Unveiled Dealings

Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.

John 13:7

O blessed day, when the long sealed book of mystery shall be unfolded, when the "fountains of the great deep shall be broken up," "the channels of the waters seen," and all discovered to be one vast revelation of unerring wisdom and ineffable love!  Here we are often baffled at the Lord's dispensations; we cannot fathom His ways.  Like the well of Sychar, they are deep and we have nothing to draw with.  But soon the "mystery of God will be finished;" the enigmatical "seals," with all their inner meanings, opened. When that "morning without clouds" shall break, each soul will be like the angel standing in the sun.  There will be no shadow; all will be perfect day!

Believer, be still!  The dealings of your Heavenly Father may seem dark to you; there may seem now to be no golden fringe, no bright light in the clouds; but a day of disclosures is at hand.  Take it on trust a little while.  An earthly child takes on trust what his father tells him.  When he reaches maturity, much that was baffling to his infant comprehension is then explained.  You are in this world in the childhood of your being.  Eternity is the soul's immortal manhood.  There every dealing will be vindicated.  It will lose all its darkness when bathed in floods of the excellent glory!

Ah!  Instead of thus being as weaned children, how apt are we to exercise ourselves in matters too high for us!  We are not content with knowing that our Father wills it — but presumptuously seeking to know how it is, and why it is.  If it is unfair to pronounce on the unfinished and incomplete works of man; if the painter, or sculptor, or artificer, would shrink from having his labors judged of when in a rough, unpolished, immature state, then how much more so with the works of God!  How we should honor Him by a simple, confiding, unreserved submission to His will, contented to patiently await the fulfillment of this later promise, when all the lights and shadows in the now half-finished picture will be blended and melted into one harmonious whole.    When all of the now disjointed stones in the temple will be seen to fit into their appointed place giving unity, and symmetry, and compactness to all the building.

And who is it that speaks these living words, "What I do?"  It is He who died for us!  The One who now lives for us!  Blessed Jesus!  You may do much that our blind hearts would like undone, "terrible things in righteousness which we looked not for."  The heaviest (what we may be tempted to call the severest) cross You can lay upon us we shall regard as only the apparent severity of unutterable and unalterable love.  Eternity will unfold how all — all was needed; that nothing else, nothing less, could have done!  If not now, at least then, the verdict on a calm retrospect of life will be this:  For the word of the LORD is right; and all his works are done in truth."The Word of the Lord is right, and all His works are done in truth. (Proverbs 33:4)

~John MacDuff

Triumphant Grace!

 But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.

Romans 5:20

Dear Savior,
In your sufferings I not only see the infiniteness of sin, but also the infiniteness of your love; so that, though I have cause with myself to be angry on account of sin, I need not despair. If the desert of my sinful folly is death—the merit of your sufferings is life! If my sins mount up to heaven—your mercy is above the heavens!

Though my sins reach to the very throne to accuse me—there is ONE upon the throne who will not condemn me! My sins, in their seven-fold abominations, can rise no higher than the throne, but the rainbow of redeeming love and grace is both around and above the throne, and that in its seven-fold beauties—power, wisdom, justice, goodness, holiness, mercy, and truth. And as all the different rays meet in one glorious beam of light, so all the attributes, all the perfections of God, are summed up in LOVE! God is graciously pleased to be called by his favorite name, "God is love!" By the mingling rays of this beauteous rainbow, all my blackness is removed, and I am clothed with his beauty!

When I look to myself and see my vileness and necessity--I am confounded with shame! But when I look to you, and see your fullness and all-sufficiency, I am confounded with wonder! Am I weak? He is my strength. Am I foolish? He is my wisdom! Am I wicked? He is my righteousness! Am I impure? He is my sanctification! Am I in bondage? He is my complete redemption! Am I in misery? From him tender mercy flows. Am I deceitful? He is wholly truth! In a word, am I enmity itself? Then he is love itself which passes understanding! Mine is but the enmity of a creature—but his love is the love of God!

Sin may raise the tempest of wrath, but can do no more. But Christ not only calms the raging tempest, but gives peace of conscience, flowing from intimations of peace with God, and makes me heir of all things! Where sin abounded—grace did much more abound! Where misery has surrounded me—mercy has crowned me! Sin is too strong for me—but your grace is too strong for sin!

Why, then, am I so vexed with fears, doubts, and unbelief? Because I am sinful? On that very account, Christ, who knew no sin, was made sin—that I, who knew no righteousness, might be made the righteousness of God in him. But I am a great sinner! Then, he is a Savior, and a great One! Where is boasting now soul? See—it is great mercy in God, great merit in Christ—which saves a great sinner! Since rich and free grace builds the temple of salvation, let it have all the glory!

But I fall often into the same sin! That is my failing, over which I ought to mourn, and by which I should be driven out of all boasting in my own holiness, high attainments, and religious duties; and cry, with tears of holy joy, "Grace, grace to him that has laid the foundation, carries on the whole work of redemption, and will, with shouting bring forth the topstone!"

