MEDITATION VIII.
MEDITATION VIII.
THE PROMISES A DIVINE TREASURE.
London, April 19, 1758.
Once, with the unthinking world, I esteemed the poor miserable; and called the rich happy. But now, since I glanced the volumes of Scriptural revelation, I am of another mind. If we compare poor and rich in scripture account, we easily see a mighty difference; for while a threatening is dropped here and there against the one; to the other pertain the precious promises. "Woe to you that are rich, for you have received your consolation." "Go, now, you rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you." Thus riches, though not a curse in themselves, yet, to depraved and corrupt nature, yield so many opportunities, set so many baits to sin, that it is a sacred and friendly admonition, "Labor not to be rich."
Were we only to inspect the lives and deaths of the righteous, it might make us welcome poverty which protects us, by depriving us of so many opportunities to destroy ourselves. But when we see the surprising expressions of paternal care which are scattered in the oracles of truth, we can do no less than account the poor the happy ones; for such is the mercy of God, that when a man is in misery, then becomes the object of his mercy.
Now, to show that the promises of God are not bare expressions of good will, let his providential conduct be surveyed, as recorded in the word of truth, and that in a few instances.
Hagar, an Egyptian, Sarah's handmaid, flees from the face of her unfriendly mistress; flees to whom she knows not, and where she cannot tell. She sits down by a well of water in the wilderness, no doubt overcome with sorrow. But then the angel of the Lord comes to her; tells her that the Lord had heard her affliction; speaks comfort to her, and makes her a promise, under a grateful sense of all which she calls the name of the Lord, who thus followed her with unexpected kindness, "You, God, see me." Again, the same Hagar is plunged into a new scene of distress. Her care and confusion are augmented, as she is not now alone in her perplexity—but has her son, her only son with her, the object of her fondest affection, and the hope of her infirm old age. The bottle of water is spent, and the stripling boy, for thirst—the worst of all deaths—must die. Her melting affections being unable to behold the agony of his last moments, she lays him down under a shrub, to screen him from the sultry heat, and goes away from him. Yet maternal care will not let her go too far away; so she sits down and fixes her eyes on the melancholy spot. And now her grief cannot be contained, as before, in agitating thoughts—but bursts out in briny tears. She lifts up her voice aloud, and weeps. Well, the God who saw her before, sees her still. The voice of the lad, who no doubt mingled his tears and complaints with his mother's, is heard; and Hagar's eyes are opened to see a fountain, at which she fills the bottle, gives him drink, and he revives again.
It may not be amiss to name a few more instances of providential care; as, Lot's rescue by Abraham, when he and all he had were taken captive; and afterwards his miraculous deliverance out of Sodom. Jacob's preservation from angry Laban, when pursued and overtaken by him; and his still more amazing deliverance from Esau's rooted revenge, which is converted into congratulations, tears, and embraces. The astonishing history of Joseph, through all its unparalleled scenes. The deliverance of the children of Israel, when their bondage was grown insupportable, leading them through the Red Sea, while their pursuers perished in the waters; feeding them in the wilderness with manna from heaven, and keeping their clothes from waxing old. And how many times, in the book of Judges, even when his people had sinned against him, did he show mercy to them in their extremity of misery? The accounts of Naomi, Ruth, and Hannah, show how the mercy of God takes place in all the circumstances of the afflicted. The memorable passage of the ark of God in the Philistines' land; Jonathan's victory over the Philistines; the death of giant Goliath, who had defied the armies of Israel, by the hand of David, who afterwards has a beautiful chain of deliverances from a persecuting Saul, and in his old age from the rebellion of his unnatural son; the protection of the seven and thirty worthies, amidst the dangers they were exposed to; Elijah fed by ravens—creatures which live on carrion, and yet they bring bread and meat to the man of God twice a day! The widow's barrel of meal, and cruse of oil, blessed so as not to waste by using; Elijah's forty days journey in the strength of one meal; small armies defeating great multitudes; armies supplied with water in a miraculous way; the barren woman made to bear children; the dead restored to life again; poison prevented from doing harm, and food augmented; the three children preserved in the fire, and Daniel in the lion's den. All manner of diseases were cured by Christ, and his servants, the prophets and apostles; the lepers cleansed, the blind made to see, the deaf to hear, the mute to sing, and the lame to leap; the deliverance of the disciples on the lake, of Peter, when sinking, and afterwards when kept in prison, a destined sacrifice to cruelty and rage. Paul's escape when watched in Damascus, and when laid fast in the stocks with Silas, in the inner prison; when shipwrecked, and when the viper fastened on his hand.
