“THOU CROWNEST THE YEAR WITH THY GOODNESS.”
-PSALM
65:11.-DEC. 30.-
WHAT MORE appropriate
lesson could have been chosen for the close of the year! It is fitting that
the Lord’s people should continually keep trace of the mercies and blessings
they enjoy-otherwise the pressure of the cares of this life and the
deceitfulness of riches would so crowd in upon our minds and hearts as to cover
from our observation and ultimately choke up completely the springs of divine grace,
which, kept open, minister continually to our joy and refreshment in the holy
spirit.
To this end it is appropriate that we have a daily review of the blessings
we enjoy-that every evening we call to mind the privileges enjoyed, the
providences which have guided our way, and the blessings, both temporal and
spiritual, which have come to us; some of them in common with the world in
general and others of a special kind, known too and appreciated by those only
who know the Shepherd and are known of him;-who hear his voice and to whom the
rod and staff, his chastenings and guidance, are continually a comfort and a
joy.
It is appropriate, too, that we take weekly reviews, looking at the same
mercies and blessings from a still broader standpoint of observation, reminding
us of the rest into which we have entered through faith in the precious blood,
and also of the rest that remains for the people of God, whereof God has given
us assurance in that on the first day of the week he raised up Jesus from the dead.-Heb.
4:3,9.
But it is with special appropriateness that at the close of the still
larger cycle of a year we should take a still broader and more comprehensive
view of our experiences, looking circumspectly at the way we have traveled and
considering well which have been the steps which hindered progress, and which
have been proper steps in the footprints of Jesus, bringing us nearer to the
goal-the “mark” which we must surely attain if we would be accounted worthy of
a share in the promised Kingdom.
A year may seem a longer or a shorter period, according to the
circumstances. To the mind of childhood it is a very long period, while to
more developed minds, filled with the activities of life, it seems much
shorter-speeding all too rapidly to permit the accomplishment of all the things
desired to be achieved. Then again, the year will seem proportionately long as
it has contained draughts of bitter experience or sufferings, mental or
physical;-proportionately short, as it has contained joys and pleasures which
seem to slip away all too quickly. To a certain extent such experiences are
common to all mankind; yet the Christian, especially if he have been for some
time in the school of Christ and is somewhat developed both in knowledge and in
grace, has a larger capacity than others for grasping and appreciating life;
because, no matter how unsound his natural mind may have been, he has now “the
mind of Christ,” “the spirit of a sound mind,” which is far better able than
the natural mind to estimate matters at their true worth.
Such an advanced Christian looks back through the year and recalls life’s
storms as well as its sunshine, its sorrows as well as its joys, its tears as
well as its smiles, and sorrows not as others who have no hope (but who, instead,
have more or less of vague fear and dread of the future, both of present life
and that which is to come). His troubles have been divested of their hobgoblin
features, and minimized by the spirit of a sound mind, and the instructions of
God’s Word, which assures all such that the trials, difficulties and
adversities of life, rightly accepted as lessons, are blessings in
disguise,-which will work out “a far more exceeding and an eternal weight of
glory” in the life to come.-2 Cor. 4:16,17.
He will perceive too, that his joys have been of a purer and a more solid
kind than any he ever knew before he was begotten of the holy spirit. They
have not had commingled with them the bitterness of envy, malice and hatred,
but have been unalloyed; because they have not been rejoicings in iniquity, but
rejoicings in the truth. Moreover, they have been much more numerous than ever
before; because he not only is able to joy in the Lord, joy in his Word, joy in
the holy spirit, joy in fellowship with brethren of like precious faith, but by
the grace of God he has been enabled additionally to joy in tribulation
also;-not because he loved tribulation, but because he loved the patience, the
experience, the character, which God assures us are a fruitage which all
tribulations must yield us under his providence, if we are rightly exercised
thereby.-James 1:3,4; Rom. 5:3.
