Blog Archives - WELCOME TO THE JOY OF TROY

September 20, 2019

9/20/2019

And the inhabitants shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity (Isa. 33:24).

    It was the entrance of sin into the world that brought sickness and death. When the last stain of sin is washed from the earth, there will be no more sickness, sorrow, heartbreak, or death. A troubled mind often leads to sickness. Dis-ease of mind and heart brings disease of body. And we are told that "a merry heart doth good like a medicine" (Prov. 17:22). All true believers have discovered this. When the burden of sin is lifted from the heart by faith in Jesus Christ as our Redeemer, there is often a great increase in health of the body.

    The time will come, as our promise declares, when in God's new earth the inhabitants will not say "I am sick," because there will be no sickness. Who are these people? Are they those who have never sinned? No, indeed. They are those who have been forgiven their iniquity. And that forgiveness is for us now, for "if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins" (1 John 1:9).

    Years ago a man who was a very great sinner was executed in Ayr, Scotland, for his terrible wickedness. Those who knew him thought he had gone beyond the grace of God. While he was in prison he saw his own wickedness and, after great heart struggle, surrendered to God. When he came to the place of his execution, he could not refrain from crying out to the onlookers concerning his sense of pardon and the presence of God. "Oh, He is a great forgiver!" he said. "God is a great forgiver!" Then he added these words: "And now 'perfect love casteth out fear!' [1 John 4:18]. I know that God has nothing to lay against me, for Jesus Christ has paid it all."

    Because He is a great forgiver, in Him we have eternal hope.

MEDITATION PRAYER:  "If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee" (Ps. 130:3, 4).

September 19, 2019

9/19/2019

The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands (Ps. 138:8).

    Everything that concerns us concerns the Lord. "Nothing is too great for Him to bear....Nothing that in any way concerns our peace is too small for Him to notice" (Steps to Christ, p. 100).

    He does not begin a good work and then leave it unfinished. Our own evil hearts, the world, and the devil may attempt to hinder Him, but His work for us goes on day after day. By His providences, by His Holy Spirit, by His Holy Word, He is working out our eternal good. Of this we can be sure. As the apostle says: "Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it ["will finish it." margin] until the day of Jesus Christ" (Phil. 1:6).

    His mercy endures today and tomorrow and forever.

    A mother seeking her son's pardon from Emperor Napoleon was told that since this was his second offense, justice demanded his death.

    But I don't ask for justice," she cried. "I plead for mercy"

    "But," said the emperor, "he doesn't deserve mercy."

    "Sire," replied the mother, "it wouldn't be mercy if he deserved it. Mercy is all I ask for."

    "Well, then," said Napoleon, "I will have mercy." And the son was granted a pardon.

    "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness" (Lam. 3:22, 23). We belong to Christ by creation and recreation, so we can pray, "Forsake not the works of thine own hands."

MEDITATION PRAYER:  "Hear me, O Lord; for thy lovingkindness is good: turn unto me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies" (Ps. 69:16).

September 18, 2019

9/18/2019

Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need (Heb. 4:16).

    The word "therefore" in our text refers to the preceding verses, which tell us that our Savior was tempted in all points like as we are, that He has gone into heaven, and appears there for us. "Therefore" we may "come boldly unto the throne of grace." In other words, our prayers may be based upon these facts.

    That throne is not only a throne of majesty, power, righteousness, and glory but a throne of grace; and it is by grace through faith that we are saved (Eph. 2:8). Coming boldly to this throne, we obtain mercy and find grace in every time of need. It is the things we need that we are to receive, and we shall receive them when we need them--"in time of need." Nothing is too small, nothing too great. If we need something, we are to ask for it.

    It is said that a man once asked Alexander the Great to give him some money, a portion for his daughter at her marriage. The king told him to go to his treasurer and demand it. He went and asked for an enormous amount. The treasurer was startled. He said that he could not give so much without a direct order from the king, and then he went at once to Alexander and told him that he thought a small part of the money should suffice.

    "No," replied Alexander, "let him have it all. I like that man. He does me honor. He treats me like a king and proves by what he asks for that he believes me to be both rich and generous."

    So let us go to the throne of grace boldly. Let us pray in a way that shows we have honorable views of our King's riches and bounty, and that we have faith in His promises.

MEDITATION PRAYER:  "Bow down thine ear, O Lord, hear me: for I am poor and needy" (Ps. 86:1).

September 17, 2019

9/17/2019

  I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye (Ps. 32:8).

    This is a threefold promise direct from the mouth of the Lord: I will instruct thee; I will teach thee; I will guide thee. Christian workers are laborers together with God. Think of the wonderful privilege it is for them to be instructed by Him, to be taught by Him in their work, and to be guided by Him every day and every hour. When we walk humbly with God, we may ask Him to make our course of duty plain, and He will guide us with His eye.

    A guide was conducting a group of tourists through Mammoth Cave, in Kentucky. When they reached the great room known as the Cathedral, he mounted the rock called the Pulpit and said he was going to preach a sermon. It was very short--just these five words: "Keep close to your guide."

    The visitors soon found that it was a good sermon, for if they did not keep close to their guide they would be lost in the pits and defiles, or over the precipices. One cannot find their way through that dark cavern without a guide--without the heavenly Guide, without His Word, which is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path (Ps. 119:105).

    This divine guidance is not just for one day, but for all our days. "And the Lord shall guide thee continually" (Isa. 58:11). He will guide us into peace (Luke 1:79). He will guide us into truth (John 16:13). He will guide us on every side (2 Chron. 32:22).

    Concerning our yesterdays, faith says, "Thou hast beset me behind"; concerning our tomorrows, "Thou hast beset me...before"; concerning today, "Thou hast...laid thine hand upon me" (Ps. 139:5). That's enough for us--to feel the presence of His guiding hand, our Instructor, our Teacher, our heavenly Guide.

MEDITATION PRAYER:  "For thou are my rock and my fortress; therefore for thy name's sake lead me, and guide me" (Ps. 31:3).

September 16, 2019

9/16/2019

  With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness (Isa. 26:9).

    In this promise is a warning to individuals and to the world. There are those who seek God earnestly. When they awake in the night seasons they pray and commune with Him. Early in the morning, and early in life, they seek God in spirit. But there are thousands--yes, millions--who never learn of His ways, never think of God, never desire to know Him, until great judgments and afflictions suddenly face them and they are overwhelmed.

    So it was at the Flood, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the captivity in Egypt, the overthrow of Jerusalem, the Babylonian captivity, the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, the persecutions down through the ages, world wars, and confusion. When God's judgments are in the earth, the true child of God may be assured of His care and protection. "He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler" (Ps. 91:4). Do we truly seek God? Do we long for communion with Him day and night? He is not far form any of us.

    For an orchestra to produce a perfect chord of music, it is necessary that the instruments be attuned to one another. When, after perfect adjustments, the notes are struck, there is no jarring dissonance, but perfect harmony. So, before there can be harmonious living and true communion with God, our wills must be attuned to His in loving dutifulness and submission.

                                Our wills are ours, we know not how;
                                Our wills are ours, to make them thine.
                                                                        ___Alfred, Lord Tennyson

MEDITATION PRAYER:  "My mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips: when I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches" (Ps. 63:5, 6).

September 15, 2019

9/15/2019

The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit (Ps. 34:18).

    If we have not experienced that repentance which is not to be repented of, and have not with true humiliation of soul and brokenness of spirit confessed our sins, abhorring our iniquity, we have never truly sought for the forgiveness of sin" (Steps to Christ, p. 38).

    The contrite soul is the repentant soul. In the following symbolic poem by Dante, he pictures the three steps of repentance: contrition, confession, satisfaction:

                                Thither did we draw nigh, and that first stair
                                Was of white marble, polished so and clean,
                                It mirrored all my features as they were.
                                The second, darker than dusk, perverse, was seen,
                                Of stone all rugged, rough and coarse in grain,
                                With many a crack, its length and breadth between.
                                The third, which o'er the others towers amain,
                                Appeared as if fiery porphyry,
                                Like blood that gushes crimson from the vein.

    Contrition, like the polished marble, reveals people to themselves, opens their eyes to their true condition, tears away their make-believe. The second step--"darker than dusk," and all rugged and coarse and cracked--represents confession, the tearing up of the roots of guilt and the spreading of the black iniquities before God. The third step, made of "fiery porphyry, like blood," is satisfaction, the offering up of self as a sacrifice and the receiving of Christ's atonement, thus cleansing the soul. Only when one takes these three steps can there be true repentance. The Lord is near to those who are brokenhearted because of their sin.

MEDITATION PRAYER:  "Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest" (Ps. 51:4).

September 14, 2019

9/14/2019

Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead (Isa. 26:19).

    This is the day of which the apostle Paul spoke, when "the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first" (1 Thess. 4:16).

    In our promise text death is pictured as a sleep, for the prophet says, "Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust." The awakened saints, immortalized, will sing victory over death and the grave. When "this mortal shall have put on immortality," "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump," "then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory" (1 Cor. 15:52, 54).

    What a future this prophecy unrolls before us! Sometimes even Christians, speaking of a believer who has died, will say, "Our dear friend has gone to his final resting place." Let us never believe that for a moment! The grave is not the final resting place of any Christian. It is just the couch where they sleep through the night waiting for the resurrection morning, which has no shadow.

    A converted Japanese artist said recently to a Christian worker, "I suppose the reason English artist put so much perspective into their drawings is that Christianity has given them a future, and the reason Oriental artists fail to do so is that Buddha and Confucius do not raise their eyes above the present."

    So let us look forward in faith into "the great beyond, the wide, unbounded future of glory that is for the redeemed" (Testimonies for the Church, vol. 9, p. 288).

MEDITATION PRAYER:  "Consider and hear me, O Lord my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death" (Ps. 13:3).

September 13, 2019

9/13/2019

He that covereth his sin shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy (Prov. 28:13).

    This is the way of mercy--confession of sin, forsaking of sin. Those who cover their sin are tempted to falsify. They are guilty of hypocrisy in concealing or justifying their sins, or even making a loud profession to compensate for them.

    In confessing our sins we must be honest with the Lord. We must not only acknowledge our wrong but have a sense of its evil and deplore it. We must forsake the evil thing and all places, companions, books, radio and television broadcasts, or whatever will lead us back into sin. Some confess but do not forsake their sin. It is still in them. And remember, we are not forgiven as payment for our confession or reformation, but only through the blood and grace of Christ.

    A little girl playing in the park was frightened by a great dog that came bounding along, barking furiously. She burst out crying, and her mother could not pacify her. "See," said the mother, "the dog has stopped barking. Why don't you stop crying?"

    The little girl looked around at the dog and, still sobbing, said, "Yes, Mama, but the bark is still in him."

    Some earnestly try to reach the City of God, but hold on to some one sin. They are like drunken sailors who, on a dark night, were returning to their ship. They got into their little boat, which was tied to the wharf, drew out the oars, and began to row. They rowed and rowed, but still their ship did not appear. At last the soberest of them discovered that they had not untied the mooring rope. God asks us not only to row but to cut loose from sin. Then, "if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins" (1 John 1:9).

MEDITATION PRAYER:  "Unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy: for thou renderest to every man according to his work" (Ps. 62:12).

September 12, 2019

9/12/2019

Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope: even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee (Zech. 9:12).

    The prisoners of hope are to turn to their Stronghold. In times of distress and perplexity the unbelieving, who are not prisoners of hope, do not turn to the Stronghold. Their hearts fail them "for looking after those things which are coming on the earth" (Luke 21:26). Those who have not made God their refuge will not have Him for their consolation. Christ is our stronghold, and our hope is in Him. This promise is for those living in these last days.

    In Micah 4:8 we read: "And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion." The Babe of Bethlehem is to be the King of kings. The dominion lost in Adam is to be restored in Christ. The sufferings of God's people through all the ages will be rewarded double unto them in the eternal kingdom of heaven.

    This picture text brings to mind the words of Jesus to the dying thief on the cross. When all had rejected or forsaken the Savior, this criminal called Him "Lord." Then, from the cross as from a throne, the Savior issued the decree of His kingdom that this trusting soul, who in the eleventh hour had thrown himself upon his dying Lord, should be with Him in Paradise. He will indeed be remembered when the Lord comes in His kingdom. And that decree was dated "today"--"Verily I say unto thee today." So the cross dates every promise to the child of God and stamps it with authenticity.

    God's children may be strangers in a foreign land, some of them even in the prisonhouse of death, but they are all prisoners of hope--"that blessed hope" (Titus 2:13).

MEDITATION PRAYER:  "My soul fainteth for thy salvation: but I hope in thy word" (Ps. 119:81).

September 11, 2019

9/11/2019

Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established (Prov. 16:3).

    Committing our works, our doing, our plans--ourselves--once and for all to the hands of God takes away every cause for worry and concern. Our thoughts will be established, because we know that we belong to the Lord and He is watching over us, guiding us, sustaining us. The Scriptures declare: "As [a man] thinketh in his heart, so is he" (Prov. 23:7). And again: "Out of the...heart the mouth speaketh" (Matt. 12:34).

    Someone has said, "Whatever is in the well of our thoughts will come up in the bucket of our speech." When our thoughts are established, our works will be guided. Everything, then, depends upon the committal of the life to God. Our thoughts' being established will react upon our works, so that altogether we shall be His. We must remember that thoughts are things, or at least become things.

    The last words of Johann Herder, court preacher at Weimar and one of the most brilliant German authors, were: "Refresh me with a great thought."

    After enumerating many excellent and praiseworthy things, the apostle commands, "Think on these things" (Phil. 4:8).

    Charles Dickens based his lifework upon this principle: "Whatever I have tried to do in my life, I have tried with all my heart to do well. What I have devoted myself to, I have devoted myself to completely. Never to put one hand to anything on which I would not throw my whole self; never to affect depreciation of my work, whatever it was, I find now to have been golden rules."

    When our works are committed to God, our thoughts will be established. We will do all that we have to do with our might, whether it be great things or small. Then life can be only a success. Have we committed our works to the Lord?

MEDITATION PRAYER:  "Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands" (Ps. 90:17).