These are some instances which the promises of God have been made out to his people in their adversities. And let those, on the one hand, who have no changes, and therefore fear not God, know, that they have neither part nor lot in these promises. But on the other hand, let him know who suffers under the greatest load of afflictions, that he has a right to the greatest number of promises; and that whenever he loses another enjoyment, then he has a right to another promise, which makes up that loss with a redundancy of goodness.
Now, let us glance at a few of these many great PROMISES, that in all cases and conditions we may take comfort.
If we are troubled with sin in its uprisings in our hearts, and outbreakings in our life, to us then the promise speaks, "I will take away the hard and stony heart. I am he who blots out your iniquities as a cloud, and your sins as a thick cloud. He will subdue all our iniquities, and cast our sins into the depths of the sea, so that in the day when Israel's sins shall be sought for, they shall not be found. Sin shall not have dominion over you. I will heal their backslidings; I will love them freely."
Again, with respect to temptation, hear the promise, "He will not allow you to be tempted above that you are able to bear—but will with the temptation make a way to escape." Moreover, this promise is made by him, who being once tempted himself, knows how to support those who are tempted. Also, if we fear lest we fall into sin, or be overcome when we are buffeted, hear what he says, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. The just shall hold on his way, and he who has clean hands shall be stronger and stronger. The righteous shall be like the palm tree in Lebanon, always flourishing and bringing forth fruit, even in old age, when others fade." If suddenly attacked by the tongue of reproach, or accused at the bar of iniquity, he promises, that in that hour it shall be given how and what to speak, and therefore we should take no anxious forethoughts in the matter.
With his saints in all their afflictions, he is afflicted, and his gracious promises measure breadth and length to all the trouble and distress which can befall them. If poor in spirit, those he cheers, and despises not his prisoners. A bruised reed he will not break, nor quench the smoking flax. He deals very compassionately with young converts, carries the lambs in his bosom, and gently leads those who are with young. He commands Peter to manifest his love to him by feeding his sheep, his lambs. And says to those in the pangs of the new birth, "Shall I cause to come to the birth, and not give strength to bring forth?" Again, if they are poor as to this world, he not only makes promises to them himself—but importunes others to do them good offices; and that he may prevail with them, promises to those who consider the case of the poor, that they shall not lie on a bed of languishing unconsidered—but have their bed made by God in their sickness.
O poor man! he puts you and himself on one side, by promising to repay, as lent to him, what is given to you. Everywhere in the scripture he instructs us to feed the hungry, refresh the weary, clothe the naked, receive the outcasts: "Let my outcasts dwell with you, Moab; be a covert to them."—to entertain the stranger and the traveler kindly, to do justice to the oppressed, to help the widow, and judge the cause of the fatherless. To the afflicted he promises deliverance in the day of trouble: "Call upon me in the day of trouble, I will deliver you. I will be with you in trouble to deliver you. I will never fail you nor forsake you, until I have performed the promised good." If exposed to calumny, says the promise, "You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue." Or if reproached, "He shall bring forth your judgment as the noon-day."
