The Salvation of God's People as a Lamp That Burneth

"Woe is me, for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grape gleanings of the vintage; there is no cluster to eat; my soul desired the first ripe fruit. The good man is perished out of the earth, and there is none upright among men." -Micah 7:1-2 [KJV]

 

Is not this lamentation as suited to the present times, as when the prophet delivered it? Were the interests of Zion ever at a lower ebb than now? Did the waters of the sanctuary run less in a stream in any period of the church than the present? Surely it is like the in-gathering of the fruits of the earth at this season of the year; the choicest are gone; the trees are unladen. It is only here and there, as "the shaking of an olive-tree; two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough," Isaiah 17:6. The Lord hath been calling home His chosen. Death hath been housing the servants of the Lord. And even those that remain, alas! Are they not more like the gleanings, than like the first ripe fruits. Who is there interested for Zion? Who layeth it to heart, that she languisheth in all her borders?

 

My soul! can a throne of grace witness for thee, that many a petition thou art lodging there, that "the LORD would do good in His pleasure unto Zion?" Is it known to the great Searcher of hearts, that thou preferrest "her prosperity above thy chief joy?" Dost thou tell the King that thou lovest Him, in loving His people; and knowing the preciousness of thine own salvation, art thou seeking by prayer, and by every means in thy power to form and promote the salvation of others? Oh Lord! give me grace "for Zion's sake never to hold my peace, nor for Jerusalem's sake to rest, till the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth!" -Isaiah 62:1

 

-preacher Robert Hawker (1753-1827 A.D.)

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