They Which Follow the Lamb

Alexander Smellie again, priceless thoughts:

"These are they which follow the Lamb, whithersoever He goeth.”  Rev. 14:4

"What of the Leader?  He is the Lamb, the Lamb of God.  He is the Lord Jesus Christ, but the Lord Jesus Christ in a special aspect of His character and work—Christ the Sufferer, Christ the Sacrifice, Christ the Savior.  I behold Him offered up for me on the shameful altar of the Cross, a Lamb without blemish, a lamb led dumb and uncomplaining to the slaughter.  Nay, I behold Him offering himself up with all willingness and all majesty of self- surrender and self-dedication.  There is the spectacle which constrains me.  There is the Leader who casts His spell over me, so that I am ready to go with Him and for Him to the world’s end.

What of the March?  They follow the Lamb, the verse says; and it is a significant verb.  It depicts my Christian life from its outset to its close.  It is not a life of self-reliance.  It does not glory in mapping out its own road and in accomplishing its own purpose.  It is subservient to Christ and fashioned in accordance with His will.  At His lips I receive the commandment which orders and directs me.  From his perfection I catch the glory which captivates my soul and lures me on.  My humble and utter trust in him I renew day after day and hour after hour.  I grow up into Him in all things who is my Head.  I do not originate; I follow.

What of the Path?  My Leader is to be followed whithersoever He goeth.  It is a startling and testing word. 

His whithersoever may take me far afield, to a heathen land and a savage people; or may compel me to part with early convictions which once were dearly cherished; or may conduct me to strange and unexpected trial.  But the word is as comforting as it is exacting.  For He is Himself beside me, with me,   the strife.  I can hear His voice in the night and in the storm, “It is I, be not afraid.”  Whithersoever He goeth I may be glad and proud to follow.

And what of the Result?  These are they, writes St. John, “which follow”.  These the victors, the knights who have found the Grail, the pilgrims who have come to the new Jerusalem.  These, who have left the difficult road, who have escaped from the cloud, who stand in the personal presence of Christ. These, who know now that every step of the way, every steep ascent, every roughness, every hardship, was best for each of them.  These, whose mouth is filled with laughter and their tongue with singing.  God points me to them, tells me to consider their blessedness, rouses me to covet their weight of glory.  And when “the shore is won at last”, so supreme a shore, “who will count the billows past?”

"I Grew Under the Load"

"The cross which my Lord bids me take up and carry may assume different shapes.  I may have to content myself with a lowly and narrow sphere, when I feel that I have capacities for much higher work.  I may have to go on cultivating year after year, a field which seems to yield me no harvests whatsoever.  I may be bidden to cherish kind and loving thoughts about someone who has wronged me—be bidden to speak to him tenderly, and take his part against all who oppose him, and crown him with sympathy and succor.  I may have to confess My Master among those who do not wish to be reminded of Him and His claims.  I may be called to “move among my race and show a glorious morning face,” when my heart is breaking.

"There are many crosses, and every one of them is sore and heavy.  None of them is likely to be sought out by me of my own accord.  But never is Jesus so near me as when I lift my cross, and lay it submissively on my shoulder, and give it the welcome of a patient and unmurmuring spirit.

"He draws close, to ripen my wisdom, to deepen my peace, to increase my courage, to augment my power to be of use to others, through the very experience which is so grievous and distressing, and then—as I read on the seal of one of those Scottish Covenanters whom Claverhouse imprisoned on the lonely Bass, with the sea surging and sobbing round—"I grew under the load"."—Alexander Smellie

This passage has ministered to me over various years and experiences and remains sweet salve.  Last year, I had the distinct experience of seeing Bass Rock, and many other Covenanter sites – faith building stories, indeed.  If you are not acquainted with Alexander Smellie (pronounced Smiley) you’re missing out!  His book Men of the Covenant, about the Scottish Covenanters, is a prize and a simply amazing read.  He’s also written about Robert Murray M’Cheyne, another prize.  He himself was a pastor during the WWI era.  It is said of him, “Such was his adoration of the Lord Jesus that his audiences forgot the speaker and fastened their thoughts on the Lord Himself and no one can say a greater thing than that about any man.”

The Help of My Countenance

Wouldn’t you know it, if I write down something I am thinking about, there will be a test.  And when that moment came that pierced my heart, I failed the test.  So here I am again, thinking about Hannah and contemplating how “the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad”.