Now, though the promises suit the saints in their various stations; yet, as the afflicted and needy ones have a double share of trouble and sorrow—so they have a double portion of the promises. If they are exposed to storms and drought—he promises to be a hiding-place from the storm, a covert from the tempest, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land, and as refreshful rivers in a parched place. If they are reckoned as the refuse of the world, and the off-scouring of all things—he counterbalances this, by promising them that he will honor them, set them on high, and confess their names before his Father, and his holy angels. But they may be in doubt how or where to walk, and how to act; then, says he, "I will lead the blind by a way they know not; I will make crooked places straight, and rough places plain. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them." And when they are so bewildered as not to know what hand to turn to in their doubts and distress, he says, "Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord." Hence says the psalmist, and all saints may say it after him, "You will guide me with your counsel while I live."
But death may invade their family, and lessen the number of their relations. Then says he, "I am the resurrection and the life; and the hour is coming, when all who are in their graves shall hear the voice of the Son of man, and shall come forth." Therefore do not sorrow for your dead as they that have no hope; for they are blessed who die in the Lord, and it is better to be gone, and be with Jesus, than remain here.
If they are subject to bodily infirmity, and bowed down by disease; then says he, "I am the Lord who heals you." And he often shows himself merciful to those who sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death, being bound with cords of affliction, and sends his word and heals them.
But the disease may be spiritual, and so of a more piercing and pungent nature; yet says he, "I will restore health to his mourners." He heals the broken in heart, and binds up their wounds; and gives the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. If their grief be on account of the decay of religion, or the afflicted state of Zion, these promises may yield them comfort, "That Israel shall revive as the corn, grow as the lily, and cast forth her roots as Lebanon; that Christ's name shall endure forever, and a seed shall serve him to all generations; and that the gates of hell shall never prevail against his church, since he is both the foundation and chief corner-stone, and will be with her to the end."
But if their sorrow be about the fewness of those who seem to be saved, or who follow Christ, then the word of comfort is, "The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened," so that a great multitude of all nations, tongues, and languages, shall compose the general assembly and church of the first-born. If they are under gloomy shadows by divine hidings, yet then hear the promises, "At evening-time it shall be light. Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God. To you that fear his name shall the Son of righteousness arise with healing in his wings, and in the light of your countenance shall they walk on forever." To which promises the response of faith is, "When I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light unto me, for he shall bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness."
If they are disquieted through trouble of mind, hear the kindly promise, "As one whom his mother comforts, so will I comfort you. For the Lord has called you, like a wife deserted and wounded in spirit, a wife of one's youth when she is rejected. I deserted you for a brief moment, but I will take you back with great compassion. And, as the waters of Noah shall never return to cover the earth, so the covenant of my peace shall never depart from you; for though you seem as one altogether afflicted with my waves, tossed with the tempests of my indignation, until you groan under the anguish of a deserted soul, yet the day is at hand, when I will no more hide my face from you; for though a woman may forget her nursing child, and have no compassion on the fruit of her womb, yet I can never forget you who are so dear to me." Again, to those that are distressed for the divisions of Reuben, the promise speaks, "The watchmen shall see eye to eye, when the Lord brings again Zion. There shall be a day when the watchmen in Mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise! let us go up to Zion. Judah and Israel shall be one stick in my hand; for there shall be one Lord over all the earth, and his name one." And the last prayer of the divine sufferer, which runs thus, "That they all may be one, as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us"—shall be answered in due time.
To those who are called out to dangers, says the promise, "You shall tread on the lion, and adder; the young lion and dragon shall you trample under foot." The Lord who created you says: "Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. When you go through deep waters and great trouble, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown! When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior."
Again, if calamities be national, even the time of Jacob's trouble, yet the promise is, "He shall be saved out of it. This man shall be our peace, when the Assyrian comes into our land, and treads in our borders—He will ordain peace for us, who makes peace." If enemies rise in war, then the promise is, that they shall be found liars; and though they be numerous, that one shall chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight; for no weapon formed against Zion shall prosper. But if they should be made prisoners, the promise reaches that situation also: "Verily, I will cause the enemy to treat you well in the time of evil, and in the time of affliction;" which was made good to Israel, who were pitied by those who led them captive.
