Tried With Fire

The way of the LORD is a stronghold to the blameless, but destruction to evildoers. Proverbs 10:29 The ways of God are righteous ways, blessed ways, and they bring in temporal, spiritual, and eternal blessings upon all who walk in them. His ways lead to righteousness, to the love and delight of righteousness, and to the practice of righteousness. As for the ways of profaneness, pride, hypocrisy, formality  and apostasy, these are not the ways of God. They are unrighteous ways, cursed ways, and they bring nothing but curses and crosses upon all who walk in them. Those that walk in these ways are in no way secure, but always liable to the thunderbolt of diving displeasure. But the ways of God are soul-refreshing ways. O they yield the soul an abundance of refreshment and sweetness! If a man's soul is tired and weary, the ways of the Lord will refresh it; if it is dead and dull, the ways of the Lord will quicken it; if it is fainting, the ways of the Lord will be co...

In seeking truth, remember it is not hasty reading, but serious meditating upon holy and heavenly truths that make them sweet and profitable to the soul.  It is not the bee's brief touching of the flower, but her abiding upon the flower that draws out the sweet.  It is not he that reads the most, but he that meditates most, that will prove the sweetest, wisest, and strongest Christian. Thomas Brooks, Works , I:8-9, from Voices From the Pas t, Banner of Truth, page 217.

My daughter and I get to spend an hour or so in the car when I drop her off for week-end visitation.  We often listen to music or sermons or just talk.  One thing we discussed was conviction and repentance.  A few years ago, she came under conviction and was in tears confessing and repenting for a past sin.  She never forgot that instance and never forgot to be encouraged when convicted because conviction leading to repentance is evidence of the work of the Holy Spirit. This was a good reminder for me today.  I have my moments like the Psalmist who looked at the wicked flourishing and wondered why they can breeze through life with nary a pang or at least easily suppress any pangs.  I confess I am still waiting for lightning to fall from heaven and nothing has happened.  But I am reminded of the sobering words of Thomas Brooks, " God is most angry when he shows no anger. God keep me from this mercy; this kind of mercy is worse than all other kind of...

"He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree." 1 Peter 2:24 Certainly the whole punishment of body and soul which was due unto us—Christ our Redeemer suffered. Our blessed Savior bore all the sins of the elect. He suffered the whole punishment which was due unto us—which we would have endured, if He had not atoned for our sins. He felt the anguish of soul, and horror of God's wrath—and in soul, experienced the torments of hell for us—and sustained them and vanquished them! All the pains, torments, curse, and wrath which were due to the elect—fell on Christ, until divine justice was fully satisfied. Though Christ did not suffer eternal death for sinners—yet He suffered that which was equivalent, and therefore the justice of God is wholly appeased by His death. Christ's infinite excellency and glory, made His short sufferings to be of infinite worth, and equivalent to our everlasting sufferings. Jesus suffered that which was necessary for our redemption, namely—tha...

I've had a couple of object lessons on sin from the animal kingdom. Lesson #1: We had a recent infestation of sugar ants around the kitchen sink. To get rid of them, I put out an insecticide called, Terro. It is a thick syrupy fluid containing borax. The ants were attracted to the sweet syrup. They eat it, take it back to the colony, and then die. It works very well. For some reason, this reminded me of sin. Sin disquises itself to be a "delight to the eyes and good for food". Those poor ants gorged themselves and even shared it with their family and friends. Everyone was enjoying it, everyone was doing it, so what harm can be in that? From appearances it was good for them but in reality it was poison. They were all dead in two days. Lesson #2: I always thought that our bunny, Lizzy, was relatively smart. However, in some things she is really stupid. She will eat the carpet in her condo as well as chew on plastic. Here are two substances that do not bear any resemblance t...