I Samuel 4:19 Now his [Eli's] daughter-in-law, Phinehas’s wife, was with child, due to be delivered; and when she heard the news that the ark of God was captured, and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and gave birth, for her labor pains came upon her. 20 And about the time of her death the women who stood by her said to her, “Do not fear, for you have borne a son.” But she did not answer, nor did she regard it. 21 Then she named the child Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel!” because the ark of God had been captured and because of her father-in-law and her husband. 22 And she said, “The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured.”

(Before moving on, a little note here regarding Phinehas's wife's words: "The glory has departed from Israel..." If we look at the behavior of the Israel and the leaders of Israel prior to the Philistines capturing the ark, we can't help but see that the glory of God had already begun to depart from Israel prior to that time (e.g. - Eli was the high priest and he had not restrained his sons, Hophni and Phinehas. We read In I Samuel 2:12 they were "corrupt" –– the literal rendering there is "sons of Belial." Both men burned with fleshly appetites for food, for power, and for sex ~ see I Samuel 2:12-17, 22-36; 3:11-17).)

Phinehas's wife grieved the loss of her husband and her father-in-law, and yet what loss did she most grieve?

“The glory has departed from Israel!”

We certainly would expect Phinehas's wife to find some degree of comfort in the gift of her newborn child, particularly since it was a son, and male children were prized highly in Jewish culture. If you've been privileged to give birth to a child, you know that it's almost imaginable that she gave no response whatsoever to the women who reported the birth. It's wasn't that she had no words to say at all at the time, mind you. But what words were on her lips that day? What burden was pressing so strongly on her heart that day that she took no consolation in the birth of her son?

When we come around to Mother's Day, Proverbs 31 is often cited as presenting to us the image of the godly woman... I'd say that verse 26a describes Phinehas's wife:

She opens her mouth with wisdom...

Phinehas's wife had received wisdom and insight from above (flesh and blood had not revealed it to her...). Though the circumstances weren't identical, her response reminded me of the the Shulamite woman who had become lovesick at the prospect of the Beloved withdrawing Himself. Phinehas's wife grieved that the glory of the LORD had departed and that the LORD was no longer shining His face but rather was turning His back and hiding His face from Israel.

Song of Solomon 5
2 I sleep, but my heart is awake;
It is the voice of my beloved!
He knocks, saying,
“Open for me, my sister, my love,
My dove, my perfect one;
For my head is covered with dew,
My locks with the drops of the night.”
3 I have taken off my robe;
How can I put it on again?
I have washed my feet;
How can I defile them?
4 My beloved put his hand
By the latch of the door,
And my heart yearned for him.
5 I arose to open for my beloved,
And my hands dripped with myrrh,
My fingers with liquid myrrh,
On the handles of the lock.

6 I opened for my beloved,
But my beloved had turned away and was gone.
My heart leaped up when he spoke.
I sought him, but I could not find him;
I called him, but he gave me no answer.
7 The watchmen who went about the city found me.
They struck me, they wounded me;
The keepers of the walls
Took my veil away from me.
8 I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
If you find my beloved,
That you tell him I am lovesick!

9 What is your beloved
More than another beloved,
O fairest among women?
What is your beloved
More than another beloved,
That you so charge us?

Phinehas's wife had begun to know and to treasure the Beloved more than any other beloved (including her own family members), so she mourned that the glory of the LORD had departed, and she sought the presence and the blessing of the Beloved above all things –– even above her own family –– above the loss of her father-in-law and husband, and above the gain of her dear newborn son! –– Hence we hear her repeated heart's cry as she neared death:

“The glory has departed from Israel!”

Since her soul's ultimate happiness was bundled up in the return of God's shining face upon Israel, because God's glory had departed from Israel, how could she do anything less than cry out that...

“The glory has departed from Israel!”

It's not clear who else was mourning along with Phinehas's wife during this time, but we don't see all the house of Israel lamenting after the LORD and repenting and returning to the LORD until over twenty years after this time (I Samuel 7:2).

How many of us Christian mothers have any such concern for the current state of the Christian Church as Phinehas's wife had? What burdens our hearts regularly?

Or, do we find our prayers are limited and narrow and for the most part insular because we ourselves are mostly insular –– primarily focused on our own needs and our own family's needs –– showing we have little to no real love and desire for Christ and His Church and the cause of Christ throughout the world?

As we look out at the state of the Church today, ought we not be lamenting after the LORD like Phinehas's wife? Ought we not be weeping like Jeremiah?

Jeremiah 8:21
For the hurt of the daughter of my people I am hurt.
I am mourning;
Astonishment has taken hold of me.

If we are Christ's, we have been born again of the Spirit, and our citizenship is in heaven. We're to be renewed in our minds, and we're commanded to set our minds on things above. The content of our prayers shows if our profession of faith is a true profession.... he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth - John 3:31b. "He that is of the earth is of the earth; he that has his origin of the earth has his food out of the earth, has his converse with earthly things, and his concern is for them..." (Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on John 3).

Are we wise – or do we not know the difference between the shining and the hiding of His face?

Are we wise, or are we like the Laodicean church:  do we not know that we have become lukewarm and complacent with our current state? Do we not know that God is hiding His face today? (More on this below.) Do we not know that as we have relied upon our own abilities and earthly means, we have grieved, quenched, and limited the Holy Spirit of God, so that the glory of God has all but departed from us here in these early days of the 21st century? Do we not know that we are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked? May we have ears to hear! May the Lord grant to us the wisdom, discernment and insight that He gave to Phinehas's wife!

Revelation 3:14 “And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write,

‘These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: 15 “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. 16 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. 17 Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked— 18 I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. 19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. 21 To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.

22 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

How dead wrong we can be about our true spiritual condition! We can go along day after day and not know! We can go along year after year and not know! And how easily can the Glory of the Lord and the Presence of God slip away without our knowing! That's a frightening thought, isn't it? But that very same thing happened to Samson...

Judges 16:19 Then she [Delilah] lulled him to sleep on her knees, and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him. 20 And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” So he awoke from his sleep, and said, “I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!” But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him.

The apostle Paul reminds us that these things are examples to us, written for our admonition; "therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall"  ... (see I Cor. 10:1-22) ...Let us who think we stand, take heed lest we fall!

Samson thought himself to be awake, did he not? During the time of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, Israel thought herself to be awake, did they not? And even in early days of the New Testament Church, the members of the Church of Laodicea thought themselves to be awake, did they not? How each one of us must always be on guard against such deadly, false presumption!

"If God go, the glory goes, and all good goes. Woe unto us if he depart!"
(Matthew Henry Complete Commentary on I Samuel 4)

In his commentary on Judges 16 (Delilah's Treachery & Samson Betrayed), Matthew Henry makes the application to us and gives us these solemn warnings (emphasis mine):

"See the fatal effects of false security. Satan ruins men by flattering them into a good opinion of their own safety, and so bringing them to mind nothing, and fear nothing; and then he robs them of their strength and honour, and leads them captive at his will. When we sleep our spiritual enemies do not."  (Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary)

"Note, Many have lost the favourable presence of God and are not aware of it; they have provoked God to withdraw from them, but are not sensible of their loss, nor ever complain of it. Their souls languish and grow weak, their gifts wither, every thing goes cross with them; and yet they impute not this to the right cause: they are not aware that God has departed from them, nor are they in any care to reconcile themselves to him or to recover his favour." (Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary)

I'd like to leave you with a few excerpts from "John Elias: Life, Letters and Essays" by Edward Morgan (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1973, revised edition published in one volume, emphasis mine)...

