With the delay ... we are learning new lessons – or old lessons in a new way. Through this trying time, we are learning to
be content in Christ and with Christ – not always easy. We want to let Christ satisfy us to the full
that we might find our total satisfaction in Him alone. As Charles Wesley
put it:
Thou, O Christ, art all I want; More than all in
Thee I find;
Raise the fallen, cheer the faint, Heal the sick, and lead the blind.
Just and holy is Thy name; I am all unrighteousness,
False and full of sin I am; Thou art full of truth and grace.
Raise the fallen, cheer the faint, Heal the sick, and lead the blind.
Just and holy is Thy name; I am all unrighteousness,
False and full of sin I am; Thou art full of truth and grace.
But be very, very careful; He might take you at
your word, and withdraw everything from you, and leave you with Him alone, and
nothing else. It is then that you will
prove Him as you’ve never done before.
When God, in His sure providence, takes your job
from you, and with it your earning power, and when He threatens to take your
wife and the mother of your children from you, life becomes profoundly
serious. It is then that you find
yourself locked up to Christ alone. He
is enough, and we’ve proved that numerous times; but I’d still like to have ****
around for many years to come. It is a
stark reality of God’s dealings with us that He sometimes takes us at our word,
and gives us exactly what we have asked. He did that to us and we didn’t
realise it. We wanted Christ alone, and
He is giving us that. We have Him, and
we are more than satisfied with Him.
But you can see the inconsistencies of this the
moment you write something like this down.
Satisfied with Christ alone, yes; but we want our loved ones healed of their
illnesses to be around us for many years to come.
I think Christ understands these inconsistencies
and contradictions in our faith. It is a
case of “Lord, I believe, help my
unbelief” (Mk 9:24). We have put our
faith in Him, but our lack of real trust when it is most needed is
annoying. And He does help us; He comes
to our aid and assures us that we are His always. That’s why we can say with the Psalmist in
total honesty, “I love the LORD because He has
heard My voice and my
supplications.” (Ps.116:1). Israel was facing a great crisis, and was in a
time of great need, so her response was to put the God Who is alive and
sovereign first.
What a fine thing it is to be a Christian! Why do sinful people not want to know and
trust this wonderful Saviour? What
reason can they give for staying away from the Redeemer of the world? There is none.
If anyone reading this does not know Christ
personally, ask yourself, why not? Look
how good He is, the Man Who went about doing good; the best Man the world ever
knew. Why are you staying away from
Him? He wants you to come to Him and
trust Him with your soul. My friends, He
is altogether lovely, the bright morning star, and the fairest of ten thousand
to my soul. That’s our Saviour. Our souls want nothing but Jesus, for in Him
we have more than heart could desire.
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