Later you will understand!
("Every Day!" Author unknown,)
"You do not realize now what I am doing--but later you will understand." John 13:7
Peter could not apprehend the design of our Lord in washing the disciples' feet, and impatiently expressed his surprise, "You shall never wash my feet!" Our gracious Savior in effect replied, "Wait a little, Peter--and you will see the reason for My doing so. You do not realize now what I am doing--but later you will understand."
How often are we impatient when we cannot at once see the design of the Lord's dealings with us. Sometimes, when events run contrary to our desires and expectations--we are ready, like Jacob, to say, "All these things are against me!" While in reality, none of them are against us--but all are, in a wonderful way, working together for our good.
Oh for more confidence in Him who, in infinite wisdom, is so ordering the circumstances of our lives as to promote our spiritual welfare here--and our eternal advantage in the world to come.
Even in the present life, the Lord sometimes shows us the meaning of His past dealings with us, and convinces us that when He was leading us in a rough path--He was leading us by the right way towards the city of habitation.
"Blind unbelief is sure to err,
And scan His work in vain!
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain!"
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My times are in Your hand!
("Every Day!" Author unknown,)
"My times are in Your hand!" Psalm 31:15
Is not this truth a joy to you, my soul?
It would be a sorry thing for me if my times were in my own hands--and it would afford me little satisfaction if my times were in anangel's hands. How restful should I be in knowing that they are in Savior's nail-pierced hands!
He sees the end from the beginning.
He knows how to apportion my sorrows and my joys.
He knows what to give--and what to withhold.
He knows also when to give--and when to take away.
But, alas! how often is my heart mistrustful--how often have I murmured under the trying dispensations of His providence! O my soul, be ashamed and confounded--be humbled in the dust that you should ever call in question the wisdom or kindness of the dealings of Him who so loved you as to give His life for your redemption!
Help me, O God of my salvation, henceforth, with childlike confidence and peaceful trust--to yield all to You, and to rejoice in the assurance that "My times are in Your hand!"
"My times are in Your hand;
Why should I doubt or fear?
My Father's hand will never cause
His child a needless tear!"
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When we find the path thorny, and the journey toilsome!
("Every Day!" Author unknown,)
"They were longing for a better country--a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared acity for them." Hebrews 11:16
"Here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come!" Hebrews 13:14
"Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city!" Revelation 22:14
God has prepared a city for His redeemed people. Towards that city we are ever journeying. And as we are but sojourners, as our citizenship is in Heaven--let us manifest the pilgrim spirit. While we thankfully use and enjoy the accommodations along the way, let it plainly appear that we do not regard this transient world as our home--but that our affections are set supremely on things which are above. Let it be manifest that we act from higher principles than those which govern the men of this poor world. May our companions, our pleasures, and our spirit plainly show that we are not of the earth--but that we are citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem.
As sojourners, let us patiently endure the trials of the way. If we are faithful witnesses for the Lord--we must expect the world's scorn. But like Moses, may we esteem reproach for Christ as greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. And when we find the path thorny, and the journey toilsome--let us remember that it is short, and that,
"Nightly we pitch our moving tent
A day's march nearer home!"
"Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims--abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul!" 1 Peter 2:11
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The searching, burning, purifying fires of Christ's furnace!
(Octavius Winslow, "Daily Need Divinely Supplied")
"He will sit as a Refiner and Purifier of silver--He will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. " Malachi 3:3
(Octavius Winslow, "Daily Need Divinely Supplied")
"He will sit as a Refiner and Purifier of silver--He will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. " Malachi 3:3
"I will refine them like silver and purify them like gold!" Zechariah 13:9
O my soul, what deep need is there for this refining and purifying of your Lord . . .
what inward corruption,
what carnality,
what worldliness,
what self-seeking,
what creature idolatry,
what God dishonoring unbelief!
All these imperatively demand the searching, burning, purifying fires of Christ's furnace!
My soul--your Refiner and Purifier is Jesus!
O my soul, what deep need is there for this refining and purifying of your Lord . . .
what inward corruption,
what carnality,
what worldliness,
what self-seeking,
what creature idolatry,
what God dishonoring unbelief!
All these imperatively demand the searching, burning, purifying fires of Christ's furnace!
My soul--your Refiner and Purifier is Jesus!
It is a consolatory thought that our refining is in the hands of Jesus--in the hands that were pierced for us on the cross!
Jesus shapes all your trials!
Jesus sends all your afflictions!
Jesus mixes all your sorrows!
Jesus shapes and balances all the clouds of your pilgrimage!
Jesus prepares and heats the furnace that refines you as silver and purifies you as gold!
Then, O my soul, tremble not . . .
at the knife that wounds you,
at the flame that scorches you,
at the cloud that shades you,
at the billows that surge above you.
Jesus is in it all--and you are as safe as though you had reached the blissful climate . . .
where the vine needs no pruning,
and where the ore needs no purifying,
where the sky is never darkened, and
upon whose golden sands where no storms of adversity ever blow, or waves of sorrow ever break.
Mark the Refiner's position. "He will SIT as a refiner and purifier of silver." It would be fatal to is purpose, if the human refiner were to leave his post while the liquid mass was seething in the cauldron. But there he patiently sits, watching and tempering the flame, and removing the refuse and the dross as it floats upon the surface of the molten ore.
Just so, Christ sits as a Refiner . . .
and with an eye that never slumbers,
and with a patience that never wearies,
and with a love that never chills,
and with a faithfulness that never falters,
He watches and controls the process that . . .
purifies our hearts,
burnishes our graces,
sanctifies our nature, and
impresses more vividly His own image of loveliness upon our soul.
If He places you in the fire, He will bring you through the fire, "that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ."
But sweet and soothing is the truth that the believer is not alone in the fire! The Refiner is with us, as with the three Hebrew children passing through the king's burning furnace.
The Lord will have us be polished stones. As some believers are more rusty and some more alloyed than others--they need a rougher file, and a hotter furnace!
This may account for the great severity of trial through which some of the Lord's precious jewels are called to pass. Not less dear to His heart, are they for this refining.
Look up, my soul, to your Refiner!
The knife is in a Father's hand!
The flame is under a Savior's control!
Jesus sends all your afflictions!
Jesus mixes all your sorrows!
Jesus shapes and balances all the clouds of your pilgrimage!
Jesus prepares and heats the furnace that refines you as silver and purifies you as gold!
Then, O my soul, tremble not . . .
at the knife that wounds you,
at the flame that scorches you,
at the cloud that shades you,
at the billows that surge above you.
Jesus is in it all--and you are as safe as though you had reached the blissful climate . . .
where the vine needs no pruning,
and where the ore needs no purifying,
where the sky is never darkened, and
upon whose golden sands where no storms of adversity ever blow, or waves of sorrow ever break.
Mark the Refiner's position. "He will SIT as a refiner and purifier of silver." It would be fatal to is purpose, if the human refiner were to leave his post while the liquid mass was seething in the cauldron. But there he patiently sits, watching and tempering the flame, and removing the refuse and the dross as it floats upon the surface of the molten ore.
Just so, Christ sits as a Refiner . . .
and with an eye that never slumbers,
and with a patience that never wearies,
and with a love that never chills,
and with a faithfulness that never falters,
He watches and controls the process that . . .
purifies our hearts,
burnishes our graces,
sanctifies our nature, and
impresses more vividly His own image of loveliness upon our soul.
If He places you in the fire, He will bring you through the fire, "that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ."
But sweet and soothing is the truth that the believer is not alone in the fire! The Refiner is with us, as with the three Hebrew children passing through the king's burning furnace.
The Lord will have us be polished stones. As some believers are more rusty and some more alloyed than others--they need a rougher file, and a hotter furnace!
This may account for the great severity of trial through which some of the Lord's precious jewels are called to pass. Not less dear to His heart, are they for this refining.
Look up, my soul, to your Refiner!
The knife is in a Father's hand!
The flame is under a Savior's control!
Be still, be humble, be submissive.
"Heed the rod--and the One who appointed it!" Micah 6:9
"I was silent; I would not open my mouth--for You are the one who has done this!" Psalm 39:9
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