Feeds:
Posts
Comments

The Preciousness of God’s Thoughts by Octavius Winslow

January 16, 2010 by ADMIN

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

It is marvelous that God should think of us as He does.  That, infinitely great and holy – all worlds, all beings, all events occupying His mind – He should yet have individual thoughts of us, those thoughts not mere passing glances of the mind, but involving pre-determination and pre-arrangement of each event, circumstance, and step of our personal history, trivial though it be as a hair falling from the head – is a truth too mighty to grasp were it not too precious to refuse and too divine to disbelieve.  You have, doubtless, beloved, often appeared in your own view so obscure and insignificant a being – a mere cipher in the great sum of human existence, a single drop in the vast ocean of human life – as to be almost at an infinite remove from God’s notice.

You could not, indeed, relieve yourself from the conviction of individual responsibility, nor stifle the reflection that for each transaction of the pre­sent life the future holds you accountable; yet that, isolated and solitary, perchance, poor and mean, as you may be, God, the great, the holy Lord God should think of you, notice you, regard you, set His heart upon you – that His thoughts, more precious than the ocean’s gems and more nume­rous than the sands which belt it, should cluster around you, clinging to you with a grasp so fervent and intense as to lift you to the distinc­tion and privilege of a being in whom, the Divine regard were solely and supremely absorbed—is a truth distancing all conception and well-nigh overwhelming you with its mightiness.  And yet so it is!  Each child of God dwells in His heart and engages His mind as though he were the sole occupant of this boundless universe – a tiny in­sect swimming in the ocean of infinity.

Such is the truth to which the psalmist gives utterance in a burst of devout, impassioned feeling, “How precious are thy thoughts unto me, O God!  How great is the sum of them!”   “Unto me!” Here is faith attracting to, and concentrating upon, its individual self all the precious thoughts Jehovah has of His people.  Oh, there is not a thought of His wisdom, nor a thought of His love, nor a thought of His power, nor a thought of His grace which does not entwine itself with the being, and blend itself with the salvation of each child of His adoption.

The subject now engaging our meditation is – the preciousness of God’s thoughts – and may the theme lay low all high, towering, sinful thoughts of ourselves, and inspire and raise our holy, grateful, adoring thoughts of Him – His glory, beauty, and love – until with a depth of adoration and an intensity of affection worthy the theme our hearts respond, “How precious are thy thoughts unto me, O God!  How great is the sum of them!”  Let us first contemplate a few characteristics of God’s precious thoughts of His saints.

God’s thoughts of His people are – infinite. Believers deal too little with the infinitude of God.  Hence the tendency to “limit the Holy One of Israel.”  Thus, too, it is, that our confidence in God is so hesitating, our views of His power so dwarfish, our love so defective, and our requests and expectations so contracted.  “I am a great King, saith the Lord God.”  All His thoughts are vast, infinite, worthy of His greatness.  His electing thought of us was a great thought; His thought of redeeming us was a great thought; His thought of making us divine by the regenera­tion of the Holy Ghost is a great thought; His thought of bringing us to glory to enjoy Him fully and forever is a great thought.  All these thoughts of God are as great as they are precious, and as precious as they are great.  O child of God!  Think not lightly of the thoughts God has of thee – they are so vast, nothing can exceed; so precious, nothing can equal them.  The thoughts of an Infinite Mind encircle and enfold thee more closely and fondly than the ivy clasps the elm or the mother her new-born infant.  Whether they appear clad in darkness, or robed in light, they are equally the great and precious thoughts of thy covenant God and Father.  “How precious are thy thoughts unto me, O God!  How great is the sum of them!”

God’s thoughts of His people are – hidden. The thoughts of the Invisible One, they must necessarily be so.  It is His glory to conceal until it becomes His wisdom and love to reveal them.  Treasured up in the Divine Mind, they repose in profound mystery until each circum­stance in our daily life unfolds and makes them known, then we learn how real and how precious God’s thoughts of us are.  There is not a moment, beloved of God, that the Lord is not thinking of you; nor is there a moment that He is not, in some form or other, embodying those thoughts in His gracious and providential dealings with you.  His wisdom withholds and His love veils them until the event transpires that gives them utterance and form.  Therefore, when God is silent, let us be still; when He speaks, let us hearken.

Hidden to us though His precious thoughts are, they are all known to Him.  “I know the thoughts I think towards you, saith the Lord; thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”  Attempt not, there­fore, to fathom the Divine Mind or to penetrate the thoughts that are hidden there.  Know thou that they are thoughts of everlasting love, thoughts of assured peace, and let this bring your heart into silent, patient waiting until all these thoughts shall stand unveiled in His wise, loving, and holy dispensations, here, and in heaven’s own light hereafter.  Enough is revealed by Christ to satisfy you that God’s thoughts of you are thoughts of reconciliation – that there exists not in the Divine Mind a solitary thought adverse to your well-being.  Jesus, our Friend, reposes in His people the same confidence His Father has reposed in Him.  “All things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.” Jesus is the expression and embodiment of our Father’s mind.  Jesus is God thinking, God loving, God working, God redeem­ing.  “He that bath seen me hath seen the Father.”  Be not, then, troubled in mind at the dark and mysterious in your path.  God is deal­ing well with you.  By His light, you shall walk through darkness.  Confiding in the wise and lov­ing, though concealed, thoughts of your heavenly Father, your trustful heart can respond, as those thoughts gradually unfold, “How precious are thy thoughts unto me, O God!”

Unchangeableness is another characteristic of God’s thoughts of His people. This is self-evi­dent since they are the thoughts of the Unchange­able One.  Change implies imperfection.  God is a perfect Being, consequently He cannot change.  “I the Lord change not.”  With Him is “no variableness, neither the shadow of a turning.”  He may vary His providences, multiply His dis­pensations, and shift the ever-moving scene of human life, but – “His eternal thoughts move on, His undisturbed affairs.”  How precious is this truth to the child of God!

Human thoughts change; mind itself fails and with it fades from memory countenances that were familiar, and names that were fond and scenes that were sacred.  Human thoughts that cluster and cling so warmly and closely around us today, ere many weeks are past, attracted by new objects of interest, or absorbed by new engagements of time, have fled and gone, and we are alone and forgotten.  But there is ONE whose thoughts of us never change, whose mind never ceases for a moment to think of us.  “O Israel, thou shalt not be for­gotten of me,” is His own loving declaration.  Directing us to a mother—the last earthly home of human tenderness, sympathy, and love – He tells us, “She may forget, yet will not I.”  Beloved, whatever fluctuation you find in human thought or change in human affection, God’s thoughts of love, and care, and faithfulness, are changeless.  Have they ever darted into your heart like solar beams, causing that heart to sing for joy?  Then, though in darkness, loneliness, and sorrow you are led to exclaim, “Hath the Lord forgotten to be gracious?”  God still bears you in His thoughts and on His heart.  Relatives may forget, friends may forget, the saints may forget, but thy God never can.  He thinks of you at this moment as lovingly, as carefully, as from all eternity.  Once in the thoughts of thy covenant God, thou art in those thoughts for ever.

Be not cast down, then, if God appears to forget you. “My way is hid from the Lord,” says the desponding Church.  “No,” says God, “I have engraved thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.”  Amidst all your mental wanderings, your fickle, faint thoughts of Him, He still re­members you.  In the multitude of your anxious and perplexed thoughts within you, awakened by a sense of your ungrateful oblivion of God, or by His trying and mysterious dealings, let this com­fort delight your soul, that He never forgets you!

Edited from The Precious Things of God, originally published in 1860; currently in reprint through Soli Deo Gloria.

Posted in Octavius Winslow |

The Scriptures More Precious Than Gold by Charles Bridge

January 16, 2010 by ADMIN

“The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.” Psalm 119:72

Well might David acknowledge the benefit of affliction, since he had thus learned in God’s statutes something that was better to him than thousands of gold and silver.  This was indeed an enlightened judgment for one to form, who had so small a part of the law of God’s mouth, and so large a portion of this world’s treasure.  And yet, if we study only his book of Psalms to know the important uses and privileges of this law, and his son’s book of Ecclesiastes, to discover the real value of paltry gold and silver (Eccl. 5:9-20; 6:1-2), we shall, under Divine teaching, be led to make the same estimate for ourselves.  Yes, believer, with the same, or rather with far higher delight than the miser calculates his thousands of gold and silver, do you tell out the precious contents of the law of your God?

After having endeavoured in vain to count the thousands in your treasure, one single name sums up their value—“the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Eph. 3:8).  Would not the smallest spot of ground be estimated at thousands of gold and silver, were it known to conceal under its surface a mine of inexhaustible treasure?  This it is that makes the Word so inestimable.  It is the field of the “hidden treasure.”  “The pearl of great price” (Matt. 13:44-46) is known to be concealed here.  You would not, therefore, part with one leaf of your Bible for all the thousands of gold and silver.  You know yourself to be in possession of the substance—you have found all besides to be a shadow.  “I lead”—saith the Savior—”in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment that I may cause them that love me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures” (Prov. 8:20-21).  The grand motive, therefore, in “searching the Scriptures,” is because “they testify of Christ” (John 5:39).  A sinner has but one want—a Savior.  A believer has but one desire—to “know and win Christ” (Phil. 3:8-10).  With a “single eye,” therefore, intent upon one point, he studies this blessed book.  “With unveiled face he beholds in this glass the glory of the Lord” (2 Cor. 3:18), and no arithmetic can compute the price of that which is now unspeakably better to him than the treasures of the earth.

Christian, bear your testimony to your supreme delight in the book of God.  You have here opened the surface of much intellectual interest and solid instruction.  But it is the joy that you have found in the revelation of the Savior, in his commands, in his promises, in his ways, that leads you to exclaim, “More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold!” (Psa. 19:10).  Yes, indeed—every promise—every declaration—centering in him is a pearl; and the Word of God is full of these precious pearls.  If then they be the richest who have the best and the largest treasure, those who have most of the Word in their hearts, not those who have most of the world in their possession—are justly entitled to this pre-eminence.  Let then the Word of Christ dwell in us richly in all wisdom” (Col. 3:16).  For those who are rich in this heavenly treasure are men of substance indeed.

True—this is a correct estimate of the worth of God’s law—better than this world’s treasure.  But is it better to me?  Is this my decided choice?  How many will inconsiderately acknowledge its supreme value, while they yet hesitate to relinquish even a scanty morsel of earth for an interest in it!  Do I then habitually prefer this law of God’s mouth to every worldly advantage?  Am I ready to forego every selfish consideration, if it may only be the means of uniting my heart more closely to the Book of God?  If this be not my practical conviction, I fear I have not yet opened the mine.  But if I can assent to this declaration of the man of God, I have made a far more glorious discovery than Archimedes; and therefore may take up his expression of joyful surprise—‘I have found it! I have found it!’  What?  That which the world could never have given me—that of which the world can never deprive me.

Yet how affecting is it to see men poor in the midst of great riches!  Often in the world we see the possessor of a large treasure—without a heart to enjoy it—virtually therefore a pauper.  More often still in the Church do we see professors (may it not be so with some of us?) with their Bibles in their hands—yet poor even with the external interest in its “unsearchable riches.”  Often also do we observe a want of value for the whole law or revelation of God’s mouth.  Some parts are highly honored to the depreciation of the rest.  But let it be remembered that the whole of Scripture “is given by inspiration of God and is therefore profitable” for its appointed end (2 Tim. 3:16-17).  Oh beware of resting satisfied with a scanty treasure.  Prayer and diligence will bring out not only “things new,” but the “old” also with a new and brighter glow.  Scraping the surface is a barren exercise.  Digging into the bowels is a most enriching employ.  No vein in this mine is yet exhausted.  And rich indeed shall we be, if we gather only one atom of the gold each day in prayerful meditation.  But as you value your progress and peace in the ways of God—as you have an eye to your Christian perfection—put away that ruinous thought—true as an encouragement to the weak (Zech. 4:10), but false as an excuse to the slothful (Prov. 13.4)—that a little knowledge is sufficient to carry us to heaven.

And—Lord—help me to prize the law as coming from thy mouth (1 Thess. 2:13).  Let it be for ever written upon my heart.  Let me be daily exploring my hidden treasures.  Let me be enriching myself and all around me with the present possession and interest in these heavenly blessings.

Excerpted from Psalm 119: An Exposition.

Posted in Charles Bridge |

The Goodness of God by A. W. Pink

January 16, 2010 by ADMIN

“The goodness of God endureth continually” (Psalm 52:1)

The “goodness” of God respects the perfection of His nature: “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5).  There is such an absolute perfection in God’s nature and being that nothing is wanting to it or defective in it and nothing can be added to it to make it better.

He is originally good, good of Himself, which nothing else is; for all creatures are good only by participation and communication from God.  He is essentially good; not only good, but goodness itself: the creature’s good is a superadded quality, in God it is His essence.  He is infinitely good; the creature’s good is but a drop, but in God there is an infinite ocean or gathering together of good.  He is eternally and immutably good, for He cannot be less good than He is; as there can be no addition made to Him, so no subtraction from Him (Thomas Manton).

God is summum bonum, the chief good.  The original Saxon meaning of our English word “God” is “The Good.”  God is not only the Greatest of all beings, but the Best.  All the goodness there is in any creature has been imparted from the Creator, but God’s goodness is underived, for it is the essence of His eternal nature.  As God is infinite in power from all eternity, before there was any display thereof, or any act of omnipotency put forth; so He was eternally good before there was any communication of His bounty, or any creature to whom it might be imparted or exercised.  Thus, the first manifestation of this Divine perfection was in giving being to all things.  “Thou art good, and doest good” (Psalm 119:68).  God has in Himself an infinite and inexhaustible treasure of all blessedness enough to fill all things.

All that emanates from God—His decrees, His creation, His laws, His providences—cannot be otherwise than good: as it is written.  “And God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good” (Genesis 1:31).  Thus, the “goodness” of God is seen, first, in Creation.  The more closely the creature is studied, the more the beneficence of its Creator becomes apparent.  Take the highest of God’s earthly creatures, man.  Abundant reason has he to say with the Psalmist, “I will praise Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are Thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well” (Psalm 139:14).

Everything about the structure of our bodies attests the goodness of their Maker.  How suited the bands to perform their allotted work!  How good of the Lord to appoint sleep to refresh the wearied body!  How benevolent His provision to give unto the eyes lids and brows for their protection!  And so we might continue indefinitely.  Nor is the goodness of the Creator confined to man, it is exercised toward all His creatures.  “The eyes of all wait upon Thee; and Thou givest them their meat in due season.  Thou openest Thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing” (Psalm 145:15-16).  Whole volumes might be written, yea have been, to amplify this fact.  Whether it be the birds of the air, the beasts of the forest, or the fish in the sea, abundant provision has been made to supply their every need.  God “giveth food to all flesh, for His mercy endureth forever” (Psalm 136:25).

Truly, “The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord” (Psalm 33:5).  The goodness of God is seen in the variety of natural pleasures which He has provided for His creatures.  God might have been pleased to satisfy our hunger without the food being pleasing to our palates—how His benevolence appears in the varied flavors which He has given to meats, vegetables, and fruits!  God has not only given us senses, but also that which gratifies them; and this too reveals His goodness.  The earth might have been as fertile as it is without its surface being so delightfully variegated.  Our physical lives could have been sustained without beautiful flowers to regale our eyes, and exhale sweet perfumes.  We might have walked the fields without our ears being saluted by the music of the birds.  Whence, then, this loveliness, this charm, so freely diffused over the face of nature?  Verily, “The tender mercies of the Lord are over all His works” (Psalm 145:9).

The goodness of God is seen in that when man transgressed the law of His Creator a dispensation of unmixed wrath did not at once commence.  Well might God have deprived His fallen creatures of every blessing, every comfort, every pleasure.  Instead, He ushered in a regime of a mixed nature, of mercy and judgment.  This is very wonderful if it be duly considered, and the  more thoroughly that regime be examined the more will it appear that “mercy rejoiceth against judgment” (James 2:13).  Notwithstanding all the evils which attend our fallen state, the balance of good greatly preponderates.  With comparatively rare exceptions, men and women experience a far greater number of days of health, than they do of sickness and pain.  There is much more creature—happiness than creature—misery in the world.  Even our sorrows admit of considerable alleviation, and God has given to the human mind a pliability which adapts itself to circumstances and makes the most of them.

Nor can the benevolence of God be justly called into question because there is suffering and sorrow in the world. If man sins against the goodness of God, if he despises “the riches of His goodness and forbearance and longsuffering,” and after the hardness and impenitency of his heart treasurest up unto himself wrath against the day of wrath (Romans 2:5), who is to blame but himself?  Would God be “good” if He punished not those who ill-use His blessings, abuse His benevolence and trample His mercies beneath their feet?  It will be no reflection upon God’s goodness, but rather the brightest exemplification of it, when He shall rid the earth of those who have broken His laws, defied His authority, mocked His messengers, scorned His Son, and persecuted those for whom He died.

The goodness of God appeared most illustriously when He sent forth His Son “made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might received the adoption of sons” (Galatians 4:4-5).  Then it was that a multitude of the heavenly host praised their Maker and said, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good-will toward men” (Luke 2:14).  Yes, in the Gospel the “grace (Gk. benevolence or goodness) of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men” (Titus 2:11).  Nor can God’s benignity be called into question because He has not made every sinful creature to be a subject of His redemptive grace.  He did not the fallen angels.  Had God left all to perish it had been no reflection on His goodness.  To any who would challenge this statement we will remind him of our Lord’s sovereign prerogative: “Is it not lawful for Me to do what I will with Mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good?”(Matthew 20:15).

“O that men would praise the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men” (Psalm 107:8).  Gratitude is the return justly required from the objects of His beneficence; yet is it often withheld from our great Benefactor simply because His goodness is so constant and so abundant.  It is lightly esteemed because it is exercised toward us in the common course of events.  It is not felt because we daily experience it.  “Despisest thou the riches of His goodness?” (Romans 2:4).  His goodness is “despised” when it is not improved as a means to lead men to repentance, but, on the contrary, serves to harden them from the supposition that God entirely overlooks their sin.

The goodness of God is the life of the believer’s trust. It is this excellency in God which most appeals to our hearts. Because His goodness endureth forever, we ought never to be discouraged: “The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and He knoweth them that trust in Him” (Nahum 1:7).  When others behave badly to us, it should only stir us up the more heartily to give thanks unto the Lord, because He is good; and when we ourselves are conscious that we are far from being good, we should only the more reverently bless Him that He is good.  We must never tolerate an instant’s unbelief as to the goodness of the Lord; whatever else may be questioned, this is absolutely certain, that Jehovah is good; His dispensations may vary, but His nature is always the same (C. H. Spurgeon).

From A. W. Pink, The Attributes of God.

Posted in A. W. Pink |

Search from the Book of the Lord by Thomas Boston

January 16, 2010 by ADMIN

Several things are implied in Isaiah 34:16, “Search from the book of the Lord, and read:”

1.  That man has lost his way, and needs direction to find it, Psalm 119:176, “I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek Your servant.”  Miserable man has blurred vision in a directionless world, which is a dark place, and has as much need of the scriptures to guide him, as one has of a light in darkness, 2 Pet. 1:19.  What a miserable case is that part of the world in that lacks the Bible?  They are vain in their imaginations, and grope in the dark, but cannot find the way of salvation.  In no better case are those to whom it has not come in power.

2.  That man is in danger of being led farther and farther wrong. This made the spouse say, “Tell me, O you whom I love, Where you feed your flock, Where you make it rest at noon.  For why should I be as one who veils herself by the flocks of your companions?” Song 1:7.  There is a cunning devil, a wicked world, corrupt lusts within one’s own breast, to lead him out of the right way, that we had need to let go of, and take this guide.  There are many false lights in the world, which, if followed, will lead the traveler into a mire, and leave him there.

3.  That men are slow of heart to understand the mind of God in his word. It will cost searching diligently before we can take it up, “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me,” John 5:39.

Our eyes are dim to the things of God, our understanding dull, and our judgment is weak.  And therefore, because the iron is blunt, we must put too the more strength.  We lost the sharpness of our sight in spiritual things in Adam; and our corrupt wills and carnal affections, that favor not the things of God, do blind our judgments even more: and therefore it is a labor to us to find out what is necessary for our salvation.

4.  That the book of the Lord has its difficulties, which are not to be easily solved. Therefore the Psalmist prays, “Open my eyes, that I may see Wondrous things from Your law,” Psalm 119:18.

Philip asked the eunuch, “Do you understand what you are reading?” and he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?”  There are depths there in which an elephant may swim, and will exercise the largest capabilities, with all the expertise they may be possessed of. God in his holy providence has so ordered it, to stain the pride of all glory; to make his word the more like himself, whom none can search out to perfection, and to sharpen the diligence of his people in their inquiries into it.

5.  That yet we need highly to understand it, otherwise we would not be commanded to search into it. “Of the times and seasons,” says the apostle, “you have no need that I write to you;” and therefore he wrote not of them.  There is a treasure in this field; we are called to dig for it; for though it be hid, yet we must have it, or we will waste away in our spiritual poverty.

6.  That we may gain from it by diligent inquiry. The holy humble heart will not be always sent empty away from these wells of salvation, when it undertakes itself to draw.  There are shallow places in these waters of the sanctuary, where lambs may wade.

Posted in Thomas Boston |

The Patience of God by A. W. Pink

January 16, 2010 by ADMIN

The Patience of God by A. W. Pink

Far less has been written upon this than the other excellencies of the Divine character.  Not a few of those who have expatiated at length upon the Divine attributes have passed over the patience of God without any comment.  It is not easy to suggest a reason for this, for surely the longsuffering of God is as much one of the Divine perfections as His wisdom, power, or holiness, and as much to be admired and revered by us.  True, the actual term will not be found in a concordance so frequently as the others, but the glory of this grace itself shines forth on almost every page of Scripture.  Certain it is that we lose much if we do not frequently meditate upon the patience of God and earnestly pray that our hearts and ways may be more completely conformed thereto.

Most probably the principal reason why so many writers have failed to give us anything, separately, upon the patience of God was because of the difficulty of distinguishing this attribute from the Divine goodness and mercy, particularly the latter.  God’s longsuffering is mentioned in conjunction with His grace and mercy again and again, as may be seen by consulting Exodus 34:6, Numbers 14:18, Psalm 86:15, etc.

That the patience of God is really a display of His mercy, in fact is one way in which it is frequently manifested, cannot be gainsaid; but that they are one and the same excellency, and are not to be separated, we cannot concede.  It may not be easy to discriminate between them, nevertheless, Scripture fully warrants us, in predicating some things of the one which we cannot of the other.

Stephen Charnock, the Puritan, defines God’s patience, in part, thus: It is a part of the Divine goodness and mercy, yet differs from both.  God being the greatest goodness, hath the greatest mildness; mildness is always the companion of true goodness, and the greater the goodness, the greater the mildness.  Who so holy as Christ, and who so meek?  God’s slowness to anger is a branch of His mercy: “the Lord is full of compassion, slow to anger” (Psalm 145:8).

It differs from mercy in the formal consideration of the subject: mercy respects the creature as miserable, patience respects the creature as criminal; mercy pities him in his misery, patience bears with the sin which engendered the misery, and giving birth to more.  Personally we would define the Divine patience as that power of control which God exercises over Himself, causing Him to bear with the wicked and forebear so long in punishing them.  In Nahum 1:3, we read, “The Lord is slow to anger and great in power,” upon which Mr. Charnock said, Men that are great in the world are quick in passion, and are not so ready to forgive an injury, or bear with an offender, as one of a meaner rank.  It is a want of power over that man’s self that makes him do unbecoming things upon a provocation.  A prince that can bridle his passions is a king over himself as well as over his subjects.  God is slow to anger because great in power.  He has no less power over Himself than over His creatures.

It is at the above point, we think, that God’s patience is most clearly distinguished from His mercy.  Though the creature is benefited thereby, the patience of God chiefly respects Himself, a restraint placed upon His acts by His will; whereas His mercy terminates wholly upon the creature.  The patience of God is that excellency which causes Him to sustain great injuries without immediately avenging Himself.  He has a power of patience as well as a power of justice.  Thus the Hebrew word for the Divine longsuffering is rendered “slow to anger” in Nehemiah 9:17, Psalm 103:8, etc.  Not that there are any passions in the Divine nature, but that God’s wisdom and will is pleased to act with that stateliness and sobriety which becometh His exalted majesty.

In support of our definition above, let us point out that it was to this excellency in the Divine character that Moses appealed when Israel sinned so grievously at Kadesh-Barnea and there provoked Jehovah so sorely.  Unto His servant the Lord said, “I will smite them with the pestilence and disinherit them.”  Then it was that the typical mediator pleaded, “I beseech Thee let the power of my Lord be great according as Thou hast spoken, saying, The Lord is longsuffering,” etc. (Numbers 14:17).  Thus, His longsuffering is His “power” of self-restraint.

Again, in Romans 9:22 we read, “What if God, willing to show His wrath, and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction…?”  Were God to immediately break these reprobate vessels into pieces, His power of self-control would not so eminently appear; by bearing with their wickedness and forbearing punishment so long, the power of His patience is gloriously demonstrated.  True, the wicked interpret His longsuffering quite differently—“Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil” (Ecclesiastes 8:11)—but the anointed eye adores what they abuse.

“The God of patience” (Romans 15:5) is one of the Divine titles. Deity is thus denominated, first, because God is both the Author and Object of the grace of patience in the saint.  Secondly, because this is what He is in Himself: patience is one of His perfections.  Thirdly, as a pattern for us: “Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering” (Colossians 3:12).  And again, “Be ye therefore followers (emulators) of god, as dear children” (Ephesians 5:2).  When tempted to be disgusted at the dullness of another, or to be revenged on one who has wronged you, call to remembrance God’s infinite patience and longsuffering with yourself.

The patience of God is manifested in His dealings with sinners. How strikingly was it displayed toward the antediluvians.  When mankind was universally degenerate and all flesh had corrupted his way, God did not destroy them till He had forewarned them.  He “waited” (1 Peter 3:20), probably no less than one hundred and twenty years (Genesis 6:3), during which time Noah was a “preacher of righteousness” (2 Peter 2:5).  So, later, when the Gentiles not only worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, but also committed the vilest abominations contrary to even the dictates of nature (Romans 1:19-26), and hereby filled up the measure of their iniquity; yet, instead of drawing His sword for the extermination of such rebels, God “suffered all nations to walk in their own ways,” and gave them “rain from heaven and fruitful seasons” (Acts 14:16-17).

Marvelously was God’s patience exercised and manifested toward Israel.  First, He “suffered their manners” for forty years in the wilderness (Acts 13:18).  Later, when they had entered Canaan, but followed the evil customs of the nations around them, and turned to idolatry; though God chastened them sorely, He did not utterly destroy them, but in their distress, raised up deliverers for them.  When their iniquity was raised to such a height that none but a God of infinite patience, could have borne them, He, notwithstanding, spared them many years before He allowed them to be carried down into Babylon.  Finally, when their rebellion against Him reached its climax by crucifying His Son.  He waited forty years ere He sent the Romans against them and that only after they had judged themselves “unworthy of eternal life” (Acts 13:46).

How wondrous is God’s patience with the world today! On every side, people are sinning with a high hand.  The Divine law is trampled under foot and God Himself openly despised.  It is truly amazing that He does not instantly strike dead those who so brazenly defy Him.  Why does He not suddenly cut off the haughty, infidel and blatant blasphemer, as He did Ananias and Sapphira?  Why does He not cause the earth to open its mouth and devour the persecutors of his people, so that, like Dathan and Abiram, they shall go down alive into the Pit?  And what of apostate Christendom, where every possible form of sin is now tolerated and practiced under cover of the holy name of Christ?  Why does not the righteous wrath of Heaven make an end of such abominations?  Only one answer is possible: because God bears with “much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction.”

And what of the writer and the reader? Let us review our own lives.  It is not long since we followed a multitude to do evil had no concern for God’s glory, and lived only to gratify self.  How patiently He bore with our vile conduct!  And now that grace has snatched us as brands from the burning, giving us a place in God’s family, and begotten us unto an eternal inheritance in glory; how miserably we requite Him.  How shallow our gratitude, how tardy our obedience, how frequent our backslidings!  One reason why God suffers the flesh to remain in the believer is that He may exhibit His “longsuffering to usward” (2 Peter 3:9).  Since this Divine attribute is manifested only in this world, God takes advantage to display it toward His own.

May our meditation upon this Divine excellency soften our hearts, make our consciences tender, and may we learn in the school of holy experience the “patience of saints,” namely, submission to the Divine will and continuance in well doing.  Let us earnestly seek grace to emulate this Divine excellency.  “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48): in the immediate context Christ exhorts us to love our enemies, bless them that curse us, do good to them that hate us.  God bears long with the wicked notwithstanding the multitude of their sin, and shall we desire to be revenged because of a single injury?

Posted in A. W. Pink |

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »