Oh, the Rest of simply
trusting!

Yielded to my
Father’s will,

In His loving arms enfolded,

Just to trust
Him, and be still.

Rest from toiling, rest from
bearing;

Rest beneath
the midday sky;

Trusting Jesus, leaning on Him,

Truest,
sweetest rest have I!

Oh, the Peace of simply
trusting!

Perfect peace,
full, deep, serene,

Like an endless river flowing

With an
ever-brightening sheen.

Peace in conflict, peace in
trial,

Peace, while
tempests o’er me sweep;

’Mid the fiercest, wildest
tumults,

Christ my soul
in peace will keep.

Oh, the Joy of simply
trusting!

Is there joy can
equal this?

Calm delight and holy gladness,

Foretaste of
the coming bliss!

Joy, though sorrows dark enshroud
me;

Joy, though
doubts and fears assail;

Joy in deepest tribulation,

Trusting Him
who ne’er can fail.

Trusting! oh, who would not trust
Him,

When He gives
rewards like these?

Rest complete, and joy unending,

Fullest pardon,
perfect peace!

Trust Him—this is all the secret;

Take Him simply
at His word;

Trust Him only, trust Him wholly,

Christ, thy
Saviour and thy Lord!

(From Help
and Food, Vol. 42.)

Jesus, Master whose I am,

Purchased Thine alone to be,

By Thy blood, O spotless Lamb,

Shed so willingly for me;

Let my heart be all Thine own,

Let me live to Thee alone.

Other lords have long held sway;

Now, Thy name alone to hear,

Thy dear voice alone obey,

Is my daily, hourly prayer.

Whom have I in heaven but Thee?

Nothing else my joy can be.

Jesus, Master! I am Thine;

Keep me faithful, Keep me near,

Let Thy presence in me shine

All my homeward way to cheer.

Jesus! at Thy feet I fall,

Oh, be Thou my All-in-all.

Jesus, Master, whom I serve,

Though so feebly and so ill,

Strengthen hand and heart and
nerve

All Thy bidding to fulfill;

Open Thou mine eyes to see

All the work Thou hast for me.

Lord, Thou needest not, I know,

Service such as I can bring;

Yet I long to prove and show

Full allegiance to my King.

Thou an honor art to me,

Let me be a praise to Thee.

Jesus, Master! wilt Thou use

One who owes Thee more than all?

As Thou wilt! I would not choose,

Only let me hear Thy call.

Jesus! let me always be

In Thy service glad and free.

Elijah was an
inhabitant of Gilead, a city noted for its wickedness. As a solitary witness he
stood for God and rebuked the throne on which sat one of the most wicked of
Israel’s kings (1 Ki. 16:33).

Elijah had the
strength to do this because the Lord had commanded him. It is necessary for us
to be thus dependent on the Word of the Lord if we desire to do His will. After
speaking to others and exhorting them to obey the Word of the Lord only, the
preacher is (and ought to be) exercised himself. The Lord takes him aside and
asks, “Are you dependent on Me as you have been telling others to be? Do you
believe I will supply all your need? Are you troubled in these trials,
or do you cast all on Me?” So the Lord speaks to the speaker.

After Elijah
gave his public testimony, the LORD directed him, “Turn eastward, and hide
yourself by the brook Cherith that is before Jordan” (1 Ki. 17:5). The Lord
promised to sustain him by extraordinary means—by impossible means, we should
say—for the brook was fed by rainfall that had been stopped as Ahab’s
punishment, and the ravens were the most unlikely birds to bring him food. They
are specially spoken of as crying for meat in Job 38:41 and Psa. 147:9. They
are also noted for eating carrion, and so would naturally be repulsive to
Elijah.

What a test of
faith it was for Elijah to dwell by the brook Cherith which daily grew smaller.
It was close by the much larger Jordan River, but he must stay here and must
not go there because it was the word of the Lord. Do you realize what it meant
to him and means to us? We, like Elijah, are to stay just where the Lord would
have us, in separation from all, alone, beside a brook that will surely dry up
because its sources have been cut off, in full view of the Jordan (which speaks
of judgment). Do we have a brook on which we depend? It must dry up and fail,
but the Lord who placed us there knows this and will make provision when it
does. Are we content to be thus waiting for “the word of the Lord” when it
looks foolish to stay?

When the brook
did dry up the Lord put Elijah’s faith to a further test and sent him to
Zarephath, a city of Zidon (a Gentile city), to a widow woman who did not have
enough food for herself. Indeed, when Elijah asked her for food her need was
revealed; she said she had only “a handful of meal in a barrel and a little oil
in a cruse” and was about to prepare her last meal and die. But Elijah said,
“Make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for
you and for your son. For thus says the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal
shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail until the day that the
LORD sends rain upon the earth.” (1 Ki. 17:12-14).

The widow did
this; she had faith to provide for God’s representative first, and her own
needs were satisfied, not only for the present but for the immediate future
also. Notice that she spoke of “a handful of meal in a barrel and a little oil
in the cruse,” but the LORD God of Israel referred to it as “the barrel
of meal” and “the cruse of oil.” Do we put the Lord’s interests first as
this widow did? Do we? If we do, then He will look after our interests.

“Bring all the
tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in My house, and prove Me
now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of
heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to
receive it” (Mal. 3:10).

“Seek ye first
the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added
unto you” (Matt. 6:33).

A little boy
once said to his mother when things were at low ebb:“Oh, mother, I believe God
waits until He hears the scraping of the bottom of the barrel.” And He does
hear. He is the all-sufficient One. May we just trust, and make use of faith’s
keys, and “The barrel of meal shall not waste and the cruse of oil shall not
fail.”

(From Help
and Food, Vol. 46.)

                             *
* *

May we thus, in God confiding,

And from self‑dependence
free,

Find our rest—in Christ abiding—

Till with joy Himself we see.

                                              Philip
Doddridge

                         Introduction

When we are
experiencing pain, grief, or suffering we tend to ask lots of questions:Why am
I having so much pain? Why did my loved one have to die? Why isn’t God
answering my prayers? What did I do to deserve this? Where is God in all of
this? A well-known television preacher was trying to answer these questions and
is reported to have said the following:“I want you to know that God has
nothing whatsoever to do with suffering and death. All pain, suffering, and
death is the responsibility of the devil.” Do you agree with that statement? No
doubt this preacher meant well in trying to vindicate God, trying to defend God
before people who might be angry at Him because of suffering and death. But I
believe he was very wrong in his explanation. There is nothing wrong with our
trying to defend God against the attacks or hard feelings of others, but we
must do it according to the truth of His Word. The truth of the Scriptures is
that God has everything to do with pain and suffering.

                             Why?

Why does God
allow pain and suffering? And why is it important for us to know why? Our
questions relate primarily to the meaning and purpose of our pain. If we know
there is a meaningful outcome, it will be far easier for us to endure the pain
and suffering. I sometimes wonder how it is that so many women in the world
purposefully try to have more children after having to endure the discomforts,
morning sickness, and sometimes much worse of nine months of being pregnant,
and then experiencing the intense labor pains associated with childbirth. I
believe the answer lies in their expectation of experiencing the fruit of their
labors—the anticipated joy of having a baby—that makes it all seem worthwhile.

                       The
Olympic Games

Consider the
Olympic Games. Why would any man or woman want to put up with the long hours,
the grueling training, the pain, and the risk of injury to train for the Games?
Is it not because of the hope of being crowned, or receiving a medal, or
enjoying a moment of fame? Or for some who may have little hope of winning a
medal, it is the glory, the national recognition of simply being privileged to
compete in the Games. So when we are experiencing pain and suffering, we ask
"Why? What is the purpose in it?" because we want to know that our
suffering is going to result in long-term benefit to ourselves or others.

                       Job—a
Case Study

Let us take up
a case study of the patriarch Job—a man renowned for enduring pain and
suffering. Here is a synopsis of Job 1 and 2:

1. Job was a
God-fearing man (1:1).

2. He had many
children and was prosperous (1:2,3).

3. The Lord
took the initiative, asking Satan about Job (1:6-8).

4. Satan
responded, “Of course Job fears You! You have bribed Job!” (1:9-11).

5. Job suffered
the loss of his children, possessions, and health (1:13-19; 2:7).

Who was
responsible for Job’s loss? God? Satan? the Sabeans and Chaldeans? To some
extent all four shared in the responsibility. God allowed Satan freedom to do
these things to Job. What about the Sabeans and Chaldeans (1:15,17)? These two
groups could not say, “The devil made me do it,” or “God told the devil to make
me do it.” They no doubt had been looking at Job for a long time. Perhaps they
had even attempted to plunder Job’s possessions but God had protected Job and
his property up to this point by putting a “hedge about him and about his
house” (1:10). What is a hedge? An example may be found in 2 Kings 6:15-17.
When the prophet Elisha and his servant were surrounded by the Syrian troops,
they found themselves surrounded even more closely by an army of angels
protecting them. Once God removed the hedge around Job, all Satan had to do was
whisper into the ear of one of the Sabeans and Chaldeans, “Why don’t you try
Job again.” On the one hand, they were responsible before God for their own sinful
practices. On the other hand, God used their innate sinfulness to work out his
own purposes with Job. We see the same thing with respect to Nebuchadnezzar.
The Lord refers to the king of Babylon as “My servant” (Jer. 27:6). God made
use of Nebuchadnezzar’s sinful pride and ambition to apply a whipping to the
nation of Israel who had turned away from God. If we get robbed, the robber
will have to bear the consequences of his sinful actions before God the judge
of all; but at the same time, it is possible that the Lord removed for a brief
time, for reasons He knows best, the hedge of protection He had put around us.

In Job 2, the
Lord again took the initiative concerning Job. Satan complained that God did
not give him enough room to work with Job the first time around. Satan says,
“Touch his bone and his flesh and he will curse Thee to Thy face”(2:6).

                    Was Job
Treated Fairly?

Let us step
back a moment. Here is a controversy between God and Satan and poor Job seems
to be caught in the middle. Some might ask, “Is it fair for man to be
made a pawn in such affairs between God and Satan? What did poor Job do to
deserve such loss and suffering?” We must be very careful about asking
questions beginning with, “Is it fair?” or making statements, “It’s not fair.”
Let us rephrase the question:“Did Job deserve that God should continue
to give him great prosperity and good health?” And then we must ask:“Do I
deserve that God should bless me and prosper me continually? Does God owe
me anything?” Read carefully now; I am about to make perhaps the most important
point of this entire article:IF WE GOT WHAT WE DESERVED, WE WOULD ALL
BE IN THE LAKE OF FIRE AT THIS MOMENT, INCLUDING UPRIGHT JOB. Job had some
sense of this. He says, “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall
I return there; the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name
of the Lord” (1:21). Again he says when covered with boils, “Shall we receive
good at the hand of God and shall we not receive evil?” (2:10). Dear brothers
and sisters in Christ:Do you realize how immensely blessed each one of us is?
God has been so merciful to us! We tend to take His mercies for granted. So
when He occasionally withholds His mercy from us, when someone or something
dear to us is taken away from us, we may get angry at God as if we deserve
to have that precious person or thing. I DON’T DESERVE ONE SINGLE THING IN THIS
LIFE! The only thing I deserve is eternal separation from God because of my
sins! Often when the gospel is preached we are reminded that none of us
deserves the wonderful salvation that God offers to us. But it is more than
this. None of us deserves ANYTHING! All that we have and are is a result of
God’s grace—favor shown to people who deserve the opposite. “Not by works of
righteousness that we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us”
(Tit. 3:5). If we don’t deserve the greatest blessing of all—God’s eternal
salvation—then surely we don’t deserve any lesser blessing.

                    Are We
Treated Fairly?

Have any of my
readers ever said or thought, “It’s not fair!”? As children, did you ever say,
“It’s not fair! Billy’s piece of cake is bigger than mine!”? As teenagers, did
you ever say to your parents, “It’s not fair! You let Susie stay out till 11:00
and you only let me stay out till 10:30!”? As adults, have you ever said, “It’s
not fair! Mr. Jones has not been with the company as long as I have and he has
been promoted above me!”? When we say or think, “It’s not fair the way I have
been treated,” we are essentially saying, “I deserve to be treated better.” We
need continually to remind ourselves, I DON’T DESERVE ANYTHING! That was one of
the lessons God was teaching Job and one of the lessons He wants us to learn
when He tests us and brings us into pain and suffering. This is why the apostle
Peter exhorted his readers, “Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 3:18). This is why the apostle Paul
exhorted young Timothy, “Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace
that is in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 2:1). We need to grow in the realization that
all we have and are is a result of God’s grace—demerited favor—toward us.
Instead of complaining about the things that go wrong in our lives, we need to
be reminded by the occasional set-backs we experience of all the things that
have gone well in our lives, by the grace and mercy of God, and all the things
that will go well with us for eternity. "For our light affliction,
that is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight
of glory" (2 Cor. 4:17).

                   A Lesson in
Righteousness

                           and
Mercy

Read Matt.
20:1-16. Here we have a lesson concerning righteousness and mercy. Was it
unrighteous for the master to give only a penny to those who had labored all
day? No, because that is what they agreed to be paid. But what about those who
got paid the same amount for less work? They were recipients of the master’s mercy.
They received more than they deserved. That is how God deals with all of
us each and every day. He gives us more than we deserve. And how much do
we deserve? That’s right, WE DON’T DESERVE ANYTHING! The master says, “Is it
not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is your eye evil because I
am good?” God says, “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy” (Rom. 9:15).

                   Job Brought
Glory to God

Up to this
point Job vindicated God:“Shall we receive good at the hand of God and shall
we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips” (Job 2:10). Job
did not curse God as Satan had said he would. Job therefore brought great glory
to God by his patience in putting up with his great loss and pain and
suffering. His patience is especially noted in the New Testament:“You have
heard of the patience of Job” (Jas. 5:11). Job brought glory to God by
declaring God’s sovereign right to do what He wants to do with His created
beings. Here is one reason God allows pain and suffering:it gives His people
an opportunity to bring glory to Him by the way they respond to that pain and
suffering.

                     Another
Kind of Pain

As long as Job
was by himself, he handled his suffering very well. But now we have three more
characters coming on the scene—Job’s three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and
Zophar. They had come to mourn with Job and comfort him, and initially they did
weep (2:12). But then they sat down with him seven days and nights and none
spoke a word unto Job. Sometimes we may find ourselves in a situation where we
have gone to comfort a friend or relative, and we cannot find any words to say.
All we can do is sit and hold that person’s hand and perhaps listen to what
he/she has to say. Sometimes this may be the best way of comforting the person—just
being there. Maybe this is what Job’s three friends were doing. But their
speeches to Job in the subsequent chapters suggest that their silence meant
something else to Job. I believe Job detected looks of disapproval and
accusation on the faces of his three friends, even before they opened their
mouths. Job 16:4 suggests that they were shaking their heads at him. Have you
ever had the experience, perhaps with your wife or husband or your parent or
child? You detect a certain look on that person’s face and you ask, “What’s the
matter?” And the other responds, “Did I say anything was the matter?” “No, but I
can read it on your face.”

I believe Job
could read on the faces of his three friends exactly what they were thinking.
And what was that? As manifested later by their speeches to Job, they were
thinking that Job must have committed some terrible sin in order for God to be
punishing him so severely. Was their thinking “off the wall” as we might say?
Were they expounding principles that were contrary to what they knew about God?
No, not at all. It is generally believed that Job lived around the same time as
the patriarch Abraham. Job and his three friends surely knew the story of God’s
destruction of nearly the entire human race in the great flood because of their
wickedness. It may have been in the lifetime of Job and his friends that Sodom
and Gomorrah were destroyed because of the people’s wickedness. And on the
other hand, they surely knew the story of righteous, godly Enoch being taken
straight to heaven without dying. So the principle that these three friends
were espousing, that man’s suffering is proportional to his sin and his
prosperity and blessing is proportional to his righteousness, was not out of
line with what they had learned at that time concerning God’s dealings with
man. The only problem was that man’s sin and man’s righteousness are not the only
factors that bear upon his suffering or prosperity. The three friends were
totally wrong in applying those general principles to Job.

I believe Job
realized what his friends were thinking and he began to feel sorry for himself.
The only thing worse than suffering and not knowing why, is having your
so-called friends tell you that you must be a really bad sinner because of your
suffering. Job knew he was a righteous man who tried in every way to please
God. The condemning looks of his three friends may have started him thinking,
“What right does God have to punish me so severely? I surely do not deserve it,
as my friends seem to think. What could possibly be God’s purpose in it?” And
so Job, not knowing the purpose and meaning of his great suffering, cries out
at the beginning of chapter 3 and curses the day of his birth. (Note that he
does not curse God, though he comes close to it.) He cannot take it any more.
He wishes he were dead, or that he had never been born! What follows is over 30
chapters of dialogue between Job and his three friends plus a younger man,
Elihu, who comes on the scene later on. The three friends try to get Job to
admit to the great sin of which he must be guilty. Job all the while protests
his innocence. Then he begins to complain to God (chapters 29-31). Note that
Job and his friends start out rather mildly, but progress to caustic and biting
words against each other (compare 4:2-7 with 22:5-9). Just so with us, disputes
that begin over small things can quickly escalate to something ugly. That is
why those who play the role of peacemakers, who seek to restore others who are
“overtaken in a fault” must do their work “in the spirit of meekness” (Gal.
6:1).

                     Physical
Pain versus

                          People
Pain

Let me insert
here the observation that God’s people—like Job—often are able to handle
physical pain and suffering much better than the bad behavior of other people.
We tend to think of the physical sufferings as being from the Lord, but when people
hurt us with their actions or words or insinuations or the disapproving looks
on their faces, we easily take offense. Our human pride is wounded. We feel a
need to defend ourselves. But these “people trials” are allowed by God for our
benefit as much as the trials of physical pain and suffering. Such trials
provide a very good and sobering means of helping us to see the immense amount
of pride that lurks in our deceitful and desperately wicked hearts. So when we
are experiencing a trial as a result of a difficult person in our lives, it is always
well for us to examine ourselves whether there is pride in our hearts that
needs to be judged.

                       God’s
Perspective

Job rehearses
the many good and righteous deeds he performed throughout his lifetime
(chapters 29 and 31), suggesting that God should be rewarding him rather than
causing him such pain and loss. He implies that he is more righteous than God
(35:2). He cries out, “Oh that one would hear me! Behold, my desire is that the
Almighty would answer me” (31:35). God never tells Job why He has caused him so
much pain and suffering. Rather, God responds to Job by saying in essence:
“Job, do you presume to tell Me how great and wonderful your works and good
deeds are? Let Me ask you some questions before I answer yours”:
“Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? … Who shut up the
sea with doors? … Have you commanded the morning since your days and
caused the dayspring to know his place? … Have you perceived the breadth of
the earth? … Who has begotten the drops of dew? … Can you …  loose the
bands of Orion? … Did you give goodly wings unto the peacocks? … Does the
eagle mount up at your command? … Shall he who contends with the Almighty
instruct Him? He who reproves God, let him answer it. The Job answered the Lord
and said, Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer Thee? I will lay my hand upon
my mouth. Once have I spoken, but I will not answer; yea, twice, but I will
proceed no further” (38:4,8,12,18,28,31; 39:13,27; 40:2-5).

Job is starting
to get the picture, but God is not yet through with him:“Will you condemn Me,
that you may be righteous? Have you an arm like God? or can you thunder with a
voice like Him? … Whatsoever is under the whole heaven is Mine” (40:8,9;
41:11). In other words, God is saying to Job, “Who are you, Job, that you
should be telling me about your works and good deeds. I think something
is backward here!” Job responds, “I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the
ear, but now my eye sees Thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and
ashes” (42:5,6). Among the other purposes of God’s testing of Job, we see that
there was a root of self-righteousness and pride and self-importance in Job
that needed to be uncovered. He “was perfect and upright, and one who feared
God and eschewed evil” (1:1). But we also read that “Job … was righteous in
his own eyes” (32:1). He had to come to see himself from God’s perspective. Job
was “the greatest of all the men of the east” (1:3). But he had to learn the
immense power and greatness of God and his own littleness in comparison. And
Job did learn these lessons, repenting before God in dust and ashes. Job had
also spoken sinfully and impatiently to his three friends; even though they
were wrong in their accusations against him, he had to humble himself to pray
for them (42:10).

                   The Fire of
Purification

God took a man
who was already perfect and upright before his fellow men, one whom his fellows
admired and looked up to. And God put Job through the fire of pain and
suffering to purify him even more. A goldsmith does not take random
pieces of rock and melt them down to see if there is any gold in them. Rather
he takes that which already gives every evidence of being gold. He then heats
the gold until it melts in order for impurities to rise to the surface. The
goldsmith skims off the impurities in order to make the gold more pure. Just
so, our trials and sufferings often have a purifying effect upon us. The
psalmist prays, “Cleanse Thou me from secret faults” (Psa. 19:12). Trials of
pain and suffering may help to uncover within us pride or hidden faults that we
were not aware of. “You greatly rejoice …  that the trial of your faith,
being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it be tried with
fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus
Christ” (1 Pet. 1:6,7).

We already
referred to gold that is refined by heat. The quality and value of clay pottery
likewise is directly proportional to the degree of heat applied to it. The
finer pottery that is decorated in different colors may have to be fired
several times, once for each different mineral used to give it color. Diamonds,
on the other hand, are pieces of carbon that have been subjected to intense
pressures. Diamonds in the rough are then cleaved and cut to produce facets
that reflect light in an optimal manner. So nature teaches us that the finest,
most beautiful jewelry and pottery comes only from intense heat, pressure, and
cutting. Likewise, the finest, most beautiful Christians tend to emerge from
intense trials and sufferings.

God chastens us
“for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness” (Heb. 12:10). “All
things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the
called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28). And what is that purpose of God
for His own? The next verse tells us:that we might “be conformed to the image
of His Son.”

                    Benefits
from Suffering

In summary,
there were several kinds of benefits that came out of Job’s sufferings. First,
God was glorified in that Job did not curse Him as Satan had predicted. Do we
love and appreciate God so much that we value the opportunity presented to us
by pain and suffering to bring glory to Him? Second, Job was purified through
the suffering; he learned more about himself (especially his pride and
self-righteousness) and God; he learned to see himself in his proper
relationship to God—God’s intrinsic greatness and his own smallness. Third, God
commended Job for speaking right things about God (42:7,8). Fourth, and perhaps
least, God blessed Job in the end with far more material possessions than he
had at the beginning as well as with long life (42:12-17).

“Elect
according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the
Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ” (1 Pet.
1:2).

It is essential
for the true character of our path as Christians that we should lay hold of
what this obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ was. The character of Christ’s
obedience was different from legal obedience. If my child wants to do something
and I forbid it, and the child promptly obeys, I speak of its ready obedience.
Christ never obeyed in this way; He never had a desire checked by an imposed
law. It was never needed to say to Him, “Thou shalt not,” when He willed to do
something. He acted because the Father willed it. That was His motive,
the only cause of His acting. He lived by every word that proceeded out of the
mouth of God. When there was none, He had nothing to do. Hence the will of God,
whatever it was, was His rule.

