Wait and Be Of Good Courage, friends...

"Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD." —Psalm 27:14 [KJV]

"Be of good courage!" Alas, how can one be so, when all sense and feeling tend to dishearten the mind and deject the soul. Lively frames in duty, sweet enlargements of heart, heavenly transports of joy, delightful ecstasies of faith, ravishing tastes of love, all, all, like Noah's dove, have taken their flight; and I fear, says the drooping soul, never, never more to return. 

Truly, like Hezekiah, "I mourn as a dove, mine eyes fail with looking upward, O LORD I am oppressed, undertake for me."—Isaiah 38:14. Still, saith the Comforter (the Holy Ghost) by His word, "Be of good courage." Remember thy calling: It is to live by faith, to honor thy Lord, and be obedient to His word. Thou hast the sentence of death in thyself, that thou shouldst not trust in thyself, lest thine heart depart from thy Lord. Not frames and feelings, but God's love and promises in Christ Jesus to sinners, are the foundation of hope. 

These are abundantly sufficient to inspire the soul with courage, yea with good courage, to go on in the ways of the Lord. Here is the steadiness of faith; to cleave to Jesus, to abide by the truth, steadily to persevere in the paths of duty in the course of obedience to Him. Shall this ever be suspended because we have not lively frames and joyful feelings? How would this prove that we walk by faith, and that our eye is single to Christ's glory? Nay, we shall then serve the Lord only by fits and starts of sense and passion, rather than by the uniform, consistent obedience of faith. 

The Lord's word is our rule of duty; His promises our support; His grace is sufficient for us; His strength is made perfect in our weakness. If our hearts are weak, that we cannot run with alacrity the way of God's commandments as we desire, so much the more reason have we for our souls to wait on the Lord for the times of refreshing from His presence. He will strengthen our hearts, "for He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might He increaseth strength."—Isaiah 40:29. 

"Wait, I say, on the LORD." David repeats the injunction, with a holy fervor, both to his own soul and to others. God has promised, expect fulfilment. Here is the exercise of FAITH, trust in the Lord Christ for what we stand in need of: of HOPE, expecting to receive all from Him; of PATIENCE, waiting continually upon Him. Most precious promise! "They that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint."—Isaiah 40:31. 

"The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ."—II Thessalonians 3:5.

-preacher William Mason (1724-1797 A.D.)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

JESUS - Rock of Ages

Jesus remains the same in all ages. He is the One who is constant when everything and everyone else fails. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever; the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. He is our R ock [I SAMUEL 2:2 ] . In the Old Testament, in Exodus 33, Jesus is pictured as the Cleft Rock. In that chapter, verse 18 and following, Moses desired to see the glory of the Lord, but was told, "You cannot see My face; for there shall no man see My face and live.” And the Lord said, “There is a place by Me, and you shalt stand upon a rock: and it shall come to pass, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by." Notice that as Moses stood upon the rock, the Lord hid him in the cleft. This wonderfully applies to us today! Believers are both standing on and hidden in Christ [COLOSSIANS 3:3 ] . We are both in and on the Rock. As life with its many bitter events presses upon us, ...
Read more

CHRIST OUR ONLY AND PERFECT RIGHTEOUSNESS

" The flesh lusteth against the Spirit." —Galatians 5:17 [KJV] Christian experience fully proves this apostolic truth. Hence the children of God cannot do the things that they would: nor have we any authority from God's word to conclude this lusting ever ceased in any of the saints till they got to glory; none are delivered from it while in the flesh. For, as the renewed soul or spirit loves to enjoy spiritual and heavenly objects, so the flesh, or unrenewed part, lusts after those objects it is naturally conversant with, and from which it derives its happiness.  Here is thy conflict, O Christian. Hence the necessity of thy Lord's command, "Watch always." This is the use of the doctrine. What woeful effects have fulfilling the lusts or desires of the flesh produced in eminent saints! Thou standest by faith, be not high-minded, but fear. The conceptions of lust are the productions of sin.— see James 1:15 . The commission of sin contracts fresh s...
Read more

GLORY ALONE IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST

" Lest Israel vaunt themselves against Me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me." -Judges 7:2 [KJV] Thus the Lord reasoned with Gideon. He knows what is in man. He sees the pride of the human heart: how prone we all are to boast in an arm of flesh. The Lord is jealous of His own glory. Gideon’s army of two and thirty thousand, is brought down to three hundred. By this handful of men, and no more, did Gideon gain the victory of the Midianites. The Lord’s wisdom in this was, “Lest Israel should vaunt themselves, and say, Mine own hand hath saved me.”   But I have not transcribed the text right. There are two little words of great import, which I have omitted. Mind then, O Christian— against Me. Now remember, whenever thou dost boast of thy power, thy free-will, thy human goodness, thy works, ditties, conditions, and performances in order to be saved, thou art then, as it were, two and thirty thousand strong. Thou vauntest thyself against the Lord . Thou art gloryi...
Read more