 “But Lord, this…this thing is very hard…”  Sometimes it presses in on our most vulnerable place; sometimes we are just tired, or caught unexpectedly.  Nontheless….

It seems there is an intertwining of three golden threads: God’s countenance, His presence (these words are sometimes substituted for  “His countenance”), and our countenance.  When God’s countenance is upon us and the light of it illumines our hearts and our face, the shadows, anxieties, hurts and troubles flee.  His countenance upon us really means His Presence is with us, and He has promised this is always the case, whether we feel it or not.  And when His countenance shines on us, and his Presence is always with us, our countenance shines.  Shall we enter, this day, into the Light of our reality?  Speak the truth of our reality with the “look on our face”, smiling into the eyes of our husband, our children, our friends and even those with whom we differ?

We all know the joy that comes when a beloved one smiles into our eyes, holds our glance, and communicates abundant love.  This is what God does when His countenance is upon us.  Are we looking, ready to receive?  Or are our eyes on the ground?  "He will rejoice over you with gladness"!!  (Zeph 3:17)

“Lord, lift up the light of your countenance upon us.  You have put gladness in my heart.”  Ps 4:6-7

I never noticed how these words are repeated three times in two Psalms; the pattern shows the interplay between God’s countenance upon us and the lifting up of our own:

Why are you cast down, Oh my soul?  And why are you disquieted within me?  Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance.  Ps. 42:5

Why are you cast down, O my soul?  And why are you disquieted within me?  Hope in God; for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God.  Ps. 42:11

Why are you cast down, O my soul?  And why are you disquieted within me?   Hope in God; for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God.”  Ps 43: 5

Nor did their right arm save them; but it was Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of your countenance.  Ps 44:3

Blessed are the people who know the joyful sound!  They walk, O Lord, in the light of Your countenance.  In Your Name they rejoice all the day long, and in Your righteousness they are exalted.  For you are the glory of their strength, and in Your favor their horn is exalted.  Ps.  89:15-17

Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; Thou shalt make me full of joy with Thy countenance.  Acts 2:28, quoting Ps 16, also translated “full of joy in Thy presence”.

Let's seek His presence together as we begin this new week: let's enter into the light of His countenance, and let our beloved ones bask in the joy of our countenance.

-courtesy of Thistledown Photography

And Who Is A Rock

Not only do Hannah’s thoughts run to God in her desolation and distress, but this woman, a stunning example to us, has an amazing imagination for the might and majesty of God, almighty and reigning over all nations and circumstances.

Think about it.  The desire of her soul was given to her.  That which she had pleaded for, before God, had come to pass.  The very thing she longed for, she had been given.  Yet when she offers thanks to God, she doesn’t even mention her answered prayer specifically.  She knows that there are so many things bigger than her story.  Instead, she magnifies God Himself.

She briefly acknowledges that her “heart rejoices before the Lord” and tells her Lord, “I rejoice in Your salvation”; she acknowledges that the Lord has lifted her up: “My horn is exalted in the Lord” (the imagery of the horn is threefold: as an effective defensive weapon, as a representation of power and status in a social context, and as a symbol for radiance, with other parallels in Scripture between “horn” and “lamp”.—Dictionary of Biblical Imagery) 

But then she immediately launches into noting God’s character:  “No one is holy like the Lord, for there is none besides you, nor is there any rock like our God.”  Nothing about herself, nothing about her glorious, miraculous pregnancy.

“For the Lord is the God of knowledge, and by Him actions are weighed.” 

“Those who stumbled are girded with strength.”

The sovereignty of the Lord in His dealing with men.  The mysteries of His turning the tides of human conditions.

“The pillars of the earth are the Lord’s and He has set the world upon them.  He will guard the feet of His saints, but the wicked will be silent in darkness.”

Again turning to the might of our Lord God:  “For by strength no man shall prevail.  The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken in pieces; from heaven He shall thunder against them.  The Lord will judge the ends of the earth.” 

For Hannah, God’s glory, His might, His justice, was transcendent over all the affairs of her little world.  No matter that she had just had her greatest desire fulfilled.  The important thing was to draw attention to Who God Is.