This is the
true character of the obedience of Jesus Christ and of our obedience as
Christians—that the will of God is the reason, the motive, for doing a thing.
We are sanctified to the obedience of Jesus Christ, to obey as He obeyed. When
Satan came and said to Him, “Command that these stones be made bread” (Matt.
4:3), He answered, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word … of
God” (verse 4). His actual life, as carried out in conduct, flowed from the
Word of God, which was His motive for doing it; if He had not that, He had no
motive. If I have no motive but my Father’s will, how astonishingly it simplifies
everything! If you never thought of doing a thing unless it was God’s positive
will that you should do it, surely three-quarters of your questions and
perplexities would at once disappear! This is the practical truth as to
ourselves; yet we clearly see that such was the obedience of Christ.

This, too, is
the principle of real godliness, because it keeps us in constant dependence
upon God, and constant reference to God. It is an amazing comfort for my soul
to think that there is not a single thing all through my life in which God as
my Father has not a positive will about me to direct me; that there is not a
step from the moment I am born (though while we are unconverted we understand
nothing about it) in which there is not a positive path or will of God to
direct me here. I may forget it and fail, but we have in the Word and will of
God that which keeps the soul, not in a constant struggle against one thing and
another, but in the quiet consciousness that the grace of God has provided for
everything—that I do not take a step that His love has not provided for. It
keeps the soul in the sweet sense of divine favor and in dependence upon God,
so that like David we can say, “Thy right hand upholds me” (Psa. 63:8). Moses
does not say, “Show me a way through the wilderness,” but “Show me now Thy way”
(Exod. 33:13). A man’s ways reveal what he is; God’s way shows what He is.

In its path the
heart gets separated more and more intelligently to God, and gets to understand
what God is. If I know that God likes this and likes that along my path, it is
because I know what He is; and besides its being the right path and
causing us thus to grow in intelligent holiness of life, there is godliness in
it too. The constant referring of the heart affectionately to God is real
godliness and we have to look for that. We have it perfectly in our Lord. He
said, “I knew that Thou hearest Me always” (John 11:42). There is the
confidence of power and reference to God with confiding affection. If I know
that it is His path of goodness, His will that is the source of everything to
me, there is then the cultivation of a life consistent in its ways with God;
communion is uninterrupted because the Spirit is not grieved. This is the
obedience of Jesus Christ to which we are set apart.

(From “The Path
and Character of the Christian” in Collected Writings, Vol. 16.)

“When the LORD
your God shall bring you into the land where you go to possess it, and has cast
out many nations before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the
Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations
greater and mightier than you; and when the LORD your God shall deliver them
before you, you shall smite them, and utterly destroy them. You shall
make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them; neither shall you make
marriages with them. Your daughter you shall not give unto his son, nor his
daughter shall you take unto your son. For they will turn away your son from
following me, that they may serve other gods. So will the anger of the LORD be
kindled against you, and destroy you suddenly” (Deut. 7:1-4).

Such were the
instructions given by Jehovah to His people. They were clear and explicit.
There was to be no mercy for the Canaanites, no covenant with them, no union,
no fellowship of any kind, unsparing judgment, intense separation.

We know, alas!
how soon and how completely Israel failed to carry out these instructions.
Hardly had they planted their foot upon the land of Canaan before they made a
covenant with the Gibeonites (Josh. 9:15). Even Joshua himself fell into the
snare. The tattered garments and moldy bread of those wily people beguiled the
princes of the congregation, and caused them to act in direct opposition to the
plain commandment of God. Had they been governed by the authority of the Word,
they would have been preserved from the grave error of making a league with
people who ought to have been utterly destroyed; but they judged by the sight
of their eyes, and had to reap the consequences.

Implicit
obedience is the great moral safeguard against the wiles of the enemy. No doubt
the story of the Gibeonites was very plausible, and their whole appearance gave
a show of truth to their statements; but none of these things should have had
the slightest moral weight with Joshua and the princes; nor would they if they
had but remembered the Word of the Lord. But they failed in this. They reasoned
on what they saw, instead of obeying what they had heard. Reason is no guide
for the people of God; we must be, absolutely and completely, guided and
governed by the Word of God.

This is a
privilege of the very highest order, and it lies within the reach of the
simplest and most unlettered child of God. The Father’s word, the Father’s
voice, the Father’s eye, can guide the youngest, feeblest child in His family.
All we need is the lowly and obedient heart. It does not demand great
intellectual power or cleverness; if it did, what would become of the vast
majority of Christians? If it were only the educated and the deep-thinking that
were capable of meeting the wiles of the adversary, then most of us would give
up in despair.

But, thanks be
to God, it is not so; indeed, on the contrary, we find, in looking through the
history of the people of God in all ages, that human wisdom and learning, if
not kept in their right place, have proved a positive snare, and rendered their
possessors only the more efficient tools in the enemy’s hand. By whom have
most, if not all, of the heresies been introduced that have disturbed the
Church of God from age to age? Not by the simple and the unlearned, but by the
educated and the intellectual. And in the passage to which we have just
referred in the Book of Joshua, who was it that made a covenant with the
Gibeonites? The common people? No, but the princes of the congregation. No
doubt all were involved in the mischief, but it was the princes that led the
way. The heads and leaders of the assembly fell into the snare of the devil
through neglect of the plain word of God.

“You shall make
no covenant with them.” Could anything be plainer than this? could tattered
garments, old shoes, and moldy bread alter the meaning of the divine command,
or do away with the urgent necessity for strict obedience on the part of the
congregation? Assuredly not. Nothing can ever afford a warrant for lowering,
even by the breadth of a hair, the standard of obedience to the Word of God. If
there are difficulties in the way, if perplexing circumstances come before us
as to which we are unable to form a judgment, what are we to do? Reason? Jump
to conclusions? Act on our own or on any human judgment? Most certainly not.
What then? Wait on God; wait patiently, humbly, believingly, and He will
assuredly counsel and guide. “The meek will He guide in judgment, and the meek
will He teach His way” (Psa. 25:9). Had Joshua and the princes acted thus, they
never would have made a league with the Gibeonites; and if the reader acts
thus, he will be delivered from every evil work and preserved unto the
everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

(From Notes
on the Book of Deuteronomy, Vol. 2.)