Of whom are all these things true? Not of every man, surely, for alas! we
know many who have no such experience-the world that lieth in darkness knows
not God. Nor are these experiences true of all people of
intelligence,-nominally Christians. Surely but comparatively few of those who
profess the name of Christ enjoy these precious experiences, or will be able to
look back upon the year with satisfaction of this kind, realizing that God has
crowned the year with his goodness! Many who cannot rejoice in the goodnesses
which we have enumerated foregoing, will nevertheless return thanks for
temporal good things and mercies, and strive to peer into the darkness with
which an insufficient knowledge and an insufficient faith enshrouds the trials
and difficulties of life, which to them are incomprehensible and sources of no
joy, and generally of little advantage; because they have not taken the
necessary step of full consecration to the Lord, to bring them under his
protecting care and under the enlightening influence of his Word through his
spirit: or, having taken the step of consecration, they have not been
performing their vows, but seeking to serve both God and Mammon, without
pleasing either, and without receiving satisfactory blessings from either.
The class which can and does look back through the year from the
standpoint that we have described- the class which looking back can see that
God’s goodness has crowned every feature of life throughout the year, is the
“little flock,” the true Church, whose names are written in heaven,-the Body of
Christ, the Bride class. They are described by the Prophet in preceding verses
of this Psalm. They are the true Zion, which shall shortly be set up, filled
with divine glory, the joy of the whole earth, and the divine channel of
blessing to all the families of mankind; “For out of Zion shall go the Law, and
the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” Hear the Prophet:-
“Praise waiteth
for thee, O God, in Zion:
And unto thee shall the vow be performed.
O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh
come!
Iniquities prevail against me: as for my transgressions,
thou shalt purge them away.
Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to
approach unto thee,
That he may dwell in thy courts.
We shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house,
The holy place of thy temple.”
Here we have a
description of the elect Church, of which Christ is the Head, and all the
faithful royal priests who, now fulfilling their vows of sacrifice, are
companions in the sufferings of Christ, as by and by they shall be his
companions also in the glory that shall be revealed. (Rom. 8:17,18.) They are
God’s choice, or his “elect,” for, as the Apostle informs us, God has
predestinated that this class whom he will choose shall all be copies of his
Son. (Rom. 8:29.) They shall dwell in his house-they will be members of the
great Temple which the Lord God is building of spiritual stones, in and through
which he will bless the world with a knowledge of himself and his grace.-1 Pet.
2:4-8.
Is it any wonder that these can rejoice in spirit, saying, “Praise the
Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits”? “He hath put a new song
into my mouth, even the loving-kindness of our God.” Is it any wonder that
these looking back can see in the year that is past that that which has blessed
and rejoiced them in every sense of the word has been of divine goodness, and
that thus God has crowned the whole year with his favor toward them? These can
say with faithful Joshua, “Not one thing hath failed of all the good things
which the Lord your God spake.”-Joshua 23:14.
These are assured by their Lord that in the Father’s house are many
mansions, many conditions, suitable to the many kinds of his intelligent
creatures; nevertheless there was no mansion for them, because they were to be
of a new nature, “partakers of the divine nature,” and hence it would be
necessary for him to go away and “prepare a place for them”-a heavenly
condition. These, knowing that they must be prepared for the place, as well as
the place be prepared for them, are enabled to rejoice under every blow of the
hammer of discipline, because they realize that it is a part of the Master’s
work in their preparation to fill the place to which they have been called in
the Father’s house-which will be the place of God’s Temple, in which they are
to be living stones.-Eph. 2:10.
And if the experiences and sentiments of this “little flock” are beyond
the ken of the natural man, his neighbors and friends, is it any wonder?
Despised and rejected of men, they are nevertheless God’s royal priesthood; “as
deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold
they live”- a life more abundant. In all these things they have cause to
rejoice, realizing that the path in which they tread has in it the footprints
of him who redeemed them and became the leader and forerunner of this
priesthood. The world knows us not, even as it knew him not.
As we thus review the leadings of divine
providence during the year that is past, let God’s goodness and mercy stimulate
our faith and confidence in him as respects the New Year coming in. A proper
retrospect on the part of a proper child of God will enable him not only to
render thanks for the past, but to look up and lift up his head, realizing that
our deliverance is nearer than when we first believed; and that he that began a
good work in us is both able and willing to complete it, if we will but
continue to submit our wills, our lives, our all, to his wisdom and loving
care.-Rom. 13:11; Phil. 1:6; 1 Pet. 5:5,6.