First, here's John Elias (1774-1841) describing the I-chabod and sleeping state of the Church in the 19th century:

It is a dark night on the Church, the depth of winter, when she is sleepy and ready to die, and the Lord is hiding his face in the ordinances, and when only a few are crying out for his appearance, and those scarcely audible in their call! It is still more awful, if while they are asleep they should think themselves awake, and imagine that they see the sun at midnight. Yet such are the circumstances of the Church generally. Yea, the darkness of night I say, is upon her, and she is slumbering, having lost the presence of her Lord, and so unhappy as not to know the loss she has sustained! (241-242 - please see my post here)

When I talk with other Christians about God's withdrawals and His hiding His face, many are not at all familiar with that language, and they often look askance at me –– but it is Biblical language, and it is also the language of saints like Matthew Henry and John Elias who labored in prayer to seek the reviving breath of the Holy Spirit to breathe upon the bones that were very many and were very dry! Here's Elias again:

O brethren, be not easy without his presence! I believe that some of you know the difference between the shining of his countenance and every other thing. I often fear that many are now in the churches that know no difference between the hiding and the shining of his countenance. O be not satisfied with any thing instead of him - fluency, or any gift in prayer, or preaching! His countenance pre-eminently excels all things as to light, strength virtue, fruit and the consequences hereafter. It extracts the heart out of the creature, and draws the soul heavenward. It conveys the affections to the things where Christ sits, it causes the traffic of the soul to be in heaven, seeking a better country than any here below. They are made pilgrims here, their treasure and home being in the heavenly world. (271)

Like the Psalmists, may we press on and not be satisfied with any thing instead of Him... instead of the Glory!

Psalm 63
1 O God, You are my God;
Early will I seek You;
My soul thirsts for You;
My flesh longs for You
In a dry and thirsty land
Where there is no water.
2 So I have looked for You in the sanctuary,
To see Your power and Your glory.

Would we even think of praying for reformation and revival if we do not know the difference between the hiding and the shining of God's countenance? If we presume God's face is always shining, if we don't have eyes to see it truly is a dark night on the Church, would we ever cry out with Phinehas's wife: “The glory has departed from Israel!” –– and why would we bother to pray for God's face to shine again, if we think all is bright and God has not withdrawn and He is not hiding His countenance?

You may be wondering how specifically I might consider that the glory of the Lord has departed in this day and age... I've written previously about that, but I think John Elias describes our current state much better than I could –– even though Elias was born over 200 years ago! As you read this except, I think you'll have to agree that there is nothing new under the sun! Edward Morgan begins...

‘Ministers’, says Elias in another letter, ‘seem often satisfied with having freedom to speak, and seeing many hearing them with attention and delight; but alas, without experiencing the effects of the power promised to attend the ministry of the gospel, the power necessary to produce a saving change in the sinner! The people too are content with an eloquent discourse, sweet voice, and melodious accents, or the gifts of the preacher; without experiencing, or seeking to experience, greater things than such as are human through the ministry.’

It is thought that the influences of the Spirit are not so powerful, and that piety is not so deep in the church now as in former days, though its members are more numerous. It is feared that professors are more light and worldly. Elias, even in his last illness, when writing the outlines of his own life, espied in the [Welsh Calvinistic Methodist] Connexion he so much loved, some evils of this nature, and felt most anxious that they should be removed. Comparing the spiritual state of the Connexion at present, with what it was in former times, he thus expresses the sympathizing emotions of his mind:

The cause does not appear to be so flourishing as it used to be, in spiritual matters, which is the very life of religion. The light, power and authority formerly experienced under the ministry of the Word, are not known these days. The ministry neither alarms, terrifies, nor disturbs the thousands of ungodly persons who sit under it. A great many of those who attend the religious societies are personally unacquainted with their state before God; nor do the churches know what they are. And what is worse, they are willing to be without knowledge. It is difficult to judge by the fruits of hundreds of professors that they are godly! There are signs of worldly-mindedness in many of the aged. In others there is a lack of principle in doing righteousness. The young people conform to this world, following its ways and foolish fashions. Others delight in wrangling disputes, and foolish and unprofitable questions. Servant-men are high-minded and disobedient, with few ‘doing service as to the Lord’. There is a multitude of mixed people in the army, lusting after the things of Egypt - hankering after the expressions and the baser things of other denominations and religious parties. They delight in swimming in the stream of the spirit of the age in things political and religious. They are unlike our fathers of old. [Daniel] Rowland, [Howell] Harris, and other renowned fathers, and the late Rev T. Charles, would not know or acknowledge them as belonging to their family, nor to the congregations gathered by the Lord through their indefatigable labours in Wales, and in some of the towns in England. No experimental, thoughtful Christian can deny that God has withdrawn himself from us, as to the particular operations of his Spirit and the especial manifestation of his grace. Is not this a proof of it, that thousands of the ungodly hear the Word unconcerned and without trembling? Another proof is that so few that profess godliness have any assurance of hope, and have no experience of the joy of salvation. There is but little thirst for the gracious and powerful visitations of God; and also, the prayers for these blessings are weak and cold! There are many who, in their attitudes, cannot have communion with God whilst they continue in them. If people want God’s presence as the early fathers of the Connexion were blessed with it, let them take care that they be of the same principle, under the guidance of the same Spirit, and walking in the same pathways, ‘seeking not their own things, but the things of Jesus Christ’. Philippians 2.21. My day in this world is near ending; I am almost at my journey’s end. I have been for months confined to my room, under ‘light affliction’. (136-138)

As Elias's day in this world was near ending, he expressed the very same cry Phinehas's wife did as her day in this world was near ending:

“The glory has departed from Israel!”

As many of you know, I love reading Christian biography, and I'd have to say the Elias book is one of my favorites, for in it we find Elias's continued exhortations to the people of God to be seeking the Lord and praying for the Lord to shine His face upon His Church once again. I'd like to close with one of those exhortations:

Strive in particular, brethren, for much of the Lord’s countenance in the means and ordinances of grace, especially in the church. It is but a dark and dismal night everywhere that is destitute of the light of his countenance. His reconciled face in Christ is our delightful sun. So, when the children of this world are mad for earthly things, and cry out, ‘Who will shew us any good?’ but are disappointed everywhere, we shall be calm and call on the Lord most high in prayer often, saying, ‘Lord, lift up the light of thy countenance upon us, and we shall be whole.’ (270-271)

May we who are no longer children of this world open our mouths with wisdom, and call on the Lord most high in prayer often, saying, ‘Lord, lift up the light of thy countenance upon us, and we shall be whole.’ Psalm 80.

For the reviving of Christ's Church, for the joy of all nations, for sake of God's name,
Karen

Related posts...

on praying for revival:

• Naphtali News: the Ministry of the Word & Prayer (see the second portion on prayer)
• Here I stand & from here I cast (devoted to prayer & the ministry of the Word)
• An humble attempt for my rejoicing ~ O! for thousands upon thousands! ~ Edwards, Sutcliff, myself
• 492 years later: You say you want a reformation? (my theses and a call to prayer)
• Postcards from England: "the fog is lifting on My Church"
• postcards from England: "The Burden for Revival" (ML-J)
• postcards from England: are we excited over a dead fish and a car wreck?
• The Day of Pentecost ... the first of a series (Martyn Lloyd-Jones on revival)
• Silent Night ~ Not!
• an advent of a different sort for the "glorious progress of the work of God"
• Revival resources, etc.
• More revival resources: opportunity and eyes to see the ruins, a burden from God
• Bible Reading: Acts – Some Questions the Church Should Be Asking
• Are you storming heaven – or are you sleeping?
• Prayer & Revival in Ireland (R.A. Torrey) & Livingstone in Africa: Are we in our closets?
• the lost treasures of Christianity & the call to pray for revival (Bible reading: Ezra 1)
• see also tent of meeting - my website devoted to prayer for revival

on Mother's Day:

• the best Mother's Day present:to see my children rebel
• a mother's struggle (our struggle)
• trusting the eagles' wings (reliance on the Holy Spirit)
• Thank you, Noël Piper (Thank you, pastor's wives)
• their mother played the harlot
• Then Abigail made haste (complacency & devotion)
• the baby in her womb: his joyful leap is for our learning ~ John Piper

on family:

• my notes on Tim Keller's talk on idols @ The Gospel Coalition Conference
• on our anniversary
• Letter 25 on assurance and fighting for joy (a strong craving ≠ His joy)
• Naphtali News: Songs about "What *I* Want," part 5: If the Curly Fry Doesn't "Satisfy," What Does?
• Don't Waste Your Singleness | Single one ... be single-eyed
• wives, your husband is not your Husband | letter 77 on assurance & joy

on John Elias:

• the fitness HE requireth: in distress, in debt, discontented ~ I Samuel 22:2 
• "It is a dark night on the church, the depth of winter ..." ~ John Elias
• "as if ... God was dead" | letter 160 on assurance & fighting for joy
• ... while He prayed, the heaven was opened. And the Holy Spirit descended...
• "The dawn is to be seen... you may by prayers" (John Elias)

Scripture quotations unless otherwise indicated are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Work found at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A.Cortina_El_sue%C3%B1o.jpg / {{PD-Art|PD-old-100}}.

This past Sunday, Christians around the world celebrated the empty tomb and the resurrection from the dead of our Lord Jesus Christ. We worshiped by singing lyrics such as:

(Robert Lowry)

How many of us are living AS IF GOD WERE DEAD?

How many of us become fearful, fretful, and frozen when faced with changing, perplexing, challenging, and trying circumstances all because we live as if God were dead? (Can we really call that living? ...) When storms come our way, how quickly do we forget that God's covenant mercies and love for His elect in Jesus Christ are everlasting, that His Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom, that His government has no end, and that our God is working all things for our good, and our Father delights to give us the Kingdom and to shower out upon us and to load us up daily with His unsearchable, inexhaustible, incorruptible, undefiled riches, and that our inheritance in Christ is a good and pleasant and blessed inheritance ~ He is our great reward and is altogether lovely! ... that there is none that compares to our Beloved! How often do we pray to our Father in heaven for earthly bread for our bodies (or how often do we pray for other earthly blessings) –– and yet how seldom do we ask, seek, and knock for the gift of the Holy Spirit to renew, restore and revive our souls when we are dry and weary? (See Luke 11:1-13 and Isaiah 44:1-5; see also here.) 

William Roberts... "had lost sight of providence... had slipped in his mind ... as if God was dead."

William Roberts was a friend of the Welsh Calvinistic minister John Elias (1774-1842). When faced with a time of trial and great loss, Mr. Roberts was discovered to be a Christian who was living as if Christ were dead...

    Mrs Elias dealt in drapery and millinery, it was her name 'Elizabeth Elias' – which appeared above the door of the shop. The goods for sale came from the wholesale merchants in Liverpool and were shipped from the to the little harbour of Porth Amlwch Elias' s kinsman, William Roberts of Amlwch, and his wife were engaged in the same trade. In April 1818 the new ship, Marchioness, carrying goods from Liverpool to Anglesey was driven by a storm and was wrecked on Dulas beach. Pirates and thieves ran to the wreck, and completed the work of the storm, by taking away everything moveable from the ship and numbers of small business people of the island – including Mr and Mrs Roberts, and Mrs Elias suffered great losses.

    William Roberts, who was newly married, was distracted, and in his desperation went to Llanfechell to consult with his kinsman; but Elias was not at home. The nature of Roberts’ visit is made clear in the following playful yet penetrating letter which Elias wrote to his kinsman after returning home.