“Having
predestinated us unto the adoption of [sons] by Jesus Christ to Himself,
according to the good pleasure of His will” (Eph. 1:5). Verse 4 of this chapter
mentions the simple fact that we were chosen in Christ; verse 5 adds the
further truth that God had a special destiny in view for those chosen ones.
They are predestinated to the adoption of sons. This goes far beyond the mere
fact of our being saved or redeemed. There were many dear saints of God in the
Old Testament saved by His grace, but they were not sons of God as we are now.
God specially predestinated us to that glorious position.

It may be
noticed that the apostle John always speaks of the believer as a child
of God—a “born” one—while Paul speaks much of sonship. The one speaks of our
family relationship, the other of our position. He has made us sons “according
to the good pleasure of His will.”

A glance at
Galatians 4 will show the meaning of this truth of the adoption of sons. Paul
there contrasts the saints of the Old Testament with those of the New. In the
Old Testament a believer had merely the status of a “child” in the family of
God. Paul speaks of the Jewish saints when he states in Gal. 4:3 that “we, when
we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world.” The Jews were
under law, a law that told them, “Thou shalt” and “Thou shalt not.” That is the
way we talk to a child. But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent
forth His Son. His precious Son redeemed those who were under the law that we
might receive the adoption of sons. Because of the work of Christ on the cross,
believers are now no longer under the law and thus subject to ordinances, but
they are given the place of sons.

In our language
today the word “adoption” carries the idea of a child taken into a home and
given the place of a child by a couple who are not themselves its parents. But
in the Bible the word “adoption” has no such meaning. Its literal translation
is “the placing of a son.” When Rome was in power, adoption was a ceremony in
which parents would publicly present their child to society, somewhere at the
age of sixteen or so. That child would thereafter take his place in society as
the acknowledged son of the family.

Upon the death
of Christ, believers are no longer under law—under rules and regulations as a
child is—but are given the dignity and liberty of grown-up sons and daughters
of God. Does this mean that we are now free to do whatever we please?
No, but rather we are now free to carry out the full extent of God’s
will for us instead of confining ourselves to the do’s and don’ts of the law.
The Spirit of God Himself indwells us, thus enabling us to walk to God’s glory
as we are led and instructed by Him (Rom. 8:4). To enjoy the adoption of sons
means to enjoy the liberty wherewith Christ has set us free; thus we walk as
intelligent, spiritually-educated men and women.

Gal. 4:7 adds,
“If a son, then an heir of God through Christ.” Thus this predestination to the
adoption of sons in Ephesians 1 carries with it the thought of our being
blessed with all that the heart of God could devise. It is a position that will
be ours throughout all eternity. We are sons of God already; we shall be
manifested as such when Christ Himself is manifested (Rom. 8:19).

(From Ephesians,
published by Loizeaux Brothers, Neptune, New Jersey.)

    Two Greek words found in
the New Testament have the meaning “love.” One of these words is familiar to us
because of the common derivatives of it which are in use today, such as
philosophy, philanthropy, and hemophilia. This Greek word is philia. The
corresponding verb is phileo. Philia is a word used to denote the love
and affection typically found between friends, relatives, and husband and wife.
It basically refers to a love which is manifested in response to pleasure found
in a person or object. It is based on having things in common with the person
or object loved. Today we use the word “like” to express philia love.

    The other word is agape
(pronounced a-ga’-pay). The corresponding verb is agapao. This word
refers to love which is awakened by a sense of value or preciousness in a
person or object. It is a love of esteem or prizing. It is often manifested in
self-sacrifice for the benefit of the one loved.

    Perhaps the best example
of the use of agapao is found in John 3:16:“For God so loved the
world.” Clearly phileo would be inappropriate here, for there is nothing
in a lost sinner that the heart of God can find pleasure in. God does, however,
love each lost sinner because of the value He places on that lost soul. Each
soul is precious to God because He sees His own image in it (Gen. 1:26), even
though this image is marred by sin. Further, each soul is made of material which,
through redemption, can be transformed into the image of His Son (Rom. 8:29).
This agape-love which God has for sinners is clearly also a
self-sacrificial love, as witnessed by His giving His only begotten Son to die
for those who were completely unloving and unlovable.

    The contrast between agapao
and phileo is illustrated in a striking way in John 21:15-17 where
Jesus asks Simon Peter three times whether he loves Him. Recall that before the
crucifixion Peter had boasted that though all men should be offended because of
Christ, yet he would never be offended (Matt. 26:33-35). It soon became evident
how little Peter knew his own heart when he denied his Lord three times. In
John 21, we see Jesus coming to Peter in His matchless love and grace to search
out Peter’s heart in order to bring about his restoration. His first question
recalls Peter’s boast:“Do you love (agapao) Me more than these?”
Peter’s answer employs phileo rather than agapao:“Yes, Lord;
Thou knowest that I love Thee.” In other words, Peter, remembering his base
denial, distrusts himself to the extent that he does not claim to have the agape-love,
that love of devotion and self-sacrifice, for the Lord. He does, however,
claim to be fond of the Lord.

    Jesus asks Peter again if
he loves (agapao) Him. This time He does not try to compare Peter’s love
with the love of the other disciples but seems to ask whether Peter has any love
for Him. Again Peter answers the Lord that he loves (phileo) Him.

    A third time Jesus asks,
“Do you love Me?” We read that “Peter was grieved because He said unto him the
third time, Do you love Me.” The difference of one word in the Lord’s question
the third time causes Peter to be grieved. The first two times Jesus used the
word agapao, but the third time He used phileo. Thus Peter is
overcome with sorrow—no doubt that “godly sorrow which is unto repentance” (see
2 Cor. 7:10)—when he realizes that his denial at the crucifixion caused Jesus
to question whether he was even His friend, whether he even had any philia-love
or affection for Him. All the disciple can do now is fall back on the
Lord’s omniscience and say, “Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I
love (phileo) thee.” Thus, the Lord has succeeded in reaching into
Peter’s heart and working out repentance and restoration.

