Come Down, Lord!

  When I began this series I wrote: "God has not only furnished us with a world that speaks of His power and majesty, but a world also which is full of what Jonathan Edwards called “divine images”.   Because of the Bible, these things which God has created bear witness of Him.  With a Bible in our hands the world is - in a sense - transformed, so that everywhere we go we cannot help but think of Him who loved us and gave Himself for us."    When you look at the mountains, what are you meant to think of?  They are beautiful of course, and they are a testament to the creative might of God.  But they are more than evidence of a great Creator.  We know that because God has said more than that.   When you see the mountains or perhaps large hills remember the following:   First, remember that God's righteousness is like great mountains .  In other words, as Spurgeon explains, His righteousness is "firm and unmoved, lofty and sublime."...

  I wrote previously: “The cup is ordinarily used to refer to your portion.”   Here, again, are some things to consider next time you reach for your cup.  First, remember that God assigns each man his portion.  Some would have every man given an equal portion.  They would like the government to intervene so that all are on economically ‘level ground’.  Some are against inequalities of any kind.  This unrest comes from discontent and unbelief.  God is our Maker and our Sovereign. It belongs to Him to assign our portion.  He raises up some and puts down on others.  To some God gives great riches in this life, while others are destined by Him to lifelong poverty.  Some enjoy freedom, while others live their lives the servants (or slaves) of others.  It pleases their King when His people bow their heads and say, “it is the LORD let Him do what seemeth good to Him.”   As our potter He has the right to make of His clay whatever ...

Part One  When you sit down to eat, whether the table is nicely set or not there is generally always a cup of some kind.  We can go a while without food but we cannot go long without water; which explains why cups can sometimes be found in every room of the house.   The cup is ordinarily used to refer to your portion.  Here are some things to consider next time you reach for your cup.   First , remember that “The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup (Psalm 16:5).”   You may remember that when land was divided up among the tribes there was one tribe that was in a sense left out.  They didn’t get an inheritance of land.  Every other tribe had their portion.  Some larger than others, but all of them had their piece of it - except the Levites.  Their inheritance was God.   No land… but God. Here - in this Messianic psalm - Jesus, our Great Priest, says to God, “ you are my portion, you are my cup.”   Wh...

  After a long day the bed can be a welcome sight; but for the anxious or the sick the bed can be something else.  Some through fear or depression find no pleasure in going to their beds and others because of sickness are confined to them.  But God also speaks about the bed.  Here I want to highlight some things God has said about the bed, about lying down and about sleeping. When you go to your bed either because you are sick (and confined there) or because it is the end of the day remember the following. First , remember that you are not the first to weep upon your bed.  The psalmist said, “all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears (6:6).”  These tears - God says - are put in His bottle (Psalm 56:8-9).   Second , remember that God makes your bed in sickness.  Ordinarily perhaps you are the one who makes it, but now He does.  God is saying that He takes particular notice of the sick saints (who have considered ...

  Some things that God has made we see a lot (and see a lot of).  Grass is one of them.  It is interesting, then, to consider what God has said about grass in Scripture.  When you see the grass there are certain things you would do well to remember. First , remember your time in this world is very brief.  You are here today and gone tomorrow.  The psalmist says, “My days are like a shadow that declineth; and I am withered like grass (102:11).”  “As for man his days are as grass: as a flower of the filed so he flourisheth (Psalm 103:15).”  Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up (Psalm 90:5).”  “For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away (1 Peter 1:24).”  Knowing, then, that your time is short, knowing your life is “even a vapour that appeareth for a little time and then vanish...

  In difficult seasons the night can be particularly hard.  In I Shall Not Die But Live Douglas Taylor wrote the following: “In the Diary of Kenneth MacRae (Banner of Truth, 1980), Mr MacRae is described, during his last illness, as dreading the night, with its sleeplessness and loneliness.”  Taylor who was also in his last illness writes, “I can very much identify with this.  During sleepless periods lately, I have dreaded the night too.”  This is almost certainly why the Bible speaks of the night seasons .  Night seasons are hard seasons of trial, which are often accompanied by temptations to fear and despair.  Night seasons are symbolic of times of mourning.  They represent times of suffering and grief and emotional or spiritual darkness.  A dark trial even if experienced over the course of days and weeks is a night season.   Job knew something of these hard nights.  He said, “So am I made to possess months of vanity, and ...