Digibron cookies

Voor optimale prestaties van de website gebruiken wij cookies. Overeenstemmig met de EU GDPR kunt u kiezen welke cookies u wilt toestaan.

Noodzakelijke en wettelijk toegestane cookies

Noodzakelijke en wettelijk toegestane cookies zijn verplicht om de basisfunctionaliteit van Digibron te kunnen gebruiken.

Optionele cookies

Onderstaande cookies zijn optioneel, maar verbeteren uw ervaring van Digibron.

Bekijk het origineel

THE LORD, THE STRENGTH OF HIS PEOPLE

Bekijk het origineel

+ Meer informatie

THE LORD, THE STRENGTH OF HIS PEOPLE

9 minuten leestijd Arcering uitzetten

Psalm 18:1: “I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength.”

THE Lord of heaven and earth, the great Jehovah, is worthy to be loved and extolled by all His creatures. He also requires in His Holy law that we love Him above all things. And has He not made man in His image that he may love his Creator with his whole heart and mind? The love in Adam’s heart was a pure and holy love. It flowed out of the glorious Fountain of all love: God is love. Had Adam a knowledge of God, he could not but love Him. But alas! he with all his posterity lost that knowledge of God in the great and lamentable fall. In that fall we find the ruin of man, of the image of God, his knowledge and glory. The holy and righteous man, Adam, did become a man of sin. Only hatred and enmity was now in his heart, not knowing God, not loving Him. As long as a man remains in that fallen state there is nothing good in him, and he is at all times inclined to hate God and his neighbor. Common grace does not bring true love towards God in the heart. Many try to raise themselves up out of the” ruin and the rubbish of the fall, and may imagine that they yet love the Lord, but it is self-deceit.

It is the Man Christ Jesus Who at all times loved God above all, and His neighbor as Himself, Who has fulfilled the law in all parts, and has in love towards the will of His Father atoned all the sins of His people given unto Him by the Father before the world was made, Who can only, upon the basis of His finished work, rescue deep sunk creatures out of the ruin and the rubbish of the fall wherein they lay totally lost and helpless. O, to know this by heavenly instruction and to believe it with the whole heart! Then we will not boast in ourselves and will not glory in the flesh.

It is upon the merits of Christ as the only ground of salvation, and through the blessed and powerful operations of His Spirit, as an indwelling Spirit, that the image of God is restored, and grace received in the heart, whereby a poor helpless and guilty creature can say again, “I will love the Lord.” This blessing was bestowed upon David. He was raised up unto a new life in the days of his youth, brought to a true knowledge of the only and great God, and turned unto and loved the Lord. Did he not show in words and deeds that he loved the Lord? It is true that David was not perfect therein. When he stumbled on the way and sinned greatly, this love seemed to be gone and was not in its exercises; but it was not out of his heart. There was a burning coal of love under the ashes of temptations and sin. Could David not say with Peter (after he had betrayed his Master), “Lord, Thou knowest all things, Thou knowest I love Thee?”

This love towards the Lord extended itself unto a triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. If we read the dear Psalms of this man of God, we discover this plainly. When it pleases God Almighty to raise a sinner up in sovereign grace, out of the ruins of the fall in Adam, and to fill the soul with life and light, they will learn to know this Triune God and shall love and honor Him.

They shall love the Father, the glorious Creator and God of Providence, for the perfections of His nature and the works of His hands; He, so full of grace and love revealed in sending His dear Son as a Savior and Mediator, John 3. How wonderful is His love and care for His dear children!

They shall love God the Son, He being the brightness of the Father’s glory, and the express image of His Person, Hebr. 1. They love Him because of the loveliness of His Person, the love of His heart, and His works of grace and redemption. He is that wonderful Savior, a Prophet, Priest, and King. When they behold Him by faith, and it is in its fruitful exercises, they may say as we find in the Song of Solomon 5:16: “He is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend.”

