From Spurgeon

Come!

“Come for repentance, if you cannot come repenting. Come for a broken heart, if you cannot come with a broken heart. Come to be melted, if you are not melted. Come to be wounded, if you are not wounded.”
- Charles Spurgeon, The Precious Blood of Christ

Ps. 23:6

"...surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever."
I had never thought much about this verse until last week, but as I was praying through some things, the Lord reminded me of it, and caused me to think about it. The goodness and mercy of God will follow me...pursue me...dog my steps. It is not just that I will occasionally experience kindness from God. And it is not that when I am "right" with Him, He will manifest His grace and favor. No, the reality is that the goodness and mercy of God will literally haunt my life. I will be unable to escape the determination of God to shed His love abroad in my life.
How does this thought impact you?
For me it does two main things:
1. It comforts me--all my days will be hedged about with the gracious kindness of God, and in eternity I will live forever with Him.
2. It breaks me--who wants to fight against a God whose heart is like that towards you?
May you be comforted and broken by the character and love of God for you.
There is no one like Him.

Christ: The Believer's only Righteousness

“Believers obey Christ as the One by whom our obedience is accepted by God. Believers know all their duties are weak, imperfect and unable to abide in God’s presence. Therefore, they look to Christ as the One who bears the iniquity of their holy things, who adds incense to their prayers, gathers out all the weeds from their duties and makes them acceptable to God.”

-- John Owen, quoted by Jerry Bridges in The Discipline of Grace (Colorado Springs, Co.: NavPress), 42.

A bit of Amy Carmichael

Thou Lovest Me!
Amy Carmichael

Thou knewest me before I was;
I am all open unto Thee;
And yet Thou lovest me, because—
Thou, my Lord, lovest me.

No other reason can I find;
No other reason can there be;
No human love, were it not blind,
Could ever care for me.

But Thy pure eyes do read me through;
My soul is naked unto Thee;
And yet—oh wonder ever new—
Thou, my Lord, lovest me.

And Thou wilt love. If good of mine
Had caused Thy glorious love to be,
Then surely would Thy love decline
And weary, Lord, of me.

I may not fear, for to the end
Thou lovest. Who save only Thee,
The sinner’s Savior and his Friend,
Would set His love on me?

And on Thee now my heart is set;
Thy name is music unto me.
O help me never to forget
That I am loved by Thee.

To Glory in Knowing God

You say, "Glory in Me"
But here I stand:
Glorying in folly that I call "wisdom,"
poverty that I claim as "wealth,"
and impotence that I have termed "strength."
I foolishly deem my position to be secure.

But You will not leave me to my own devices.
You strip and crush my life until I am
undone,
broken,
desolate,
laid in the dust,
wounded,
disconsolate,
shattered,
poor and needy.
Hopeless, apart from You.

I begin to know seeking with the whole heart,
hungering and thirsting after righteousness.
Your Spirit teaches me.
You allow me to know Your love
shed abroad in my now-open heart.
You have taken away everything--
Everything that I had clutched and boasted in--
And You have jealously claimed me to be Yours alone.

And now You say, "Glory in Me."
But still I recoil.
I am too shallow to take You at Your Word.
I think that I must manufacture righteousness on my own...somehow...
I still fail to recognize that
You are who You say You are.
You are the God Who exercises
lovingkindness,
forgiveness,
mercy.
The God Who delights in steadfast love.
The God Who takes pleasure in manifesting Himself.

And so You take me still lower:
revealing pride,
touching fears,
uprooting self,
illuminating sin,
warring against everything that keeps me in bondage to myself,
You take my life to the cross.
You cause its shadow to fall across my entire being,
and I am left
silent,
humbled to the dust,
yielded,
resting in You alone,
slowly lifting my eyes to gaze at You,
weeping with a joy that crushes,
mourning with a burden that restores.

Then You say, "Glory in Me."
And I understand now.
I allow You to take my hand and draw me to my feet.
I stand before You whole--though I have never been so weak and empty.
I cannot take my eyes off of Your face.
I throw back my shoulders,
and begin to sing of You with a confidence that comes from knowing You.
But then, in the midst of my song, I realize what You have actually done for me:
You have let me know You.
And I do know You now.

