Category: Affliction

The World Rising In Hostility

August 17, 2020 jakin7

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

Matthew 5:10-12

“Happy are they who suffer persecution The disciples of Christ have very great need of this instruction; and the more hard and disagreeable it is for the flesh to admit it, the more earnestly ought we to make it the subject of our meditation.

 

We cannot be Christ’s soldiers  on any other condition, than to have the greater part of the world rising in hostility against us, and pursuing us even to death. The state of the matter is this. Satan, the prince of the world, will never cease to fill his followers with rage, to carry on hostilities against the members of Christ. It is, no doubt, monstrous and unnatural, that men, who study to live a righteous life, should be attacked and tormented in a way which they do not deserve.

Yet, in consequence of the unbridled wickedness of the world, it too frequently happens, that good men, through a zeal of righteousness, arouse against them the resentments of the ungodly. Above all, it is, as we may say, the ordinary lot of Christians to be hated by the majority of men: for the flesh cannot endure the doctrine of the Gospel; none can endure to have their vices reproved.”

John Calvin (1509-1564)

Calvin, John. “Commentary on Matthew 5:10”. “Calvin’s Commentary on the Bible”

My Soul

February 29, 2020 jakin7

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.
Langston Hughes (1901-1967)

If you must look back, do so forgivingly. If you will look forward, do so prayerfully. But the wisest course would be to be present in the present gratefully.

Maya Angelou (1928-2014)

How Long?

February 15, 2020 jakin7

How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
Psalm 13:1a

“So doth God with his saints, and with those that be
in league with him; he withdraweth himself oft, and
keeps aloof oft for a long time together to try what
they will do, and what courses they will take when
God seemeth to break with them and to leave them in the suds,
as we say; amist many difficulties much perplexed, as
it was with David at this time. “
-Thomas Gataker (1574-1654)

How long will you hide your face from me?
Psalm 13:1b

“Though it be proper to know our own hearts, for the purposes
of conviction, yet, if we expect consolation from this quarter,
we shall find ourselves sadly disappointed. Such, for a time, appears
to have been the case of David. He seems to have been in great
distress; and as is common in such cases, his thoughts turned
inward, casting in his mind what he should do, and what would be the end of things. While thus exercised, he had sorrow in his
heart daily; but, betaking himself to God for relief, he succeeded,
trusting in his mercy, his heart rejoiced in his salvation. There
are many persons, who, when in trouble, imitate David in the former part of this experience: I wish we may imitate him in the latter.”
Andrew Fuller (1754-1815)

How long must I wrestle with my thoughts

and every day have sorrow in my heart? Psalm 13:2a

How long will my enemy triumph over me? Psalm13: 2b

Look on me and answer, O Lord my God.
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death; Psalm 13:3

.

my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”
and my foes will rejoice when I fall. Psalm13:4

But I trust in your unfailing love;

my heart rejoices in your salvation. Psalm 13: 5

I will sing to the Lord,
for he has been good to me. Psalm 13:6

“Faith keeps the soul from sinking under heavy trials, by bringing
in former experiences of the power, mercy, and faithfulness of God to the afflicted soul. Hereby was the Psalmist supported in distress.
Oh, saith faith, remember what God hath done both for thy outward and
inward man: he hath not only delivered thy body when in trouble, but
he hath done great things for thy soul; he hath brought thee out of
a state of black nature, entered into a covenant relation with thee,
made his goodness pass before thee; he hath helped thee to pray, and
many times hath heard thy prayers and thy tears. Hath he not formerly
brought thee out of the horrible pit, and out of the miry clay, and
put a new song in thy mouth, and made thee to resolve never to give way to such unbelieving thoughts and fears again? and how unbecoming is it for thee now to sink in trouble?
John Willison (1680-1750)

Round The Water-Brooks

September 28, 2019 jakin7


As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, O God.

Psalm 42:1

“And here we have started up, and sent leaping over the plain another of Solomon’s favourites. What elegant creatures those gazelles are, and how gracefully they bound!… The sacred writers frequently mention gazelles under the various names of harts, roes, and hinds. …

I have seen large flocks of these panting harts gather round the water-brooks in great deserts of Central Syria, so subdued by thirst that you could approach quite near them before they fled.-” W.M.Thomson (1806-1896)

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?

Psalm 42:2

“The living God.” There are three respects especially in which our God is said to be the “living God.” First, originally, because he only hath
life in himself, and of himself, and all creatures have it from him. Secondly, operatively, because he is the only giver of life unto man. Our life, in the threefold extent and capacity of it, whether we take it for natural, or spiritual, or eternal, flows to us from God. Thirdly, God is said to be the “living God” by way of distinction, and in opposition to all false gods.- Thomas Horton (-1673)

My tears have been my food day and night,

while men say to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”

Psalm 42:3

“How powerfully do the scoffs and reproaches of the ungodly tend to shake the faith of a mind already dejected!

How peculiarly afflicted to the soul that loves God, is the dishonour cast upon him by his enemies!- “

Henry March (1791-1869)

These things I remember
as I pour out my soul:

how I used to go with the multitude,
leading the procession to the house of God,

with shouts of joy and thanksgiving
among the festive throng. Psalm 42: 4

This idea comes from The Treasury Of David Classic Reflections on the Wisdom of the Psalms by Charles H. Spurgeon Vol 1 pp. 276-279

Read More

The Cellar

April 14, 2019 jakin7

 

 

 

When I am in the cellar of affliction, there I found my Lord’s choicest wine.

Samuel Rutherford (1600-1661)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Teach Me Show Me

April 10, 2018 jakin7

Teach me the glory of my cross;

teach me the value of my thorn.

Show me that I have climbed to Thee by the path of pain.

Show me that my tears have made

my rainbows.

George Matheson (1842-1906)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of Willows and Harps

June 18, 2017 jakin7

 

By the rivers of Babel we sat, and there we wept, when we remembered Zion.

We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.

Then they that led us captive, required of us songs and mirth, when we had hanged up our harps, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.

 

How shall we sing, said we, a song of the Lord in a strange land?

If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget to play.

If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth: yea, if I prefer not Jerusalem to my chief joy.

Psalm:137:1-6  1599 Geneva Bible (GNV)

 

 

This Voice Within

February 5, 2017 jakin7

 

  

“Affliction is able to drown out every earthly voice…
but the voice of eternity within a man it cannot drown.
When by the aid of affliction all irrelevant voices are
brought to silence, it can be heard, this voice within.”

Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)