Llanfechell I8 April 1818

My dear brother, I am sorry that I have to make a complaint against a kinsman of mine, who lives a short distance from me to the east, who one day visited my family, who were beset by a little trial. I would have thought that my pious kinsman would have given them good counsel, cautioning them against grumbling, and exhorting them to submit to the wise vicissitudes of providence; comforting them, and showing them that all things work for good, etc. But my kinsman, too, was in a misfortune of the same nature; he had lost sight of providence in what had happened to him, and had slipped in his mind as if God had forgotten him, or that God was dead; and that no one could sustain him any more, and prosper him in his circumstances and give him a bite of bread. He had forgotten Job’s example; he had forgotten the 6th of Matthew and the 12th of Luke, or else he had cast doubt on the veracity of these chapters. Thus, instead of giving my family a good example, and good counsel suitable for the occasion, he behaved as one who had no belief in God, knowing not how to trust him under his chastisement, looking up to him through clouds hid him from sight. He spoke like the Gentiles who know not God, and threw my family into a deeper despondency. If you know my kinsman, and if you are conversant with the state of his mind these days, please endeavour to convince him; try to turn his face towards God’s rule over all things; that he at all times orders matters for the best purpose; that in tribulations and crosses one must exercise trust and submission; and must avoid thinking, in the midst of the darkest night, that God cannot change it into shining daylight, causing the light to chase away the blackest darkness. Say, also, to my kinsman (if you find opportunity to meet him), to beware of killing the new kind and tender wife that he has been presented, through his dissatisfaction; and remember to quote these words to him: ‘Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest not thou thyself?' Please also inform him that I have not written this as a Stoic, but with my eye fixed on God’s providence, believing that he makes all things good, and that it is possible to be joyful in him though bereft of the things of this world.

    Yet, in spite of all this, I would gladly welcome my kinsman here as often as he likes!

    Give my kind regards to Mrs Roberts. I hope she finds support to live far more devoutly than the person mentioned above.

    I am, your afflicted friend and brother and fellow-labourer.

~ from "John Elias: Life, Letters and Essays" by Edward Morgan (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1973, revised edition published in one volume), 77-78, emphasis mine.

Thou bruised and broken Bread,
My life-long wants supply;
As living souls are fed,
O feed me, or I die.
(John Samuel Bewley Monsell, Jr.)

Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah,
Pilgrim through this barren land.
I am weak, but Thou art mighty;
Hold me with Thy powerful hand.
Bread of Heaven, Bread of Heaven,
Feed me till I want no more;
Feed me till I want no more.
(William Williams, tr. by Peter Williams)

Do you doubt the veracity of Jesus' own words in Matthew 6 and Luke 12, and stagger at His promise to provide all-sufficient and overflowing spiritual sustenance to you through Himself?

John 6:35  Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst....  47  Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48  I am the bread of life. 49  Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50  This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51  I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."

John 7:37  On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38  Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” 39  Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

John 4:13  Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14  but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty forever. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15  The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”

When was the last time you fervently sought to experience and enjoy the birthright that is already yours as a child of God and pleaded His promises to Him to give you this water?

Rather than standing firm in faith, do you find yourself reacting like Roberts –– as if you have "no belief in God, knowing not how to trust him under his chastisement"?

“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
nor be weary when reproved by him.
6  For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastises every son whom he receives.”

7  It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8  If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9  Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10  For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11  For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

* * *

He [Robert Murray M'Cheyne] came to Edinburgh on the 11th, to attend the meeting of ministers and elders who had come together to sign the Solemn Engagement in defence of the liberties of Christ's Church. He hesitated not to put his hand to the Engagement. He then returned to Dundee; and scarcely had he returned, when he was laid aside by one of those attacks of illness with which he was so ofted tried. In this case, however, it soon passed away. "My health," he remarked, "has taken a gracious turn, which should make me look up." But again, on September 6th, an attack of fever laid him down for six days. On this occasion, just before the sickness came on, three persons had visited him, to tell him how they were brought to Christ under his ministry some years before. "Why," he noted in his journal, "Why has God brought these cases before me this week? Surely he is preparing me for some trial of faith." The result proved that his conjecture was just. And while his Master prepared him beforehand for these trials, he had ends to accomplish in his servant by means of them. There were other trials also, besides these, which were very heavy to him; but in all we could discern the husbandman pruning the branch, that it might bear more fruit. As he himself said one day in the church of Abernyte, when he was assisting Mr Manson, "If we only saw the whole, we should see that the father is doing little else in the world but training his vines."

~ from "Memoir & Remains of Robert Murray M'Cheyne" by Andrew A. Bonar, 137

May the God of all grace make all grace abound to us,
so we might not live as if God was dead,
so we might not grumble, doubt, and languish in times of trial and loss,
but rather be strengthened in faith and thrive through Him
as we enter into a true and lively knowledge of God as
the Living God, really existing, and the giver of life to us!