Now, law, what have you to do with me? Go to my Surety, Jesus. O curse! you have lighted on his head, that the blessing might rest on mine! The brandished sword of justice, is beaten into the pruning-hook of the promise—that I may even plead justice for the blessing, as well as the performance of the promise.
Though once I dared not lift my eyes heavenward, for fear of divine wrath—yet now I may come boldly to the throne of grace, and claim the blessings of his purchase!

In fine, it is the glory of the Son of God that I am saved. Even if he had no concern for my immortal soul, yet he is jealous of his own glory, and will not cast his honor away, the honor of his justice, the honor of his love, the honor of his merits, and the honor of his word of promise—all which are concerned in my salvation.

Nothing could hinder him to love me—what then shall make him hate me, seeing his love is stronger than death? He loved me when I was in a state of enmity against him—and now, when I am reconciled to him, will he be angry with me, now when I love him who first loved me? His love found me when I was wandering from him—and will he abandon me now when I am panting and seeking after him? When I was altogether sin, he had mercy on me; and will he now take vengeance upon me, when I am mourning over sin, and grieved that I offend him? I had no claim, no qualification that could cause his love to descend on me, and abide with me; but his love, in his sovereignty visited me—and in sovereignty will dwell with me forever! And though my sin offends him—I shall never sin away his love, nor his presence altogether. For he shall appear the second time without sin—and deliver me from all my inherent sinfulness!

Though my sin is my burden—it shall not be my bane! Yet I shall never willingly let the traitor rest in my bosom—which would persuade my soul into rebellion against my dearest Lord, and best friend. I may have continual war with the invader—but shall obtain the victory at last! Meanwhile, I will grieve more for offending him whose name is Love, by my sin—than for the clouds, afflictions, and chastisements which seize me because of my sinfulness.

Now, with the arms of faith, I clasp the promise—and Jesus in the promise! Here will I live, and here will I die, blessing God, who causes me always to triumph in Jesus Christ my Lord!

~James Meilke, Solitude Sweetened

Divine Refuge

For we walk by faith, not by sight.

2 Corinthians 5:7

The nature of faith is to trust in the dark, when all appearances are against it; to trust that a calm will come, though the storm be overhead; to trust that God will appear, though nothing but evil can be felt.  It is tender, child-like, and therefore is an implicit confidence, a yielding submission, a looking unto the Lord.

There is something filial in this; something heavenly and spiritual; not the bold presumption of the daring, nor the despairing fears of the desponding; but something beyond both the one and the other--equally remote from the rashness of presumption, and from the horror of despair.  There is a mingling of holy affection connected with this trust, springing out of a reception of past favours, insuring favours to come; and all linked with a simple hanging and depending of the soul upon the Lord, because He is what He is.  There is a looking to, and relying upon the Lord, because we have felt Him to be the Lord; and because we have no other refuge.

And why have we no other refuge?  Because poverty has driven us out of false refuges.  It is a safe spot, though not a comfortable one, to be where David was, "Refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul" (Psalm 142:4).  And until refuge fails us in man, in self, in the world, in the church, there is no looking to Christ as a divine refuge. 

But when we come to this spot, "Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living" (Psalm 142:5)--"if I perish I will perish at Thy feet--my faith centers in Thee--all I have and all I expect to have, flows from Thy bounty, I have nothing but what Thou freely givest to me, the vilest of the vile"--this is trust.  And where this trust is, there will be a whole army of desires at times pouring themselves into the bosom of the Lord; there will be a whole array of pantings and longings venting themselves into the bosom of "Immanuel, God with us."

~J. C. Philpot, Ears from Harvested Sheaves

When God Thwarts

I chose out their way, and sat chief, and dwelt as a king in the army, as one that comforteth the mourners. 

Job 29:25

Men are so ignorant of their own hearts that they are incapable of determining what is best for them.  Even regenerate men are but partially sanctified and enlightened.  But God searches the heart. He understands our whole case.  He knows what is most for our good. He sees our strong corruptions and sad deficiencies. When, in mercy to His child, He comes to heal his spiritual maladies, He does not take counsel with human reasoning or desires.  It is right,it is best that He should act according to the wisdom which is infallible. He employs the requisite remedies.  Often they are distasteful to flesh and blood. Sometimes they are frightful to contemplate, and terrible to endure.


Then man, in his ignorance, too often says, "If God loved me—He would not give me so bitter a cup to drink!"  But this is man's folly.  Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?  Shall human weakness control divine power?  Shall finite knowledge prescribe to omniscience?  It is the height of wickedness for a worm of the dust—to revise the decisions, or pre-judge the justice of the Almighty.  We would expect that God would deal with us in an incomprehensible way—if we did but remember how base, sordid, and narrow are our views and plans; and how holy, glorious, and eternal are His purposes and designs.


We are quite prone to magnify both the good and evil things of time —to the disparagement of those of eternity.  But when God thwarts, afflicts, and mortifies us—He makes us look at the things which are unseen and eternal.  If He racks this body with pain—it is that we may think of our house, not made with hands, eternal, and in the heavens.  The shaking of this clay tabernacle forces upon us the recollection that this present world is not our rest—and that we ought to be seeking a heavenly country.  If the godliest man on earth had his own way without divine guidance—he would soon be in full march towards destruction!

