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.

http://youtu.be/sA7SMU5dhus
Helicopter Rescues Doe and Fawn on Thin Ice, Nova Scotia

Isaiah 40:9  Get you up to a high mountain,
O Zion, herald of good news;
lift up your voice with strength,
O Jerusalem, herald of good news;
lift it up, fear not;
say to the cities of Judah,
“Behold your God!”
10  Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might,
and his arm rules for him;
behold, his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.
11  He will tend his flock like a shepherd;
he will gather the lambs in his arms;
he will carry them in his bosom,
and gently lead those that are with young.

Hallelujah! what a Savior!
Hallelujah! what a Friend!
Saving, helping, keeping, loving,
He is with me to the end.

("Jesus! What a Friend for Sinners" by J. Wil­bur Chap­man, 1910)

Have you received the gift of blessed assurance that you can sing Hallelujah! along with J. Wilbur Chapman?

Do you trust Him who is the Author of our faith to be the Finisher?

Have you ever beheld the beauty of the Lamb of God: –– tasted of His unsearchable riches, drunk of God's steadfast love through the everlasting covenant in Christ's blood, and supped of the eternal comfort of the reconciliation –– that His Holy Spirit bubbles up and overflows out of your heart, and you find yourself rejoicing with  joy unspeakable and full of glory –– even in your trials and sufferings?

 John 7:37b “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.’”

Related:

In my last couple posts (here and here), I've been urging those of you who are already Christians to be pressing in to seek the face of God so you might receive grace upon grace . . .

In the second of those posts, I referred to Moses' continuing upward pursuit to receive more of God's grace and to see God's glory (see Exodus 33). Yesterday afternoon, I was re-listening to Martyn Lloyd-Jones' (ML-J) sermon, "Revival of a Backslidden Church," given in Pensacola, Florida, in 1969. Near the end of that sermon, ML-J read from one of Spurgeon's revival year sermons. I went back to Lloyd-Jones' book "Revival" (Wheaton: Crossway, 1987) for I was pretty sure he'd also cited that same quotation in one of those sermons, and I found it in Chapter 17, "The Glory of God Revealed" (pp. 223-224, emphasis mine), based on ML-J's sermon given in 1959 on Exodus 33:18-23 (available here: http://www.mljtrust.org/sermons/the-glory-of-god-2/).

In that sermon, Lloyd-Jones challenged his congregation (and us ~ though dead, yet he speaks!) to press on to receive from Christ's fullness grace upon grace, or as he put it to "enjoy foretastes of heaven here in this world" –– using the example of Moses, as well as the Psalmists, the apostle Paul, Peter, and the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ. As he was concluding the sermon, he read a couple excerpts from Jonathan Edwards' "Personal Narrative" followed by these words of Spurgeon:

"Let me say now before I turn from this point, that it is possible for a man to know whether God has called him or not. And he may know it too beyond a doubt. He may know it as surely as if he read it with his own eyes. Nay, he may know it more surely than that. For if I read a thing with my eyes, even my eyes may deceive me. The testimony of sense may be false, but the testimony of the Spirit must be true. We have the witness of the Spirit within, bearing witness with our spirits that we are born of God. There is such a thing on earth as an infallible assurance of our election. Let a man once get that and it will anoint his head with fresh oil, it will clothe him with a white garment of praise and put the song of the angels in his mouth. Happy, happy man who is fully assured in his interest in the covenant of grace, in the blood of atonement, and in the glories of heaven. What would some of you give if you could arrive at this assurance. Mark, if you anxiously desire to know, you may know. If you heart pants to read its title clear, it shall do so ere long. No man ever desired Christ in his heart with a living and longing desire, who did not find Him sooner or later. If thou hast a desire, God has give it thee. If thou pantest, and criest, and groanest after Christ, even this is His gift, bless Him for it. Thank Him for a little grace, and ask Him for great grace. He has given thee hope, ask for faith. And when He gives thee faith, ask for assurance. And when thou gettest assurance, ask for full assurance. And when thou hast obtained full assurance, ask for enjoyment. And when thou hast enjoyment, ask for glory itself and He shall surely give it thee in His own appointed season."