Her words are later mirrored by David “when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies”:  "The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; the God of my strength, in whom I will trust.  My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge.”  “”For who is God, except the Lord?  And who is a rock, except our God?  God is my strength and power, and He makes my way perfect.”  (II Samuel 22:1-3, 32)

In the testimony of our words, how can we exalt our glorious, mighty, just God?   Can we, too, put aside the smallness of our story to grow eloquent in proclaiming His Story?  He takes care of us in the same way He attended to Hannah.  “And the Lord visited Hannah, so that she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters.  Meanwhile the child Samuel grew before the Lord…the child ministered to the Lord…(I Samuel 2:21, 2:11, 3:1)

He is still our Rock.  He is still the same God to us, His people, as he was to Hannah, to David.

He still makes our way perfect.

Worship.

And Her Face Was No Longer Sad

Rarely do I read the story of Hannah and the birth of Samuel without noticing some other jewel shining in the depths.

 

Things that are outside our frame of reference can sometimes not elicit the same imaginative sympathies and identification.  I’m not sure we can quite wrap our minds around sharing our man with another wife, one who plays with her children when we never have conceived, one who taunts us mercilessly about not having any boys or girls we’ve borne, one who gloats over the ignominy that comes from being barren.  Not even her husband’s reassurance of love could take away the bitterness of her situation.  But Hannah’s heart is revealed to us in a special way, and we see what she does with her deep sorrows.

She is consumed with prayer, not with overloaded emotions.  She goes to the house of God and pours out her soul before him, utterly lost in her communications with the Lord Most High even to the point that she seems drunk.  “I have been pouring out my soul before the Lord.”  Her Lord is her confidante, her Savior, her solace and help.  This, after she had fasted.

After she had done these things, she reveals her utter confidence in her Lord’s care of her, in her Lord’s having heard her cry, in her Lord’s ability to work powerfully on her behalf.  She reveals it by her actions and by “the look on her face”.  “Then the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad.”  What her husband could not do by reassuring her, was accomplished by her perfect trust in her heavenly relationship with Him.

Does my countenance show that I believe God’s promises?  That I believe, if I have prayed, that I may in confidence leave my petitions before the throne,  go my way, and my face no longer shows grief, anxiety or pain?  How would I bless my husband and children, those around me, if my face shines with a trust in my Lord?  

What do I have in my life that is not under the sovereign intentions of my Lord, under His perfect providential care?  I cannot see the future, either, to know what God intends to do some years hence because of providences unwinding now; and Hannah could not possibly know that God would indeed open her womb and that thousands of years later, her heart responses would be read by millions of women as a testimony of faith in her loving Creator, Redeemer and Eternal King.  That the name Samuel would be a name of honor, signifying a man of God, meaning “heard by God”.  That his story would be immortalized in the holy canon of Scripture, read by all who love Jesus Christ.  That her son would be the man who would anoint the great King David:  “Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers.  And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward.”

She didn’t need to know all this.  She simply rose up from consuming prayer, went her way, and her face was no longer sad.

Tomorrow: the second half of thoughts on her amazing example to us

Between Our Impotence and God's Omnipotence

"Let all lovers of souls, and all workers in the service of the gospel, take courage.  Time spent in prayer will yield more than given to work.  Prayer alone gives work its worth and its success.  Prayer opens the way for God Himself to do His work in us and through us.  Let our chief work as God’s messengers be intercession; in it we secure the presence and the power of God to go with us.  Let us give ourselves to be intercessors.  Let every sight of souls needing help, let every stirring of the spirit of compassion, let every sense of our own impotence to bless, let every difficulty in the way of our getting an answer, just combine to urge us to do this one thing: with importunity to cry out to the God who alone can help, who, in answer to our prayer, will help…The model intercessor is the model Christian worker.  First to get from God, and then to give to men what we ourselves secure from day to day, is the secret of successful work.  Between our impotence and God’s omnipotence, intercession is the blessed link."

         --Andrew Murray, The Ministry of Intercession

He is Always Ahead

“But let all those who rejoice put their trust in You; let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them; let those also who love your name be joyful in You.  For You, O Lord, will bless the righteous.  With favor You will surround them as with a shield.  Psalms 5: 11-12

“How precious are your thoughts unto me, O God!  How great is the sum of them!  Psalms 139:17

“There never was anyone so faithful or considerate or farseeing as Jesus.  He had great commendation to give a woman, because she came “beforehand” with her ministry.  It was His own manner to anticipate events.  He was always thinking ahead of the disciples. When He sent His disciples to prepare the Passover, there was found an upper room furnished and prepared.  He had thought it all out.  His plans were not only made for that day.  He was always in advance of time.  When the disciples came back from fishing, Jesus was on the seashore with a fire of coals and fish laid thereon.  He thinks of the morning duties before you are astir; He is there before you.  He is waiting long before you are awake. His anticipations are all along the way of life before you.