How kind is God in wisely and mercifully deciding so many things for us!  God very mercifully marks out our course for us.  God is governor.  We are servants.  To us belong obedience, submission, and acquiescence. It is not ours . . .
  to guide,
  to decide what is best,
  to rule the world,
  to shape the course of events.

Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? (Romans 9:20)

~William S. Plumer

Waiting With Hope

For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?  But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

Romans 8:24-25

In  the preceding portions of Romans 8, we have frequent occasion to note, how one prominent thought or idea leads to an expansion of the same; how one strain in the Song suggests a prolonged note. It is again so here.  "Waiting for the adoption," formed the central theme in the former verse.  That grace of "Waiting" is to be farther dwelt upon and developed.  It is described by an equivalent word; a word which, in itself, represents one of the mightiest and most stimulating of spiritual forces.  That word is HOPE.

We may venture to personify HOPE, and regard it as a beautiful Incarnation.  The HOPE the Apostle speaks of is not the apotheosis of the secular poet.  But "the Hope of the Gospel,"--"the Hope full of immortality"--"the Hope laid up for us in heaven."  "The Hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie promised before the world began."

The train of thought seems to be this (if we may venture on a paraphrase)--"I have recently spoken of the sufferings of the present time. These are mysterious--often utterly baffling to sight and sense--beyond our 'why and wherefore.'  But be not discouraged.  I have recently adverted to your rank in the heavenly hierarchy and household, as sons of God and joint-heirs with Christ.  Sufferings, prolonged and severe, may seem to you strangely inconsistent with these exalted titles and so magnificent a heritage. But be not discouraged.  I have just brought before your thoughts 'the first fruits of the Spirit.'  Have these pledges failed to assure you?  Can you, under these gloomy skies and battering storms of suffering, see no pledge of the promised golden harvest?  Be not discouraged. No, rather, hope against hope. Seek to submit with calm acquiescence to the divine will.  'Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.  And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday.'  We may be unable to see the needs be; 'But if we hope for that we see not, then (knowing the faithful promise and the Faithful Promiser) do we with patience wait for it."

When Columbus was approaching his yet undiscovered "Treasure Trove"--the mighty continent he was destined in due time to claim as his own--stray branches, or fragments of branches with berries which here and there floated on the waves, as well as the land birds circling round his vessel, formed the earliest indications of unknown shores.  These may be regarded as appeals to his faith. Hope--the Apostle's impersonation, had a different evidence to substantiate these expectations.  She, seated as it were at the vessel's prow, could see nothing.  "Hope that is seen is not hope."  But she "hoped for that she saw not," and "with patience waited."  She strained her eyes along the blue troughs of the ocean, for the evidence of things not seen, until, at last, faintly in the far distance was discerned the streak of shore, studded with dwarf-palm, and heard the music of the breakers.  Faith and Hope could then sing together in concert their "eureka."  "The shipmen deemed that they drew near to some country" (Acts 27:27).

So it is with the believer.  In his case also, "Hope that is seen is not hope."  The hope of the Christian deals with an unseen Lord and an invisible future.  "He walks by faith, not by sight."  That muffled future is nevertheless a verity. Despite of the haze and the darkness, he knows that the morning comes.  The star of Hope is hovering over the eastern horizon.  He has implicit reliance in the Bible chart, and steers with confidence through blinding fog and buffeting waves.  He claims a heritage in his Lord's beatitude--"blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed."

That same Hope, under a new and familiar symbol, is described as "an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;" and imparting "a strong consolation" for we "who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us."  The anchor (I speak of the earthly emblem) is unseen by the mariner.  It grasps the rock or shingle far down out of view.  But he knows how safe he is. While other ships--unmoored--may be plunging and heaving around him, he has no thought of danger.  His vessel is as secure as if it were sleeping on its shadow in summer seas.  That anchor, in the divinely spiritual sense, cast into the Rock of Ages will ride out all storms.

Perhaps some who trace these words may be unable to realize the strength and certainty and consolation of this hope.  The anchor, "sure and steadfast," may not appear to be holding them.  There may be fitful alternations of doubt and despondency, with the agonizing quest, "Where is now my God?"  This is exactly what we have previously seen the Apostle recognizing in the composite dual nature.  It is exactly what he implies in our present verses, when he speaks of the need of "patience" and the need of "waiting."  The people of God have, in every age, been subject to seasons of hopelessness and depression.   "Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me?"  Yet, there is but one solution--"Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God." (Psalm 42:11)

Let it not be so with you.  Having access into this grace wherein we stand, rejoice in hope of the glory of God--making Paul's motto and watch-word your own--"we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.  May that good and gracious Spirit who gives pledges and first fruits of the coming heavenly inheritance renew and quicken you with fresh ardor.

Lord!  I shall seek, in calm expectancy, to tarry for that blessed hope and blessed day-dawn!  I shall take down my harp from the willows and sing the midnight melody,  "I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope."  (Psalm 130:5)

~John MacDuff, excerpts from A Practical Exposition of the Eighth Chapter of Romans