herself:

"She shall be sportive as the fawn

That wild with glee across the lawn

Or up the mountain springs."

And it is this buoyancy, this elasticity, this springiness that the Lord is waiting to impart to the souls of His children, so that they may move along the ways of life with the light steps of the fawn.

Some of us move with very heavy feet.  There is little of the fawn about us as we go along the road.  There is reluctance in our obedience.  There is a frown in our homage.  Our benevolence is graceless, and there is no charm in our piety, and no rapture in our praise.  We are the victims of "the spirit of heaviness."  And yet here is the word which tells us that God will make our feet "like hinds' feet."  He will give us exhilaration and spring, enabling us to leap over difficulties, and to have strength and buoyancy for the steepest hills.  Let us seek the inspiration of the Lord.  "It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way blameless."

J.H. JOWETT

My Daily Meditation ~1914

        Let thy faith lead thy heart into the presence of God, as near as thou possibly canst, and say to it, "Behold the Ancient of Days, the Lord Jehovah, whose name is, I AM.  This is He, who made all the worlds with His word, who upholds the earth, who rules the nations, who disposes of all events, who subdues His foes, who controls the swelling waves of the sea, who governs the winds, and causes the sun to run its race, and the stars to know their courses.  This is He who loved thee from everlasting, formed thee in the womb, gave thee this soul, brought thee forth, showed thee the light, and ranked thee with the chief of His earthly creatures; who endued thee with thy understanding, and beautified thee with His gifts, who maintains thy life and all it comforts….

O here is an object worthy love!  Here shouldst thou even pour out thy soul in love!  Here it is impossible for thee to love too much!  This is the Lord who hath blessed thee with His benefits, spread thy table in the sight of thine enemies, and made thy cup overflow!  This is He whom angels and saints praise, and the heavenly host forever magnify!  Thus do thou expatiate on the praises of God, and open His excellencies to thine heart, till the holy fire of love begins to kindle in thy breast.

RICHARD BAXTER ~1615-1601

The Saints Everlasting Rest

"He keeps a whole, tender, responsive heart through all the tumult, and trial, and agony...."

But the LORD was with Joseph and extended kindness to him and gave him favor in the sight of the chief jailer.

Genesis 39:21

“And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to keep you alive by a great deliverance.  Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of all his household…”    

Genesis 45:7-8

I leave thee never; thou art not alone,

And with thine own and thee, Mine angels dwell:

Possess thy soul in patience; freely give

Me love for love, and all shall yet be well.

The time is short, they that now weep, ere long

Shall be as though they wept not: they that mourn

Be comforted, for I will comfort them;

And sweet shall be their glad thanksgiving song.

Elia from Lyra Mystica

        Harsh experience need not destroy the finest sensibility, the tenderest feelings of the heart.  Here is a man who has had twenty years’ very painful, almost unendurable, treatment; and yet, at the end of that period, he is susceptible of the tenderest influences, responds emotionally, with tears, with unutterable yearning and tenderness of soul, in the presence of his brethren… There is something for us to learn here.  Our harsh experiences often deaden our sensibility, work in us a sourness of heart and feeling which becomes misanthropic, selfish, resentful.  We learn from the history before us that it is possible to be exiled from home, ill-treated by relatives and friends, thrown into the way of pain, sorrow, loss and desolation; yet to come out of the whole process tender, sensitive, responsive to appeals which are made to our nature.  Why, there are some men who cannot overget the very slightest offence.  If they have not their own way in everything, they show their resentfulness in a thousand little ways, ~they become peevish, censorious, distrustful, ungenial.  You never meet them but they give you to understand that they have been insulted, offended, dishonored.  They have had to endure slight, or contempt, or neglect.  How little, how unutterably paltry, such men appear in the presence of the man who, after twenty years of exile, solitude, evil treatment of all kinds, weeps when he sees his brethren, ~keeps his heart through it all, ~has not allowed himself to become soured or misanthropic!  He keeps a whole, tender, responsive heart through all the tumult, and trial, and agony, and bitter sorrow of thirteen years ’vile captivity, and seven years of exaltation…  

JOSEPH PARKER

The Peoples Bible-Genesis   

        Do you know by sad experience what Joseph felt beneath those Syrian skies?  Do the archers shoot at you?  Are you lonesome and depressed, and ready to give up?  Take heart!  see the trampled grass and the snapped twigs; others have gone this way before you. Christ your Lord suffered the same treatment from His own.  Go on doing right, in nothing terrified by your adversaries.  Be pitiful and gentle, forgiving and forbearing…Put down your feet into the footprints of your Savior, who left an example that we should follow Him.  He did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth: and yet, when He was unjustly reviled, He reviled not again; when He suffered beneath underserved contumely and reproach, He did not even remind the perpetrators of the righteous judgment of God, but was silent as a lamb, and threatened not, and committed Himself to Him that judges righteously.

And your time, sufferer, shall come at length, when God shall vindicate your character, and avenge your sorrows.  “Trust in the LORD and do good; He shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday”(Psalm 37).

F.B. MEYER

Joseph

~This Devotional is dedicated to Pastor Saeed Abedini, imprisoned for his faith in Jesus Christ