My song of You is flowing from a heart that is
weeping uncontrollably at the sight of
Your Person and Your ways--Who You are and what You have done.
I am just starting to see Your perspective on all of this:
I am who I am. I am a finite, sinful, created being. I am nothing apart from You.
And that is OK. It is irrelevant.
Because You are Who You are. And You have determined to make me know You, and You are determined to bring Yourself glory.
You have spared nothing to accomplish Your purpose.
What You have done to and for me has brought You glory and pleasure,
and as I accept the riches and the righteousness that You lavish on me,
I can live to the praise of the glory of Your grace.
This is what it means to glory in You.
It is to not insult Your fullness by living in my own resources.
It is to experience continually my life being brought to the foot of the cross,
being marked by its shadow.
It is to be confident in that position,
knowing that You are Everything--literally Everything--to me.

So when You say, "Glory in Me,"
I can rightfully boast in the one thing that I have the least right to know: Knowing God.
I can lift up my head and sing...about my Savior.
Yes, I can glory...in knowing You
And You alone.

The Beauty of Surrender

These two quotes were emailed to me just now by a good friend:

"When He asks for and receives our all, He gives in return that which
is above price--His own presence. The price is not great when
compared with what He gives in return; it is our blindness and our
unwillingness to yield that make it seem great." Rosalind Goforth

"I had utterly abandoned myself to Him...Could any choice be as
wonderful as His will? Could any place be safer than the center of His
will? Did He not assure me by His very presence that His thoughts
toward us are good, and not evil? Death to my own plans and desires
was almost deliriously delightful. Everything was laid at His
nail-scarred feet, life or death, health or illness, appreciation by
others or misunderstanding, sucess or failure as measured by human
standards. Only He Himself mattered." V. Raymond Edman

What could possibly be sweeter than a walk with Christ?

A Thought

The Vine Dresser is never nearer to the vine than when He is pruning it.

"...and he was called the friend of God."

“I have known men who came to God for no other reason than...[to be with Him because] they loved Him. Friendship is best kept up by frequent visits; and the more free from impurity those frequent visits are, and the less brought about by business, necessity, or custom, the more friendly and welcome they are.” ~Thomas Goodwin

May this be increasingly true of us as we deepen in knowing Him.
I loved this quote--shared by Dr. Coats in a session that we had with him.

A Poem

This text can be sung to the tune of "I Sing the Mighty Power of God."
I discovered it in an old hymnal...

Fill Thou my Life, O Lord
Horatius Bonar

Fill Thou my life, O Lord, my God,
In every part with praise,
That my whole being my proclaim
Thy being and Thy ways;
Not for the lip of praise alone,
Nor e’en the praising heart
I ask, but for a life made up
Of praise in every part.

Praise in the common words I speak,
Life’s common looks and tones,
In fellowship at hearth or board
With my beloved ones—
Enduring wrong, reproach, or loss
With sweet and steadfast will,
Loving and blessing those who hate,
Returning good for ill.

So shall each fear, each fret, each care,
Be turned into song,
And every winding of the way
The echo shall prolong;
So shall no part of day or night
From sacredness be free,
But all my life, in every step,
Be fellowship with Thee.

The Word of God

Scripture. The Bible. The Word of God.
How long has it been since you read these verses with a fresh perspective? These few verses, so common, have retained much of their beauty, but, I fear, have lost much of their impact and meaning. We have become accustomed to them (at least it has been so in my life). But, O their richness! Read them as if you have never read them before and as if you really believe what they have to say.

Psalm 19:7-11
The Law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul;
The Testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple;
The Statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart;
The Commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes;
The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever;
The Judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold,
Yea, than much fine gold;
Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
Moreover by them Your servant is warned,
And in keeping them there is great reward.

Now take up the Word. Take up and read. Take in and internalize and do. Let it dwell in you...richly.

Eternity

This poem was written after Tim Trometer's death by the mom of a Northland student. It is one of my favorite poems about eternity.

Looking At His Face
Avril Fries

Weep not for me, my loved ones, but for your pain and loss
For I would never wish to return to bear my cross
My burdens I've abandoned and my pain I feel no more
I am gazing at the beauty of the One that I adore.

I have not even noticed the splendor of this place
For I am still enthralled by the beauty of His face
My eyes are fixed on Jesus and the wounds He bore for me
Oh, the wonder of the price that it took to set me free!

I am not looking down on you, for here there is no pain;
No time to count the moments until we meet again.
And when you get to Glory you will not look for me
For your eyes will see just Jesus—what a wonder that will be.

How long until you join me, the Father only knows
You may be caught up in the clouds, or watch the shadows close.
The one thing I would tell you could I whisper to you there
Is, "live for Him, my loved ones, He is far beyond compare."