They shall love God the Holy Ghost, being co-equal God with the Father and the Son, because of His Person and perfections. He dwells in their heart to enliven, to sanctify, to draw the soul heavenward, to give them faith, hope, and love. He is in them not only a Sanctifier, but also a Comforter, a Spirit of adoption, the earnest and pledge of eternal life, etc.

David could say, I love this Lord; yea, He is my portion. O blessed soul! How can the little-in-faith, the smoking flax and the bruised reed, long for this heavenly blessing and treasure. We may encourage them to seek Him and hope upon Him. His promise is sure.

The Lord was David’s strength. There was no strength in David himself; he was but dust and ashes and in all things dependent upon the all-sufficient God. He had learned to know that he was a “nothing” by heavenly instructions, but also by experience. Without the Lord he could not do anything that was good, but in the strength of His Lord he could do all things. Paul also says, “I can do all things through Christ Jesus strengthening me.”

And David says in the second verse of Psalm 18, “The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in Whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.” The Lord has promised to be the strength of His people, so helpless and weak in themselves. How weak do they feel at times in body and soul both. He says as their faithful Covenant God, “Fear thou not; for I am with thee; be not dismayed; for I am thy God; I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” Isa. 41:10.

The strength of a Triune God, the Almighty Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, certainly made a weak worm as David, very strong: strong in all miseries and troubles, strong in all his spiritual duties, walking in the ways of the Lord, strong in every affliction, strong against all his soul enemies. He says in the 49th verse, “He delivereth me from mine enemies; yea, Thou liftest me up above those that rise up against me: Thou hast delivered me from the violent man. Therefore will I give thanks unto Thee, O Lord.” O, could all our readers, young and old, also say with David, “I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength.” How loveless we are by nature, and there is no strength in our soul filled with death and darkness. O, what a pitiful and deplorable state in which to live, and … what if we shall die therein? O, to live and to die as an enemy of God, and having no strength against our soul enemies, against death! May our Lord, Almighty God, open blind soul’s eyes, and yet raise sinners up out of the ruins of the fall, before our poor soul falls into hell. May God keep us from loving the world with all its vanities, and from standing and living in our own strength, which is but weakness. Remember Peter before his fall!

Do not love that great tempting idol of our days, namely television. I hope you will all despise that show of satan and the world. Keep it out of your homes and away from your dear children, and place the dear Bible and Christ before them. Parents, remember what you have promised; shall you seek destruction for yourselves and your poor children?

O, do you find a certain measure of that true love for the Lord in your heart? May it be increased. O, for more love towards God, more love towards each other! May we see that we are nothing in ourselves, and may we in all our needs be led to the Fountain of love. What sweetness it is for a soul to experience the love of God in his soul and life, and find a return of love in the heart towards this great and wonderful Jehovah God, the God of David, the unchangeable One in life and death.

It is a fact that the word of Christ is now especially fulfilled as we find it in Matthew 24:12: “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” Of “many” — therein a cause for weeping and sadness; not “of all” — a cause to rejoice. There will be a remnant who can say with David, “I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength.”

O, weak worms and snails in yourself, seek strength in God alone. In His strength you can stand in the day of temptation and trouble; in His strength you can persevere to the end and finish your course through this sinful world; in His strength, as promised and received, you can wrestle through all difficulties, and pass soon safely through the Jordan of death, then to love the Lord forever perfectly, giving all honor and glory unto Him.

While God my strength, my life sustains,
Secure from fear my soul remains.

Deze tekst is geautomatiseerd gemaakt en kan nog fouten bevatten. Digibron werkt voortdurend aan correctie. Klik voor het origineel door naar de pdf. Voor opmerkingen, vragen, informatie: contact.

Op Digibron -en alle daarin opgenomen content- is het databankrecht van toepassing. Gebruiksvoorwaarden. Data protection law applies to Digibron and the content of this database. Terms of use.

Bekijk de hele uitgave van dinsdag 1 juni 1954

The Banner of Truth | 16 Pagina's

THE LORD, THE STRENGTH OF HIS PEOPLE

Bekijk de hele uitgave van dinsdag 1 juni 1954

The Banner of Truth | 16 Pagina's