"The Lord Delighteth in Thee"

What a way to begin a new week with the knowledge that the Lord delights in me! The verses from Daily Light were such an encouragement to me this morning.

The LORD delighteth in thee.

HUS saith the LORD that created thee, . . . Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.--Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.

The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.--My delights were with the sons of men.--The LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.--They shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.

You, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight.

ISA. 62. 4. Is. 43. 1.--Is. 49. 15, 16.
Ps. 37. 23.--Pr. 8. 31.--Ps. 147. 11.--
Mal. 3. 17. Col. 1. 21, 22.

"Whatsoever ye do..."

Too many times I find myself doing the right things for the wrong reasons. Oswald Chambers hit me over the head today with the reminder that I need to do everything for God's glory. Several years ago I heard a very simple definition of what "God's glory" was: giving a correct opinion of God to others. Hmmmm. My concern too frequently is to give a complimentary opinion of myself to others. Methinks there is some work to be done here.

"Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." 1 Corinthians 10:31 "The great marvel of the Incarnation slips into ordinary childhood's life; the great marvel of the Transfiguration vanishes in the devil-possessed valley; the glory of the Resurrection descends into a breakfast on the sea-shore. This is not an anti-climax, but a great revelation of God. "The tendency is to look for the marvellous in our experience; we mistake the sense of the heroic for being heroes. It is one thing to go through a crisis grandly, but another thing to go through every day glorifying God when there is no witness, no limelight, no one paying the remotest attention to us. If we do not want mediaeval haloes, we want something that will make people say - What a wonderful man of prayer he is! What a pious devoted woman she is! If you are rightly devoted to the Lord Jesus, you have reached the sublime height where no one ever thinks of noticing you, all that is noticed is that the power of God comes through you all the time. "Oh, I have had a wonderful call from God! It takes Almighty God Incarnate in us to do the meanest duty to the glory of God. It takes God's Spirit in us to make us so absolutely humanly His that we are utterly unnoticeable. The test of the life of a saint is not success, but faithfulness in human life as it actually is. We will set up success in Christian work as the aim; the aim is to manifest the glory of God in human life, to live the life hid with Christ in God in human conditions. Our human relationships are the actual conditions in which the ideal life of God is to be exhibited."

Quote for the day

My Elisabeth Elliot flip calendar gave this appropriate quote for my day.

"Lord, deliver me from the urge to open my mouth when I should shut it. Give me the wisdom to keep silence where silence is wise. Remind me that not everything needs to be said and that there are very few things that need to be said by me." From A Lamp for My Feet, p. 42

"A man of understanding holds his peace." Prov. 11:12

Satisfied

From Spurgeon:

My people shall be satisfied with my goodness, saith the Lord. (Jeremiah 31:14)

Note the "my" which comes twice: "My people shall be satisfied with my goodness."

The kind of people who are satisfied with God are marked out as God's own. He is pleased with them, for they are pleased with Him. They call Him their God, and He calls them His people; He is satisfied to take them for a portion, and they are satisfied with Him for their portion. There is a mutual communion of delight between God's Israel and Israel's God.

These people are satisfied. This is a grand thing. Very few of the sons of men are ever satisfied, let their lot be what it may; they have swallowed the horse-leech, and it continually cries, "Give! give!" Only sanctified souls are satisfied souls. God Himself must both convert us and content us.

It is no wonder that the Lord's people should be satisfied with the goodness of their Lord. Here is goodness without mixture, bounty without stint, mercy without chiding, love without change, favor without reserve. If God's goodness does not satisfy us, what will? What! are we still groaning? Surely there is a wrong desire within if it be one which God's goodness does not satisfy.

Lord, I am satisfied. Blessed be Thy name.

The Magnitude of Grace

From Spurgeon:

My grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is made perfect in weakness. (2 Corinthians 12:9)

Our weakness should be prized as making room for divine strength. We might never have known the power of grace if we had not felt the weakness of nature. Blessed be the Lord for the thorn in the flesh, and the messenger of Satan, when they drive us to the strength of God.

This is a precious word from our Lord's own lip. It has made the writer laugh for joy. God's grace enough for me! I should think it is. Is not the sky enough for the bird and the ocean enough for the fish? The All-Sufficient is sufficient for my largest want. He who is sufficient for earth and heaven is certainly able to meet the case of one poor worm like me.

Let us, then, fall back upon our God and His grace. If He does not remove our grief, He will enable us to bear it. His strength shall be poured into us till the worm shall thresh the mountains, and a nothing shall be victor over all the high and mighty ones. It is better for us to have God's strength than our own; for if we were a thousand times as strong as we are, it would amount to nothing in the face of the enemy; and if we could be weaker than we are, which is scarcely possible, yet we could do all things through Christ.

"O Taste and See"

Oh that men would praise the LORD

for his goodness, and for his

wonderful works to the children of

men!

TASTE and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.--How great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee!

This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise.--Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.--That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

How great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty!--The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works. All thy works shall praise thee, O LORD; and thy saints shall bless thee. They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power; to make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom.

PSA. 107. 8. Ps. 34. 8.--Ps. 31. 19.
Is. 43. 21.--Ep. 1. 5, 6, 12. Zec. 9. 17.--
Ps. 145. 9-12.

Jotham

In my reading for today, I came to the short chapter of II Chron. 27 (only 9 verses). It very succinctly tells of the 16 year reign of Jotham, king of Judah.

Some key phrases that greatly encouraged me were:
verse 2 - "And he did right in the sight of the LORD..." Later in the verse it states, however, that the people of Judah continued "acting corruptly". Even when he stood alone, Jotham was faithful.

verses 3-5 - "He built...and he built...Moreover, he built...He fought..." He continually built fortresses against the enemy, and then actively fought against the enemy. He was constantly on his guard, realizing this life of righteousness is a constant battle.

verse 6 - "So Jotham became mighty because he ordered his ways before the LORD his God."

My prayer is that I will do right in the sight of the LORD, build fortifications and fight against evil, and become mighty (in Him) by ordering my ways before the Lord.

In His Time

From Spurgeon:

For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. (Habakkuk 2:3)

Mercy may seem slow, but it is sure. The Lord in unfailing wisdom has appointed a time for the outgoings of His gracious power, and God's time is the best time. We are in a hurry; the vision of the blessings excites our desire and hastens our longings; but the Lord will keep His appointments. He never is before His time; He never is behind.

God's word is here spoken of as a living thing which will speak and will come. It is never a dead letter, as we are tempted to fear when we have long watched for its fulfillment. The living word is on the way from the living God, and though it may seem to linger, it is not in reality doing so. God's train is not behind time. It is only a matter of patience, and we shall soon see for ourselves the faithfulness of the Lord. No promise of His shall fail; "it will not lie." No promise of His will be lost in silence; "it shall speak." What comfort it will speak to the believing ear! No promise of His shall need to be renewed like a bill which could not be paid on the day in which it fell due-"it will not tarry."

Come, my soul, canst thou not wait for thy God? Rest in Him and be still in unutterable peacefulness.