    Another very instructive
passage in which both words for love are found is 1 Pet. 1:22:“Seeing you have
purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love
of the brethren, see that you love one another with a pure heart fervently.” We
might wonder why the exhortation to love one another is given to saints who are
already loving one another. The answer is that the unfeigned love which they
already displayed was philia-love, but they were exhorted to manifest agape-love
one to another. Because of their obedience to the truth, these saints had
common interests, attitudes, likes, and dislikes, and thus enjoyed fellowship
with one another. Hence, there was no deficiency of philia-love among
them. But the apostle well knew that that kind of love does not manifest itself
in self-denial for the benefit of the one loved, and that it tends to “wear
thin” with stress and strain. Thus, the agape-love is exhorted upon the
saints. This is the love that is long-suffering, kind, not easily provoked, not
puffed up, never failing (see 1 Cor. 13). It is also the love that is
self-sacrificing for the blessing of another. Suppose I find my brother taken
in a fault (Gal. 6:1). I may play down or overlook the evil and may decline to
seek his deliverance from the matter in order to keep our friendship intact. On
the other hand, my philia-love may fail if I am being offended by my
brother. I may become offended because of my brother’s failure, or it may be
because of my brother’s faithfulness in speaking to me of some inconsistency in
my own walk. If I manifest agape-love, I will seek the restoration of my
brother, even if it may jeopardize our friendship. And with agape-love I
will bear with those things in my brother that irritate my old nature.

    No doubt it is due to the
lack of agape-love on the part of marriage partners that there is such a
high rate of divorce in the world. The Christian, unlike the rest of the world,
has this love shed abroad in his heart (Rom. 5:5), and thus should manifest it
more in his marriage relationship. Husbands are exhorted in Eph. 5:25 to love
their wives, “even as Christ also loved (agapao) the Church and gave
Himself for it.” What an example we have in Christ! Notice the “giving”
character of agape-love.

     It is instructive to
notice that while agapao is the only appropriate word when God’s love
for sinners is the subject, both agapao and phileo are used in
reference to the Father’s love for His saints:“He who has My commandments and
keeps them, he it is who loves Me; and he who loves (agapao) Me shall be
loved (agapao) of My Father” (John 14:21). “The Father Himself loves (phileo)
you because you have loved (phileo) Me” (John 16:27). How blessed it is
to realize that our Father loves us not only with a “giving” love but also with
a love produced by communion with us and the deriving of pleasure in us. It is
because we love Christ that we are loved by the Father. We have interests in
common with the Father, namely, our love for Christ and our thoughts concerning
our Saviour, and thus our Father has affection for us. May it be the desire of
each of us to manifest both kinds of love, the agape love of esteem and
self-denial and the philia love of appreciation and friendship, toward
both our Lord and our brethren.

"I beseech you therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God" (Rom. 12:1).

The first lesson to be learned
here is a very important one—the apostle’s style of address. How graciously and
tenderly he entreats the saints at Rome as brethren! Great apostle as he was,
he places them all on the same level with himself. This, of course, is true of
all Christians as regards their pardon and acceptance in Christ, however varied
their condition may be as to the manifestation of the divine nature. "One
is your Master, even Christ, and all of you are brethren" (Matt. 23:8).
But how endearing is the apostle’s manner, compared with the high, imperious
style of many who profess to be His successors, or at least to be ministers of
Christ! "I beseech you therefore, brethren." This is true humility
though accompanied with divine authority. Only nearness to the Lord can give
both. But what an example for all Christians when having to do with the poorest
of the flock!

"The mercies of God."
This is the foundation on which the exhortation rests. True Christian
devotedness evidently flows from the devout consideration of the mercies or
compassions of God to the poor outcast sinner. The apostle appeals to the
hearts of the brethren as being happily acquainted with the riches of divine
mercy to lost and ruined souls. The effect of meditating on this aspect of
God’s character is transformation to His image, and devotedness to His glory,
as our holy, acceptable, and reasonable service. Most blessed, precious
privilege! And this holy imitation of the divine character, be it observed, is
not the result of our own efforts, but flows naturally from the blessed truth
that we are made partakers of the divine nature, as taught more fully by the
apostle elsewhere. "Be therefore followers [or imitators] of God, as dear
children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us, and has given Himself
for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor"
(Eph. 5:1,2). Here pause for a moment and meditate deeply; the subject is vast
and most practical. Talking of devotedness, of holiness, of consecration, what
is your standard? Is it your own possible attainments by unwearied watchings,
fastings, diligence, or what? Self in a thousand ways may be your governing
object, but wrong in all. Could God present a lesser or lower object to His
children than Himself, as morally displayed in the Person and work of His
beloved Son? Impossible! As another has written:"It would dishonor
Himself and the grace He has shown us; and it would be the most grievous loss
to His beloved children whom He would train and bless yet more and more even in
this scene of evil and sorrow, turning the most adverse circumstances into an
occasion of teaching us what He is in the depths of His grace…. Neither law
nor even promise ever opened such a field as this. The very call so to imitate
God supposes the perfect grace in which we stand:indeed, it would be
insupportable otherwise" (Lectures on Ephesians by W. Kelly.)

Returning to Romans 12, the word
"mercies" is here used in the plural because it signifies, not mercy
as an attribute of God simply, but the compassions of God that have been fully
manifested to us in so many different ways. It may have a special reference to
verse 31 of chapter 11 where we find Jews as well as Gentiles concluded in
unbelief that God may have mercy upon all. It was pure mercy that thought of us
in the counsels of eternity, that gave us a place in the purposes of God, that
wrote our names in the Lamb’s book of life, that watched over us in the days of
our unbelief, that called us by His gospel, that gave us deliverance from sin
and condemnation, that gave us the Holy Spirit, union with Christ, the hope of
His coming, communion with God the Father, and the enjoyment of all the
unspeakable blessings of His grace and love.

