"He led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation."
It was God who led them forth. He was going before them, then, all the time; His sacred light in their conscience, His secret life in their soul, His inward teachings in their heart, were all along guiding them, but at the time they could not see it. They were led along by a sure and powerful, yet invisible hand. They had to be brought forth out of many evils--open and secret, known and unknown, seen and unseen, external and internal. And from no one of these could they deliver their own souls. How deeply were they indebted even to restraining grace.
Can you not say so? What has kept you from bringing an open disgrace upon the cause of Christ? What has kept you tender in conscience, consistent in conduct, circumspect in life, desirous to adorn the doctrine of God, and afraid to dishonor it? Why, the grace of God--and that only--and this working for the most part in and by a path of tribulation.Your exercises of mind; the various trials and temptations that have fallen to your lot; your griefs and sorrows; and especially those which have most closely touched your soul, have all worked for good, to make your conscience tender, to show you the evil of sin, and to keep you from being wrapped up in carnality and covetousness, or entangled in pride and self-righteousness. Thus, you may bless the Lord for being afflicted as well as comforted--being wounded as well as healed--emptied as well as filled--stripped as well as clothed--for all have worked together for the good of your soul.
It is much in this way that the Lord leads His people forth; and when the Lord leads, we can follow. The path may be rough, but if the Lord upholds, we can walk in it without stumbling. Whatever the Lord bids, we can do if we have but His presence; whatever He calls upon us to suffer, we can bear if we have but the approbation of a good conscience and His approving smile. O the wonders of sovereign grace! The cross is no cross if the Lord gives strength to bear it; affliction is no affliction if the Lord supports under it; trial is no trial if sweetened by His smile, and sorrow no grief if lightened by His love. It is our fretfulness, unbelief, carnal reasoning, rebellion, and self-pity which make a rough way, a wrong way. But grace in its all-conquering power, not only subdues every difficulty without, but what is its greater triumph, subdues every difficulty within.
Now look back and see how the Lord has led you from the very first. Can you say, looking up to God, "Lord, it has all been a wrong way?" You may say, and say feelingly, "I have often done what is wrong, wrong in myself, wrong to myself; no, I have always, left to myself, chosen the wrong way; my wicked, perverse heart has ever chosen what was pleasant and sweet to the flesh, and thence has sprung so much of my guilt and shame. But as to the way in which the Lord has dealt with me, where I can trace any of His dealings, I dare not so insult His divine Majesty, or so belie my own conscience, as to say He has led me wrong."
God forbid that any saint of His should say the Lord has led them by a wrong way. He cannot do but what is right; for as He is good and does good, so He is right and does right. It is, and ever must be, one of the strongest principles of our faith, that every way must, in the end, be a right way if it be God's way.
And is it not, according to the verdict of our own conscience, a right way to lead us forth out of the world, out of sin, out of self, out of pride and self-righteousness, out of evil in every form, into everything which is good, holy, gracious, acceptable, saving, and sanctifying; everything that can conform us to the image of Christ, who was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and make us meet for the inheritance of the saints in light?
VII. The END of the Wilderness Wanderer
And what is the end of all this leading and guiding? "That they might go to a city of habitation"--the new Jerusalem, the glorious city which has foundations whose builder and maker is God. There, some of our friends have gone before; there they dwell as citizens of that blessed city which is all of pure gold, as clear as glass; a city which has no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of the Lord lightens it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. The Lord has led forth our dear friends, whom He has taken out of our midst, that they might go to this city of habitation, inhabited by the spirits of just men made perfect. This is the city of habitation where the saints will dwell forever. And the Lord is leading forth each and all of His wilderness wanderers by the right way, that He may bring them in the same way into His eternal presence, and to the enjoyment of those pleasures which are at His right hand for evermore.
Comments
Post a Comment