THE MINISTRY OF EVIL
-PSA. 130.-
The life of every
human being has its lights and shadows, its seasons of joy and its depths of
sorrow. These make up the warp and woof of experience, and the web of
character that flows from the active loom of life will be fine and beautiful,
or coarse and homely, according to the skill and carefulness with which the
individual appropriates and weaves into it the threads of experience. In every
life, under the present reign of sin and evil, the somber shades predominate;
and to such an extent that the Scriptures aptly describe humanity in its
present condition as a “groaning creation.” Nor is the Christian exempt from
these conditions that are upon the whole world; for “we also groan within ourselves,
waiting for deliverance.”-Rom. 8:22, 23.
But while we are waiting for the deliverance, the daily experiences of life
have a most important mission to us, and the manner in which we receive and use
them should be a matter of deepest concern to us; for, according to the use we
make of them, each day’s prosperity or adversity and trial bears to us a
blessing or a curse. Those experiences which we are accustomed to regard as
prosperous often have in them subtle dangers. If wealth increase or friends
multiply, how almost imperceptibly the heart finds its satisfaction in earthly
things; but, on the other hand, when the keen edge of sorrow and disappointment
are felt, when riches fail and friends forsake, and enemies take up a reproach
against us, the natural temptation is to despondency and despair.
Just here is an important part of the great battle of
the Christian life. He must fight the natural tendencies of the old nature and
confidently claim and anticipate the victory in the strength of the great
Captain of his salvation. He must not succumb to the flattering and deceptive
influences of prosperity, nor faint under the burdens of adversity. He must
not allow the trials of life to sour and harden his disposition, to make him
morose, or surly or bitter, or unkind. Nor may he allow pride or ostentation
or self-righteousness to grow and feed upon the temporal good things which the
Lord’s providence has granted him to test his faithfulness as a steward.
Sorrows indeed may, and often will, come in like a flood, but the Lord
is our helper in all these things. The soul that has never known the
discipline of sorrow and trouble has never yet learned the preciousness of the
Lord’s love and helpfulness. It is in seasons of overwhelming sorrow, when we
draw near to the Lord, that he draws specially near to us. So the Psalmist
found it, when, in deep affliction, he cried to the Lord and reasoned of his
righteousness, saying: “Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord.
Lord, hear my voice: let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my
supplications.” Feeling his own shortcomings and longing for full deliverance
from every imperfection, and prophesying the bountiful provisions of the divine
plan of salvation through Christ, he adds: “If thou, Lord, shouldest mark
iniquities [imputing them to us], O Lord, who shall stand? But there is
forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared [reverenced].”
How blessed are such assurances when the soul is painfully conscious of its
infirmities and of its inability to measure up to the perfect law of
righteousness. When the heart is true and loyal, God does not mark our
infirmities in a record against us. They are not imputed to us, but are freely
forgiven through Christ in whose merit we trust and whose righteousness is our
glorious dress-arrayed in which we may come with humble boldness, even into the
presence of the King of kings and Lord of lords.
If God thus ignores the infirmities of our flesh and receives and communes with
us as new creatures in Christ, his children should also so regard one another,
considering not, and charging not against each other, the infirmities of the
flesh, which all humbly confess and by the grace of God strive daily to
overcome. “If God be for us, who can be against us?” The case is different,
however, when the infirmities of the flesh are cultivated, indulged and
justified that the errors may be continued. Then, indeed, they are charged
against us, and if we do not speedily “judge ourselves,” the Lord will
judge and chasten us.-I Cor. 11:31, 32.
“I wait for the Lord,” the Psalmist continues, “my soul doth wait, and in his
word do I hope. My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the
morning.” How necessary is this patient waiting for the Lord! In the
midst of cares, perplexities, difficulties and infirmities we may remember that
all the jarring discords of life are working together for good to them that
love the Lord, to the called according to his purpose. But for the
consummation of this purpose of God toward us we must “wait,” and while
waiting patiently, endure hardness as good soldiers. “Trust in the Lord
and wait patiently for him, and he will bring it to pass.” Time is an important element in all God’s plans: we are not,
therefore, to be disappointed when the test of endurance is applied while the
blessings we crave tarry long. God took time to frame the world and to fit it
for human habitation; time (6,000 years) to give the world its necessary
experience with evil; time (4,000 years) to prepare for the advent of Christ as
the world’s Redeemer; time (2,000 years) for the preparation of the church to
share in his glorious reign; and time must be allowed for the shaping and
adjusting of the individual affairs of all his people. God has not forgotten
when the answers to our prayers seem to tarry long. He who heeds the
sparrow’s fall and numbers the very hairs of our heads is not indifferent to
the faintest call or the smallest necessity of his humblest child.
“MORE THAN THEY THAT WAIT FOR THE MORNING”
“My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the Morning-I say more
than they that wait for the Morning.”
The “brethren” are not in darkness respecting the dawn of the Millennial
morning, because taught thereof by the Comforter (See I Thes. 5:4), and because
to their eyes of faith the Day Star (the Day-bringer-Christ) has already
appeared, and they rejoice in the inspired testimony that, although “weeping
may endure for the night [of sin’s predominance], joy cometh in the morning” of
the great day of the Lord. And as the dawn of the new day, “the day of
Christ,” becomes more and more distinct, many besides the “brethren” can and do
see signs that “the night is far spent and the day is at hand;” and by and by,
notwithstanding the dark clouds and terrible storm of trouble that will
temporarily hide the signs of morning from them, all the world-even the still
sleeping nominal church-will awake to the fact that “The morn at last is
breaking.”
But many of those who are now watching for the morning from the standpoint of
Socialism, Nationalism, etc., are not waiting for the Lord; in fact, they do
not know the Lord, his character and his kingdom having been so sadly
misrepresented by those who claimed to be his mouthpieces. They rejoice in the
morning, because it ushers in the golden age of human equality, general
education, decreased toil, and increased privileges, comforts and luxuries.
“God is not in all their thoughts” when they look for the morning. Looking
from a more or less selfish standpoint, and unguided by the divine
revelation-for no man knoweth the mind of God save he who has the spirit of God
(I Cor. 2:11, 12)-they fail to see the real object and chief characteristic of
the coming age of blessing, and are merely championing the interests of the
masses as against the present special advantages of the wealthy. They see not
the greatest blessings of the dawning day; that with earthly comforts and
privileges it will bring the great blessing of a trial for everlasting life;
that it will be the world’s Judgment Day, to determine who, under those
favorable conditions, will develop characters in harmony with God’s character.
But with the “brethren” it is different. While they appreciate the coming
earthly blessings none the less, but the more intelligently, the Lord, his
character and the work which will be accomplished for men by the great
Physician-as Prophet, Priest and King-these more weighty and more valuable
considerations outweigh by far the earthly favors which will attend his
kingdom’s rule. Yes, the “brethren” wait for the Lord himself, longing to see
the king in his beauty-the fairest among ten thousand, the one altogether
lovely. Yes, truly our souls “wait for the Lord more than they
that watch for the morning.”
Then let all the Israel of God hope in the Lord (verses 7, 8), for with the
Lord there is mercy; mercy not only in dealing with our infirmities, but also
in shielding from overwhelming trials and in granting grace to help in every
time of need-to those who abide in the Vine by faith and obedience.