Weep not for me, my loved ones, I am finally complete
I am gazing at my Saviour, contented at His feet
Eternity will be too short to comprehend His grace
Not long enough to tire of the radiance of His face.

Quote by Frederick Faber found in Tozer's Pursuit of God:

"Eternity will not be long enough to learn all He is, or to praise Him for all He has done, but then, that matters not; for we shall be always with Him, and we desire nothing more."

Truly: "For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him." 2 Cor. 5:1-9

The Beauty of God's Ways

Read this today from Oswald Chambers, and was thought-provoked and encouraged.

My Utmost for His Highest - August 10
The Sacrament Of The Saint (abridged)

"Let them that suffer according to the will of God, commit the keeping of their souls to Him in well-doing." 1 Peter 4:19

...The saint who satisfies the heart of Jesus will make other saints strong and mature for God. The people who do us good are never those who sympathize with us, they always hinder, because sympathy enervates. No one understands a saint but the saint who is nearest to the Saviour....
Notice God's unutterable waste of saints, according to the judgment of the world. God plants His saints in the most useless places. We say - God intends me to be here because I am so useful. Jesus never estimated His life along the line of the greatest use. God puts His saints where they will glorify Him, and we are no judges at all of where that is.

Once again: I am caused to marvel and worship at the immense mystery and beauty of God's economy and ways. What a worthy Lord!

Isaiah 55

While sitting in the passes and permissions logistical RA orientation session last hour, I began to write random verses on my handout sheet and draw little pictures to illustrate them. (I was still listening, mind you.)
Among other verses, I began to write the "Seek ye the LORD while He may be found..." passage from Isaiah 55.
Since is it such a refreshing passage, I will actually just put it in here in its entirety:

"Seek ye the LORD while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.
For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the LORD,
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts."

While I was writing (and listening to the session, of course), the LORD allowed me to notice a small conjunction whose significance I had never noticed before. You have "let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts"....so there are these vile sinners leaving their sin...and turning to the Lord. The Lord then says that He will be merciful to them and will forgive them. I am accustomed to that thought (sadly enough, I often take it for granted). But the next word is what the Lord used to capture my thoughts (and yes, at that point I quit listening--briefly). "For." Why will God extend this abundant pardon (the pardon that I so frequently casually expect)? "For." Because. "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways." God says, "Because I am so transcendently above you, I forgive." "Because I am absolutely and beautifully and sovereignly higher than you and your ideas and ways, the wicked and unrighteous may turn to Me for mercy." "Because the gulf between My level and your level is mirrored by the gulf between the heavens and the earth, you have hope and can place your expectation in returning to Me and finding forgiveness."
God does pardon. God does forgive. And it is because of His excellent greatness. His untouchable transcendence. His magnificent superiority.
How incredible! The LORD is so, so great and greatly to be praised. Yes, indeed: His greatness is unsearchable.

Thoughts from Tozer

From The Knowledge of the Holy:
In the chapter on the love of God this excerpt....

"God's love tells us that He is friendly and His Word assures us that He is our Friend and wants us to be His friends. No man with a trace of humility would first think that he is a friend of God; but the idea did not originate with men....Modesty may demur at so rash a thought, but audacious faith dares to believe the Word and claim friendship with God. We do God more honor by believing what He has said about Himself and having the courage to come boldly to the throne of grace than by hiding in self-conscious humility among the trees of the garden."

A Different Tactic...

Greetings after such a long time....
This is a simple posting to say that since I fail so miserably to actually keep this updated with personal postings, I am going to endeavor to at least post verses and quotes/thoughts from the books and so forth that I am reading, so that perhaps you all can share in what the Lord is causing to filter through and challenge my thinkings. As always, the desire is that we might know Him and provoke each other to further diligent pursuit of that high calling.

Here is an excerpt from today's perusal of the writings of missionary Lilias Trotter:

Trained Faith
"As an eagle...fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings--so the Lord alone did lead him."
Fluttereth over--the early stages of faith are reaching upward, like the eaglets for their food when the mother-bird is overhead. it is an older faith that learns to swing out into nothingness and drop down full weight on God--the broken-up nest of former "experiences" left behind--nothing between us and the abyss by God Himself. Trained faith is a triumphant gladness in having nothing but God--not rest, no foothold--nothing but Himself. A triumphant gladness in swinging out into that abyss, rejoicing in every emergency that is going to prove Him true. "The Lord alone"--that is trained faith.