Are they blind, dumb, deaf, maimed, deformed, feeble, and perishing? Then the promise is that the Son of God, whose coming from heaven we look for, "shall change our vile bodies, that they may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able to subdue even all things unto himself." To the barren he promises to give in his house, and within his walls, a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters. To the stranger he promises to be a shield. But perhaps they are not only strangers for a little time—but outcasts for a long time; then "the Lord gathers the outcasts of Israel. I will tell the north to let them go and the south not to hold them back. Let my people return from distant lands, from every part of the world."
But they, perhaps, have been long expecting the performance of the promise, and praying for some blessing that has not been bestowed. The promise says, "The needy shall not always be forgotten, the expectation of the poor shall not perish forever. He will fulfill the desire of those who fear him, he will hear their cry, and save them." But they may be exposed to the cunning plots of designing men; true, say the sacred oracles, "The wicked plots against the just, and gnashes upon him with his teeth. But the Lord shall laugh at him"—in way of derision, whose more terrible doom is at hand, even a day coming that shall pluck him out root and branch, while the righteous shall be an everlasting foundation.
But one may be fatherless, and such is ready to suffer injury at every hand. But, says the promise, "God is a Father to the fatherless, and the widow's Judge in his holy habitation." And so says he, "Leave your fatherless children."—Ah! Lord, may the dying parent say, I must leave them. Well—but, says God, "I will preserve them alive;" that is, provide for them, and bring them up like a kindly tutor, and what more could you do though still with them? Then, may the sympathizing husband say, And what shall this your handmaid do? "Let your widow trust in me," and she shall not be ashamed of her hope; I will be to her as the most tender husband.
Again, the comforting word to such as are living among the ungodly, and chained to bad company, is, "The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation," as he did Lot in a like situation. But their work allotted them may be arduous and difficult; then the promise is, "I will be with your mouth; you shall not be afraid of their faces, for I am with you to deliver you; the tongue of the stammerer shall speak plainly. I will direct their work in truth. As his day is, so shall his strength be."
But they may be solitary, their dearest friends, and nearest relations, being removed by death; then, says the promise: "God sets the solitary in families, and brings out those who are bound with chains." But they may be troubled to think how they shall hold on through this howling wilderness; how they shall make the steep ascent to the hill of God. Then the promise is, "My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest: You shall hear a voice behind you, saying, This is the way, walk in it, when you turn to the right hand, and when you turn to the left. They shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. He who is feeble among them, at that day shall be as David."
But they may have their daily difficulties how to support their needy families; well, the promise also speaks to that condition: "those who fear the Lord shall not lack any good thing. Behold the eye of the Lord is upon those who fear him, upon those who hope in his mercy, to deliver their soul from death, and keep them alive in famine. Bread shall be given you, and your water shall be sure. Therefore, I say—don't worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food, drink, and clothes. Doesn't life consist of more than food and clothing? Look at the birds. They don't need to plant or harvest or put food in barns because your heavenly Father feeds them. And you are far more valuable to him than they are. Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? Of course not. And why worry about your clothes? Look at the lilies and how they grow. They don't work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow, won't he more surely care for you? You have so little faith! So don't worry about having enough food or drink or clothing. Why worry about these things, when it is your Father's good pleasure, O little flock! to give you the kingdom?
But they may be distressed with daily afflictions, and continued chastisements; well, the promise speaks a good word to dissipate that pain: "Many are the afflictions of the righteous—but the Lord delivers him out of them all." But perhaps old age advancing, with all its train of infirmities, may trouble them; then the promise proclaims the divine protection: "Even when you're old, I'll take care of you. Even when your hair turns gray, I'll support you. I made you and will continue to care for you. I'll support you and save you." But they may be under bondage through fear of death, and even tremble to take the dark step into the unseen world; then the promise speaks comfort in the very last extremity: "O death! I will be your plague; O grave! I will be your destruction!" So that they may break out into the same raptures, that saints viewing the same change, sweetened by the same promise, have done of old, "O death! where is your sting? O grave! where is your victory? This God is our God, and will be our guide even unto death! Yes, though I walk through the valley and shadow of death, yet will I fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me."