Related:

My other letters on assurance and fighting for joy here, including:

• Letter 11 on assurance and fighting for joy (the Lord is at hand! - Philippians 4)
• Letter 15 on assurance and fighting for joy (Joy is a gift of God, more than a feeling)
• Letter 16 on assurance and fighting for joy (our prayers, His wise denials and joy)
• Shall we not drink the cup the Father has given us? (Letter 53 on assurance & fighting for joy)
• our Father's discipline, William Cowper on trials & sufferings (letter 61 on assurance & joy)
• Are you a radiant Christian or a drunken old woman? (letter 82 on assurance & fighting for joy)
• Rejoicing here on the Potter's Wheel (Psalm 66) | Letter 96 on assurance & joy
• disappointment ~ appointment | letter 119 on assurance & fighting for joy
• Three Years Later: Dancing & Skipping with Mrs. Durham | Letter 147 on fighting for joy

Other related posts:

• What is your attitude toward trials and sufferings? ~ Whitefield's Journals
• Her Eyes Were Still Restrained ~ "When it looks like he is buried for good..."
• Lent I.–Suffering and Glory
• Our Twisted View of God
• Kingdom-Obsessed People don't keep looking in the rear view mirror at past hurts, # 5
• All things (even bad things) work together for good...
• The story of Job: bad luck, God's sovereign will or ?
• praying cancer is for the glory of God
• some reflections about prayer
• Bible Reading: II Corinthians 1-Blessings out of buffetings (Alan Redpath)
• God's sovereign grace & care in Genesis (the story of Joseph)
• To take whatever thy Father's pleasure | "May adversities uninterrupted be my lot" ~ Edward Griffin
• "you would begin by blowing out all his lamps..." ~ Edward Payson
• Are you keeping calm & carrying on? Do you react or respond? ~ Isaiah 7:1-9
• Bible Reading-Isaiah: When We Think the LORD Has Forsaken and Forgotten Us
• "Ah! But the Comforter!" (Pentecost's Peace and Rest ~ John 14:1, 23-27)
• Why not pray for the baptism of the Holy Spirit?

HT for the M'Cheyne text:  http://books.google.com/books?id=JIY6AAAAcAAJ&pg=PR3#v=onepage&q&f=false.

Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Work found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Caravaggio_-_La_Deposizione_di_Cristo.jpg / {{PD-Art|PD-old-100}} / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Gleaning a few choice excerpts from "George Whitefield's Journals," one of my favorite books (boldface & italics mine). These are all taken from the year 1739...

Monday, March 19.  After having refreshed myself and friends by reading a packet of letters from London, and dispatched some other business, according to appointment, I set out for Bath, and got thither about three in the afternoon.  Dinner being ended, through great weakness of body, and sickness in my stomach, I was obliged to lie down upon the bed; but the hour being come for my preaching, I went, weak and languid as I was, depending on the Divine Strength, and, I think, scarce ever preached with greater power.  There were about four or five thousand of high and low, rich and poor, to hear.  As I went along, I observed many scoffers, and when I got upon the table to preach, many laughed; but before I had finished my prayer, all was hushed and silent, and ere I had concluded my discourse, God, by His Word, seemed to impress a great awe upon their minds; for all were deeply attentive, and seemed much affected with what had been spoken.  Men may scoff for a little while, but there is something in this foolishness of preaching which will make the most stubborn heart to bend or break.  "Is not My Word like fire," saith the Lord, "and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?"

Friday, May 12 ... Many came to me this morning, acquainting me what God had done in their souls by my preaching in the fields.  In the evening, I preached to about twenty thousand people at Kennington as usual, the weather continuing remarkably fair whilst I was delivering my Master's message.  I offered Jesus Christ to all who could apply Him to their hearts by faith.  Oh that all would embrace Him!  The Lord make them willing in the day of His power.

Sunday, May 13. Preached this morning to a prodigious number of people in Moorfields, and collected for the orphans £52 19s. 6d., above £20 of which was in halfpence.  Indeed, they almost wearied me in receiving their mites, and they were more than one man could carry home.  Went to public worship twice and preached in the evening to near sixty thousand people.  Many went away because they would not hear; but God enabled me to speak so that the best part of them could understand me well, and it is very remarkable what a deep silence is preserved whilst I am speaking.  After sermon, I made another collection of £29 17x. 8d, and came home deeply humbled with a sense of what God has done for my soul. I doubt not but that many self-righteous bigots, when they see me spreading out my hands to offer Jesus Christ freely to all, are ready to cry out, "How glorious did the Rev. Mr. Whitefield look to-day, when, neglecting the dignity of a clergyman, he stood venting his enthusiastic ravings in a gown and cassock upon a common, and collecting mites from the poor people." But if this is to be vile, Lord grant that I may be more vile.  I know this foolishness of preaching is made instrumental to the conversion and edification of numbers.  Ye Pharisees mock on, I rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.

Friday, May 18. ... As the walls of Jericho once fell down at the sound of a few rams' horns; so I hope even this foolishness of preaching, under God, will be a means of pulling down the Devil's strongholds, which are in and about the City of London...

Thursday, June 7.  Received two letters from persons, confessing that they came to hear me out of a bad motive, but were apprehended by the free grace of Jesus Christ...

Wednesday, July 18. ... I reached Abingdon, twenty-two miles from Cirencester, about seven, and preached to several thousands soon after I came in.  Much opposition had been made against my coming.  The landlord, whose house we offered to put up at, genteellly told us he had not room for us; and numberless prejudices had been industriously spread to prevent my success.  But God's Word will make its own way, let men say what they please.  Our weapons are not carnal, but mighty through the Divine Power, to the pulling down of Satan's strongholds.

Thursday, July 19.  At the request of several well-disposed people, preached again this morning, though not to so great a number as before.  A sweet power was felt amongst us.  The hearers melted into tears under the Word.  Oh, what a sudden alteration does this foolishness of preaching make in the most obstinate hearts.  'Tis but for God to speak the word, and the lion is turned into a lamb.  Oh, that we were like that dear Lamb of God, Who died to take away the sins of the world.

Saturday, July 28.  ... Preached at Blackheath in the evening and came home rejoicing.  The bills which are sent to me, plainly prove that God has worked on numbers of souls. At the judgment day, we shall see what good has been done by this foolishness of preaching.  Many, I believe, come to the fields to worship the Father in spirit and in truth.  God seeketh such to worship Him.

Do we really believe God's Word is a hammer and a fire? Do we believe God's Holy Spirit delights to work through preaching and prayer to save souls just He did in the days of George Whitefield? How often are we as 21st century Christians tempted to think we have evolved in some way from the 18th century days of Whitefield, or from the 1st century days of the early Church, so that when we look up and see those high and thick Jericho walls –– those stony, hard hearts of unbelievers, skeptics, mockers, and doubters –– rather than standing firm in faith, we begin to slip and slide into compromising –– and soon enough we have cast aside God's appointed means to convict and arrest and save souls and magnify His glory:  this foolishness of preaching? When faced with intimidating and daunting Jericho walls, how often do we find ourselves relying on worldly wisdom, carnal weapons, earthly power, human ingenuity, and fleshly manipulation –– rather than standing fast on God's Word, trusting in God's might, relying on God's wisdom and power, and preaching Christ and Him crucified? Are we all too ready to jettison God's instrumental means out of fear of looking vile, undignified, foolish, and weak in the eyes of men?

I Corinthians 1:18  For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. 19  For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. 20  Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 21  For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. 22  For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: 23  But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; 24  But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. 25  Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

II Chronicles 16:7  And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said unto him, Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and NOT relied on the LORD thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thine hand. 8  Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubims a huge host, with very many chariots and horsemen? yet, because thou didst rely on the LORD, he delivered them into thine hand. 9  For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars. 10  Then Asa was wroth with the seer, and put him in a prison house; for he was in a rage with him because of this thing. And Asa oppressed some of the people the same time.