Dr. Lloyd-Jones closed the sermon with the following exhortation, which is my exhortation to you today:

"Are you on these steps? Having thanked God for what you have, have you got this longing for more? Hope, faith, assurance, full assurance, enjoyment, glory. Ask him for it. Climb the steps. Follow the example of Moses. Enter boldly in faith, and say to God, ‘Show me thy glory.' And you have the assurance, not only of Spurgeon, that if you do so from your heart, and sincerely, in his own good season he will answer you. You have the infinitely higher and greater assurance of this word of God itself, of the promise of the living God: 'Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you,' (James 4.8). Seek glory. For yourself, seek it. For the Church, pray for revival, for the passing by of the glory of God."

Genesis 18:9  They said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “She is in the tent.” 10  The LORD said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. 11  Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. 12  So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?” 13  The LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ 14  Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” 15  But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.”

May the LORD of hosts strengthen each and every one of us so we in hope against hope believe and embrace His very great and precious promises, and seek Him with all our heart . . . O! yes, certainly thank Him for a little grace . . . but ask Him for great grace!

Our heavenly Father, the God of all grace who has given us a little grace, is pleased to pour out upon His needy children great grace!

Like Elisha's servant, let us go up now . . . and go again . . . and go again . . . until we glimpse a sight of that small cloud like a man's hand rising from the sea!

I Kings 18:41  And Elijah said to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink, for there is a sound of the rushing of rain.” 42  So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Mount Carmel. And he bowed himself down on the earth and put his face between his knees. 43  And he said to his servant, “Go up now, look toward the sea.” And he went up and looked and said, “There is nothing.” And he said, “Go again,” seven times. 44  And at the seventh time he said, “Behold, a little cloud like a man's hand is rising from the sea.”

And unlike Joash, may we not be found lukewarm or wavering in our pursuit of grace, may our affections not be sluggish or tepid when it comes desiring more and more of Christ – but rather may we strike the arrows tenaciously and incessantly . . .

II Kings 13:14  Now when Elisha had fallen sick with the illness of which he was to die, Joash king of Israel went down to him and wept before him, crying, “My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” 15  And Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and arrows.” So he took a bow and arrows. 16  Then he said to the king of Israel, “Draw the bow,” and he drew it. And Elisha laid his hands on the king's hands. 17  And he said, “Open the window eastward,” and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot,” and he shot. And he said, “The LORD's arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Syria! For you shall fight the Syrians in Aphek until you have made an end of them.” 18  And he said, “Take the arrows,” and he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground with them.” And he struck three times and stopped. 19  Then the man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck down Syria until you had made an end of it, but now you will strike down Syria only three times.”

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)
Father, forgive me for joking

Other related posts:

Amazing Grace . . . upon Grace ~ the 240th anniversary
"... since thou hast been thus gracious ..." ~ Susanna Anthony and grace upon grace
Why not pray for the baptism of the Holy Spirit?
birthday reflection: "the great & glorious possibilities" ~ "Now therefore, give me this mountain"
As a deer pants ... Is your soul panting for God? (Psalms 42 & 43)
Grace flowing, abounding to us, Gifts for men, yea, the rebellious (Psalm 68:18)
Linger, linger, linger – so you might know God's love
"I cannot consider myself to have been a believer (in the full sense of the word)" ~ John Newton & myself

Advent #1 WHY HAS JESUS COME? that we might have life & life more abundantly
Advent # 5 WHY HAS JESUS COME? So we might draw near to God | Even a Vapor
Advent # 7 WHY HAS JESUS COME? So we might be satisfied with Him
Advent # 8: WHY HAS JESUS COME? "so that [we] might be WITH HIM" ~ Mark 3:14
Advent # 9 WHY HAS JESUS COME? Adoption: the highest privilege the gospel offers ~ J.I. Packer

Letter 18 on assurance and fighting for joy (my testimony of joy)
John 3:36a Whoever believes in the Son HAS eternal life (letter 64 on assurance & joy)
"give me also springs of water" - Will you be an Achsah? (letter 66 on assurance & fighting for joy)
Can there be more? | letter 113 on assurance & fighting for joy
happiness & joy: the distinction that SHOULD be made | letter 155 on assurance & fighting for joy

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. Emphasis mine.

Photo credits (all {{PD-Art|PD-old-75}}):

Work found at http://thebiblerevival.com/clipart/1890holmanbible/bw/joashshootingarrowsfromawindowatthecommandofelisha.jpg / http://breadsite.org
Work found at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oda_krohg_stakkelse_lille_1891.jpg
Work found at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jacob_Wrestling_with_the_Angel.jpg