"That you present your bodies
a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service." The apostle leaves no room here for the liberty of the flesh, or
for going back to the law as a rule of life. The believer is to be formed
morally by the knowledge of God, and consecrated to Him as his reasonable
service. It is of the body, or outer man, that the apostle expressly speaks.
The body is here viewed as the sacrifice, and the believer as presenting it, so
that the whole man is to be yielded up as an offering to the Lord.

If you would understand this
character of devotedness, you must study and master chapter 6 of Romans. There
we learn that Christians are, first of all, to reckon themselves "dead
indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord" (6:11).
We are brought into this position by death and resurrection ,as set forth in
baptism, in virtue of the finished work of Christ. "Therefore we are
buried with him by baptism unto death, that like as Christ was raised up from
the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of
life" (6:4). Baptism is the symbol of Christians having part with Christ
in death. He died for sin, and they died to sin in His death. This is the grand
fundamental truth of entire devotedness and practical holiness. "How shall
we who are dead to sin live any longer therein?" (6:2). Such is the
reasoning of the Spirit of God. All true Christians believe that Christ died for
our sins, but comparatively few believe or enter into the truth that we died
to sin in His death.

The consequences of not
apprehending this plain truth is occupation with self in all things. Whether it
be the young believer longing after peace with God, or the advanced believer
straining after holiness and perfection, they are looking for it within. The
eye is turned inward in search after feelings, or a consciousness of having
arrived at a higher state of Christian life.

Coming back again to chapter 12,
the idea of sacrifice is surely that of entire consecration—of body, soul, and
spirit. The devoted victim under the law was slain and laid on God’s altar. It
was an act of complete surrender. Christians are to present their own
"bodies" as a "living sacrifice" in contrast with
the sacrifices of the law that were put to death. It is self-sacrifice, and
"with such sacrifices God is well pleased" (Heb. 13:16). And it is
the only sacrifice that is holy and acceptable to Him now.

"And be not conformed to this
world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what
is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God" (Rom. 12:2). The
connection between the first and second verses is beautiful. We have the body
in the one and the mind in the other; the whole man is brought in. We are also
reminded thereby that mere bodily exercise, though consisting in the diligent
observance of rites and ceremonies, would profit nothing without the renewal of
the mind. The inner as well as the outer man must be formed morally for God and
His service. Hence the one grand end for the Christian to gain is the
discernment of the will of God; and the highest expression of Christian life in
this world is the life that is most perfectly subject to the divine will. We
have to prove—though we may be long in doing so—that this and this only is
good, acceptable, perfect, and well pleasing in His sight.

"And be not conformed to this
world." This is a difficult lesson to learn. To be personally in a place
where the habits and opinions of men rule, and yet to be outside of it morally
where the will of God rules, is our lesson. Nothing but the grace of God and a
close walk with Him could make us triumph here. The secret of our strength is
the knowledge of Christ and the heart’s occupation with Him.

"But be transformed by the
renewing of your mind." We have briefly glanced at the negative side of
the second verse—non-conformity to the world, separateness from its maxims and
ways. We now come to the positive side—the renewing of the mind. This is all
important. It is the renewal of the whole inner man, the deep springs of the
heart which only the eye of God can see. He looks for the renewal of the
understanding, affections, and will. Our old ideas which ruled the mind before
we knew God and His Christ must all be given up, and new thoughts, new motives,
new objects, new feelings, new intentions, springing from our one new
object—Christ in the glory—must have full sway over all the faculties of the
mind as well as over all the members of the body. There must be a complete
transformation within and without by the renewing of the mind. The Christian is
a new man in Christ, "which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him
who created him" (Col. 1:10).

Without the inward renewal which
the apostle here insists upon, there could be no discernment of the mind of God
and no real separation from the world. The outward difference between the
believer and the man of the world must flow from the condition of the mind as
renewed and strengthened by grace. Otherwise, it would be the merest formality.
The path of separation is too narrow for the natural eye to discern. No broad
lines are laid down in the Word of God to mark the Christian’s way through this
world; the spiritual eye alone can see the way out of it.

The calling and responsibility of
the Christian, then, is to "prove what is that good, and acceptable, and
perfect will of God." This is to be our one grand object as to the whole
path of our service in this world. How is this end to be gained? By
like-mindedness to Christ. "Let this mind be in you, which was also in
Christ Jesus" (Phil. 2:5). If we are to walk so as to please God, we must
walk even as Christ walked (1 John 2:6).

The measure of the soul’s
obedience to the will of God is Christ; He must be the one object before the
mind. But to prove that will practically, we must be whole-hearted for
Him, and be strengthened by the power of His grace acting on the renewed mind.
Christian devotedness is thus complete when the whole man is consecrated to the
Lord and laid upon His altar. The body is yielded up, the mind is transformed,
the will of God is discerned, and the man as a whole is devoted to God.

Elsewhere the apostle prays for
the complete sanctification of the entire man:"And the very God of peace
sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be
preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thess.
5:23). In this remarkable passage, it is the expressed will of God that those
who have been saved through grace, and brought into relationship with himself,
should be entirely consecrated to Him. This, surely, is devotedness without
limit. It is the will of our God that the Christian, in every part of his
being, should be wholly sanctified or consecrated to himself. What grace, what
love, what goodness! It is overwhelming! As water rises to its level, so God
would have us, in every though of our minds, in every part of our being, rise
to Himself as our proper object, resource, and rest.

Oh fellow Christians, we may well
give up the tinseled vanities of time for the glories of eternity! But even now
we know our place in the glory. Christ in His Person and in His present
position in the presence of God is the expression of our place there. Every
believer has his place before God in Christ and in the righteousness of God
which He accomplished in Christ, having glorified Himself in that obedient,
blessed One. And now God would have all who are brought into this relationship
with Himself, to have no object before our minds but Christ in the glory, so
that we may do His will, and be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ.