The LORD takes pleasure in His people

"Thus saith thy LORD, the LORD, and thy GOD Who pleadeth the cause of His people" -Isaiah 51:22 [KJV]

Thou poor soul, who art almost at thy wits’ end, drunk with trouble, and intoxicated with affliction, over thee do men insult, and Satan triumph? Are they saying to thee, “Bow down, thou poor, insignificant wretch! that we may go over thee.” You a Christian! you are not what you profess. In the lowliness of thy mind, and in the meekness of thy heart, dost thou take all this? And, as it were, hast thou laid thy body on the ground, and suffered thyself to be walked over? All this cannot satisfy the fury of thine enemies. Wherein art thou to take comfort under all this? Verily, from, thus saith thy Lord. Thy Lord: mind that. 

However men treat thee, they cannot take thy Lord, nor His love from thee: nor should they at any time disturb thy peace, or destroy thy comfort in Him. For the Lord Is thy God. Thy is again repeated. Why? that thou shouldest take special notice of it; be doubly confident in it. O the sweetness of these pronouns, My and Thy! The preciousness of the gospel (says Luther) consists in them. “Who pleaded the cause of His people.” Who doth this but Jesus? Then He is thy Lord: the Lord and thy God. Canst thou desire a better? Wouldst thou look to any other pleader? This righteous Advocate has fully undertaken thy cause, without fee or reward. 

Yea, such is His amazing love for thee, such His astonishing readiness to serve thee, that unsought, unasked, He voluntarily undertook to plead thy desperate cause. Thou art not asked to put into His hands. But thou art content, and happy to see it there. Canst thou help loving and thanking such a dear Advocate, such a blessed Mediator? This precious pleader hath two points to carry for us. 

(1st.) To acquit us from every charge of the law, every condemnation of justice, and all the fury of divine wrath due to our sins: 

(2d.) To obtain for us the comforting, renewing, sanctifying influence of the Holy Ghost. For this, He pleads the perfect atonement of His death, and the spotless obedience of His life. 

O! let what He ever pleads before the throne, be the constant objects of our faith: so shall we triumph over all the powers of darkness—the evil of sin—the curse of the law, and even sing victory in distress. Mind this precious word, and rejoice. “The LORD taketh pleasure in His people: He will beautify the meek with salvation” (Psalm 149:4). Then do you take pleasure in the Lord, and glory in His salvation. 

 

I shall prevail, for Jesus pleads 

My cause against my foes: 

My soul on death and danger treads, 

Quite safe from all their woes. 

The faith of this makes me rejoice, 

To walk the ways of God: 

‘Tis sweet to hear His loving voice 

All thro’ the heav’nly road.

 

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

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