“After the resurrection the disciples were bewildered, and the way looked black.  But the angel said, “Behold, He goeth before you into Galilee.”  He is always ahead, thinking ahead, preparing ahead.  Take this text with you into the future, take it into today’s experience.: ”Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid…I go to prepare a place for you.”  He is out in the world doing it.  He will be there before you.  He will bring you to your appointed place, and you will find your appointed resources.  You will discover His insight, His oversight, and His foresight.  You may not always see Him, But you can walk by faith in the dark if you know that He sees you, and you can sing as you journey, even through the night.”  --John MacBeath, a Scottish minister

Change is Good

Recently I sat with a group of older, godly women who have been faithful keepers in their home.  Most of them have children grown and many gone.  The discussion rabbit-trailed on how so many younger women no longer have desire or need to be mentored by older women; if they wonder about something they’ll just google it, if they want social time they’ll turn to their social media.  We’ve outgrown, then, Titus 2?

But one of the things which interested me for a couple weeks’ worth of thought was the consistent hearing, amongst us all, of the comment or variations on, “Well, that’s just who I am.”  Spoken or inferred being, “I am not going to change.  You must accept who I am, because I have no need to become anyone else.”  We live in a culture where children cut their teeth on the premise that they are born tabula rasa, that they have inherent talent and giftedness no matter if they cultivate and work hard or not, and where building self esteem trumps actual excellence.  It’s no wonder so few pursue godly growth, which often necessitates change.

The qualifier is, of course, that we ought to accept who God has made one another to be, and embrace the differences that make us unique in our interests, calling, and gifts.  That being said, however, when one has not seen a peaceful, orderly home in action, and is not managing her home with cheerful grace and noble womanhood and a contented husband; has not cultivated a quiet spirit, or other gifts of the Spirit, and is inhibiting wisdom, strong marital relationships, vibrant friendships with their children; then she joins the sisterhood of women growing in Christ, pursuing her high calling with energy.  This invariably necessitates change.  Learning, growing, adapting, reading, humbling, CHANGE. 

We three (my daughters and I) bought tshirts on top of the Rocky Mountains picturing aspens turned golden; they say, “Change is Good”.  Seeing the aspens begin to turn was a breathtaking beauty-fest.  Seeing one another change more and more into the image of Christ is more so.  To embrace change as we turn away from self and embrace the reality of our identity in Christ, is a gorgeous garment for we as women to wear.  Let’s wrap ourselves in change that glows, shimmers, with ever-increasing Light!

“But we all…are being transformed into the same image (what image? “the glory of the Lord” is the antecedent—the image being referred to!) from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”  (II Cor 3:18) Footnote in my Bible:  “Far from a fading glory, our glory is ever-increasing , as we are changed more and more into the likeness of Christ…we are being progressively restored to greater and greater possession of the image of God which was corrupted at the fall of Adam.”

“People have a hard time believing that their lives could be dramatically different—that they themselves could be dramatically different—because they have no imagination.”—R Rayburn

“Satan will try to convince you that obedience carries much too high a price, but He will never tell you the cost of not obeying God.  If you are to be used in God’s service, you must expect to make adjustments in your life.  Can you measure the distance between a throne room and a cattle shed in Bethlehem?  How far is it from the Lordship of the universe to the cross?  Don’t be deceived into thinking there is no cost involved in obedience.”  (I copied this into my book diary years ago and regrettably forgot to copy the author.  Sounds like Elisabeth Elliott but I regret not ascribing appropriately this gem.)

Center of the Flame

“When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned.”  Isaiah 43:2

"In giving a lecture on flame a scientist once made a most interesting experiment.  He wanted to show that in the center of each flame there is a hollow—a place of entire stillness—around which the fire is a mere wall.  To prove this he introduced into the midst of the flame a minute and carefuly shielded charge of explosive powder.  The protection was then carefully removed and no explosion followed.  A second time the experiment was tried and by a slight agitation of the hand the central security was lost and an immediate explosion was the result.

"Our safety, then, is only in stillness of soul.  If we are affrighted and exchange the principle of faith for that of fear, or if we are rebellious and restless, we shall be burnt by the flames and anguish and disappointment shall be the result.

"Moreover, God will be disappointed in us if we break down.  Testing is the proof of His love and confidence, and who can tell what pleasure our steadfastness and stillness give to Him?  If He allowed us to go without testing it would not be complimentary to our spiritual experience.  Much trial and suffering mean, therefore, that God has confidence in us; that He believes we are strong enough to endure; that we shall be true to Him even when he has left us without outward evidence of His care and seemingly at the mercy of His adversaries.  If He increases the trials instead of diminishing them it is an expression of confidence in us up to the present, and a further proof that He is looking to us to glorify Him in yet hotter fires through which He is calling us to pass. Let us not be afraid!  We shall be delivered from the transitory and the outward and be drawn into closer fellowship with God Himself!"  

--Lettie Cowman

How many times have I forsaken the quiet, still place, let myself get rattled by the circumstances of life or by the unknown ahead or by demands of motherhood, and that little shaking from being centered in Christ caused the explosion?  What good ever came from allowing the slightest variance from clinging to the promises; acknowledging the magnitude of a ruling, loving, providential Father; seeking His glory above my own desires?  How did it ever help my relationships with husband, children, others, to permit "the explosion"?  Life lived in the center of the flame depends on leaning hard into Christ, trusting His Word, being immersed in His promises.  He is the God of the "Yes", remember? (II Cor 1:20)

Weight of Glory

Yesterday at 12,000 feet, we hiked up to some rock formations.  Everywhere among the rocks spangled brilliant silver flashes of light.  I feel that way about these verses from II Corinthians 1-5: they flash and they glow with the glory of God’s thoughts towards us, and they, unlike the common pebbles that marked our path, are actually priceless treasure never even conceivably to be weighed or compared on the scales of gold and diamond currency we know so well.  And they belong to us, His sons and daughters.  Now, we see only dimly, even so; but one day, unimaginably, face to face!

“For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.”

“For all the promises of God find their Yes in Him.  That is why it is through Him that we utter our Amen to God for His glory.  And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us and given us His Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.”

“But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the knowledge of Him everywhere.”

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.  And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.  For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.  Therefore having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart.”

“For God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.  But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.”

“So we do not lose heart.  Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.  For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.”

I have been going back over the first 6 chapters of II Corinthians several times on this trip, and each time I am struck by the magnificent promises that lie hidden and open, too, in these verses.  The promise that we are comforted by Him in our afflictions—and that in our “light and momentary afflictions” we also are actually “sharing abundantly in Christ’s sufferings”…I had a conversation recently with someone going through an amazingly difficult time and she was saying how she can hardly feel justified in calling her situation suffering as she is so aware of the martyrdoms happening all over the world.  But God has called us to this place and time, and He has indeed given us sometimes sore trials to walk through.  No, indeed, we do not labor in a prison camp as some of our brothers and sisters do in North Korea.  I will rejoice in heaven to see their crowns, cast before their King, and to hear their stories.  But He has pressed in upon us in other ways, not always so easy nor trite; and He gives grace according to our level of suffering as we lean hard into Him, does He not?

I

Staying On The Throne

"In every Christian’s heart there is a cross and a throne, and the Christian is on the throne 'til he puts himself on the cross.  If he refuses the cross he remains on the throne.  Perhaps this is at the bottom of the backsliding and worldliness among gospel believers today.  We want to be saved but we insist Christ do all the dying.  No cross for us, no dethronement, no dying.  We remain king among the little kingdom of Mansoul and wear our tinsel crown with all the pride of a Caesar; but we doom ourselves to shadows and weakness and spiritual sterility.

"If we will not die then we must die, and that death will mean the forfeiture of many of those everlasting treasures which the saints have cherished.  Our uncrucified flesh will rob us of purity of heart, Christlikeness of character, spiritual insight, fruitfulness; and more than all, it will hide from us the vision of God’s face, that vision which has been the light of earth and will be the completeness of heaven."

--AW Tozer, The Radical Cross

How do we help?—how do we hinder?—our children in accepting the cross in little ways, each day, as they are little?  How do we encourage them remaining on the throne?  As they grow older, are they becoming increasingly acclimated toward the cross?  Or are they staying on the throne?  What example do they see in us?

We were in aspen woods today.  My sister-in-law showed us how to "play" tree-tipping.  Even very tall aspens could be pushed over if their roots had not gone down deep, if they had turned lifeless.  Pressure, and they would come tumbling to the ground with a crash.  Even so are we, if our roots do not go down deeply into life in Christ, if He has not made them strong underground and fruitful above.