Sun, Mar 25th - 12:02PM

Strength for the Journey

Valley of Weeping – Mountain of Joy

Blessed [is] the man whose strength [is] in thee; in whose heart [are] the ways [of them].  [Who] passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools.  They go from strength to strength, [every one of them] in Zion appeareth before God.  Ps. 84: 5-7

          What pains a pilgrim must, of necessity endure on his way to the heavenly destination!  What heartaches, discouragements, failures disappointments, misunderstandings, confusions, betrayals, rejections, afflictions, both physical and mental, and many such things.  In his long, arduous journey, the Pilgrim has seen much difficulty.  But he has come to know comfort commensurate with and abundantly sufficient for all of the pain and heartache he has endured thus far.  He has learned that with every death that he experiences, there is a new resurrection.  Every sorrow has it’s comfort and consolation in Christ.  The sting of death, that is its finality has been destroyed by Jesus’ death and resurrection.  This is the secret that sustains hope in every true disciple of His.  Whereas the world has no hope beyond it’s immediate circumstance, its temporal satisfaction, the child of the kingdom sees, by faith beyond the despair of this present life.  His vision is brightened and clarified by the graces and providences so kindly bestowed by a loving Father who vouches safe his passage through the dry, arid plains of adversity and the deep valleys of weeping here in this foreign land of pilgrimage.  As multitudes fall at his left hand and on his right, the way is plain and passable for the one whose heart is tender toward His God.

If natural forces be not sufficient (for our advancement to the kingdom) there shall be supernatural graces added to assist us, that though troubles of the world seem rubs in the way to blessedness, yet in truth they are none, they hinder not arriving at the mark we aim at, they hinder us not from being made members of Sion, they hinder us not from approaching the presence of God.  No, my soul, they are rather helps, for by this means we go from strength to strength, from strength of patience, to strength of hope; to strength of faith, to strength of vision; and then will be accomplished that which David speaks here: “Blessed is the man whose strength is in God, and in whose heart his ways are.”[1]

There were many days when the outcome of immediate circumstances were uncertain in this pilgrim’s mind, in which doubt and waivering in unbelief and in sin seemed to hold him in bondage to the elements of this present world, and the eternal destruction that it bestows as its final reward.  But God, in His mercy, in His faithful care and superintendence of the frail life of His dear child held fast the object of His purchased redemption.  He would not, He could not let go of His beloved.  O the magnitude of such love!  Indescribable!  Unsearchable!  Changeless and unconquerable!

How amiable [are] thy tabernacles, O LORD of hosts!

My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.

Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, [even] thine altars, O LORD of hosts, my King, and my God.

Blessed [are] they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee. Selah.  Ps. 84:1-4

The Pilgrim has become a soldier, a warrior, a conqueror for His Lord. He sees ever so clearly now the object of his warfare, and that victory is assured when he fights with faith in the living God. Worldly boot camps afford little preparation for the moral and spiritual conflicts of this life.  Christ-like character is the answer to the great adversaries of sin and death.  His training and weaponry cannot be gotten from the military forces of earth.   True freedom is contested in the spirit, and won by those born of the Spirit, and who abide in His Spirit and in Truth.  Patriotism, no matter how heart-stirring, for the causes and nations of this world is of no avail in eternity.  The corruption of human politics and their selfish attainment of worldly power are a false hope and distraction from the real conflict waged on the battlefield of life.  This wisdom from above has been granted him that he might succeed in his mission, and make it to his final destination.  He cries for help continuously and fights to the very end, because the vision of his eternal home glows brighter and brighter with each new victory won on the way.

Behold, O God our shield, and look upon the face of thine anointed.

For a day in thy courts [is] better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.

For the LORD God [is] a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good [thing] will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.

O LORD of hosts, blessed [is] the man that trusteth in thee.  Ps. 84:9-12

Sun, Mar 11th - 12:39PM

Journey of Faith

The Logic of Faith

By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.  Heb. 11:8

          Faith is an illogical proposition.  The Scriptures chronicle the lives of a lonely people, individuals who ventured out alone at the call of God with all the uncertainties that such obedience would entail.  Their going out was always an illogical, non-sensical, foolish and uncertain thing to the worldly folk around them.  What comfort and security they forsook as they turned their faces toward another country, another realm, another kingdom and king to follow after.  We are told here in this brief, condensed, eleventh chapter of Hebrews about the hardships, the great sufferings and persecutions these pilgrims endured because they heard the call of faith and listened to it, never to be the same again.  How different the order of this present world is than the eternal, heavenly order of God Almighty.  How opposite the fundamental principles of operation each possess.  In the one, strength.  In the other, weakness.  In one, pride, while meekness and gentleness rule supremely in the other.  These are contrasts that cannot be fathomed with the human mind, using ordinary, human logic.  For surely, one kingdom shall ultimately reign supreme over the other and will use the great power of faith working through love to accomplish its conquest.

          In the 59^th year of this solitary pilgrim, he continues his journey home through a foreign and hostile world.  Each mountain of difficulty he scales, each valley of sorrow he walks through, each plain of loneliness and disappointment he must traverse all bring greater assurance of the certainty of the goodness of the end of His quest.  With every doubt, every fear and apprehension, with every contrary reason this present world hurls at him, there is a corresponding token of hope and trust in a faithful Master and Guide who would not forsake the helpless soul who follows the heavenly light.  Though the burdens do, indeed grow greater, and the voice of human reason continually assails with the cry to surrender to the worldly power and thus save his present life, faith, strengthened and tempered through adversity beckons and encourages his oft fainting heart.  “Go, on!  Be not dismayed, for your reward is awaiting in unimaginable glory!  Just a little longer and your deliverance will manifest in full measure.  Fear not.  Help is on the way.  Take courage my child, I have not forsaken thee!”  This is the logic of faith in the living God.  His reasons for allowing our distress are not given us.  If they were fully revealed to us, there would be no need for faith.  He has determined that faith is the means of our salvation and the vehicle of entry into the blessedness of His everlasting favor.

          But O what clarity of vision this faith, when continually cultivated can bring to this pilgrim journeyman!  How the pain and disappointments of this life can be utilized in gaining a view of the wholeness and fulfillment to come in the next!  He is learning to make use of every glimpse of heavenly goodness and spiritual satisfaction that emerges from the constant surrender and death to his self-life that his Lords asks of him.  Mature faith sustains through greater difficulty.  As the battle becomes more intense, the grace supplied through refined faith is more abundantly available and useable.  Emotions, human loyalties, traditions of men, circumstances, favorable and not, all lose their power to propel and sustain like booster sections falling away from a rocket launched into the heavens.  When the human spirit is fully converted to the fuel of faith and weaned from all means of earthly propulsion God, the God of all creation and of eternal redemption is fully glorified.  For it is He that is the author and finisher of our faith, which is the substance of those things which we cannot see, but which by His eternal promises we assuredly hope for.

          O may this illogical faith continue to carry me on, unhindered by the reasoning of this deceptive world to my holy, heavenly destination!  Then shall I know fully, even as I am known by God in the present.  Amen.

For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.  1Cor. 13:12

Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.  1Jn. 3:2