Judges 15:18

He was sore athirst, and called on the Lord, and said, thou hast given this great deliverance in to the hand of thy servant: and now shall I die for thirst?”

Samson was thirsty and prepared to die. The difficulty was different from any which the hero had met before. Merely to get thirst assuaged is nothing like so great a matter as to be delivered from a thousand Philistines! But when the thirst was on him, Samson felt that tiny present difficulty more weighty than the great past difficulty out of which they had so specially been delivered. It is very usual for God’s people, when they have enjoyed a great deliverance, to discover a tiny trouble much for them. Samson slays a thousand Philistines, and piles them up in heaps, and then faints for a tiny water! Jacob wrestles with God at Peniel, and overcomes Omnipotence itself, and then goes “halting on his thigh!” Unusual that there has to be a shrinking of the sinew whenever they win the day. As if the Lord must teach us our littleness, our nothingness, in order to keep us within bounds. Samson boasted right loudly when they said, “I have slain a thousand men.” His boastful throat soon grew hoarse with thirst, and they betook himself to prayer. God has plenty of ways of humbling his people. Dear kid of God, if after great mercy you are laid very low, your case is not an unusual. When David had mounted the throne of Israel, they said, “I am this day weak, though anointed king.” You must expect to feel weakest when you are enjoying your greatest triumph. If God has wrought for you great deliverances historically in the past, your present difficulty is only like Samson’s thirst, and the Lord won’t let you faint, nor suffer the daughter of the uncircumcised to overcome you. The road of sorrow is the road to heaven, but there are wells of refreshing water all along the route. So, tried sister, cheer your heart with Samson’s words, and rest assured that God will deliver you were long.

All things are feasible to him that believed.”

Mark 9:23

Lots of professed Christians are always doubting and fearing, and they forlornly think that this is the necessary state of believers. This is a mistake, for “all things are feasible to him that believeth”; and it is feasible for us to mount in to a state in which a doubt or a fear shall be but as a bird of passage flitting across the soul, but never lingering there. When you read of the high and sweet communions enjoyed by favored saints, you sigh and murmur in the chamber of your heart, “Alas! These are not for me.” O climber, if thou hast but faith, thou shall yet stand on the sunny pinnacle of the temple, for “all things are feasible to him that believeth.” You listen to of exploits which holy men have completed for Jesus; what they have enjoyed of him; how much they have been like him; how they have been able to endure great persecutions for his sake; and you say, “Ah! As for me, I am but a worm; I can never attain to this.” But there is nothing which saint was, that you may not be. There is no elevation of grace, no attainment of spirituality, no clearness of assurance, no post of duty, which is not open to you in the event you have but the power to think. Lay aside your sackcloth and ashes, and rise to the dignity of your true position; you are tiny in Israel because you will be so, not because there is any necessity for it. It is not meet that thou should grovel in the dust, O child of a King. Ascend! The golden throne of assurance is waiting for you! The crown of communion with Jesus is prepared to adorn your brow. Wrap yourself in scarlet and fine linen and fare sumptuously every day; for if thou believes, thou may eat the fat of kidneys of wheat; thy land shall flow with milk and honey, and thy soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness. Collect golden sheaves of grace, for they await thee in the fields of faith. “All things are feasible to him that believeth.

He appeared first to Mary Magdalena, out of whom he had cast four devils.”

Mark 16:9

Mary of Magdalena was the victim of a fearful wicked. He was possessed by not devil only, but four. These terrible inmates caused much pain & pollution to the poor frame in which they had found lodging. Hers was a hopeless, nasty case. He could not help herself; neither could any human succor avail. But Jesus passed that way, & unsought, & probably even resisted by the poor demoniac, he uttered the word of power, & Mary of Magdalena became a trophy of the healing power of Jesus. All the four demons left her left her seldom to return, forcibly ejected by the Lord of all. What a lucky deliverance! What a happy alters! From delirium to delight, from despair to peace, from hell to heaven! Straightway he became a constant follower of Jesus, catching his every word, following his devious steps, sharing his toilsome life; & withal he became his generous helper, first among that band of healed & grateful females who ministered unto him of their substance. When Jesus was lifted up in crucifixion, Mary remained the sharer of his disgrace: they find her first beholding from afar, & then drawing close to the foot of the cross. He could not die on the cross with Jesus, but he stood as near it as he could, & when his lucky body was taken down, he watched to see how & where it was laid. He was the faithful & watchful believer, last at the sepulcher where Jesus slept, first at the grave whence he arose. Her holy fidelity made her a favored beholder of her beloved Rabboni, who deigned to call her by her name, & to make her his messenger of nice news to the trembling disciples & Peter. Thus grace found her a maniac & made her a minister, cast out devils & gave her to behold angels, delivered her from Devil, & united her forever to the Lord Jesus. May I even be such a miracle of grace!

Great multitudes followed him, and they healed all of them.”

Matthew 12:15

What a mass of hideous disease must have thrust itself under the eye of Jesus! Yet they read not that they was disgusted, but patiently waited on every case. What a singular variety of evils must have met at his feet! What sickening ulcers and putrefying sores! Yet they were prepared for every new shape of the monster evil, and were victor over it in every form. Let the arrow fly from what quarter it might, they quenched its fiery power. The heat of fever or the chilled of dropsy; the lethargy of palsy, or the anger of madness; the filth of leprosy, or the darkness of ophthalmia all knew the power of his word, and fled at his command. In every corner of the field they were triumphant over evil, and received the homage of delivered captives. They came, they saw, they conquered in all places. It is even so this morning. Whatever my own case may be, the beloved Physician can heal me; and whatever may be the state of others whom I may keep in mind at this moment in prayer, I may have hope in Jesus that they will be able to heal them of their sins. My infant, my mate, my dearest, I can have hope for each, for all, when I keep in mind the healing power of my Lord; and by myself account, however extreme my struggle with sins and infirmities, I may yet be of lovely cheer. They who on earth walked the hospitals, still dispenses his grace, and works wonders among the sons of men: let me go to him without delay in right earnest.
Let me praise him, this morning, as I keep in mind how they wrought his spiritual cures, which bring him most renown. It was by taking on himself our sicknesses. “By his stripes they are healed.” The Church on earth is filled with souls healed by our beloved Physician; and the inhabitants of heaven itself confess that “He healed all of them.” Come, then, my soul, publish abroad the virtue of his grace, and let it be “to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign which shall not be cut off.”

“Do Job fear God for zero?”

Job 1:9

This was the evil query of Devil concerning that upright man of elderly, but there’s lots of in the present day concerning whom it might be asked with justice, for they love God after a fashion because he thrives them; but if things went ill with them, they would give up all their boasted faith in God. In the event that they can clearly see that since the time of their supposed conversion the world has gone prosperously with them, then they will love God in their poor carnal way; but in the event that they endure adversity, they rebel against the Lord. Their love is the love of the table, not of the host; a love to the cupboard, not to the master of the house. As for the true Christian, he expects to have his reward in the next life, & to endure hardness in this. The promise of the elderly covenant is adversity. Keep in mind Christ’s words.”Every branch in me that bear not fruit. What? “He purged it, that it may bring forth fruit.” In the event you bring forth fruit, you will must endure affliction. “Alas!” you say, “that is a dreadful prospect.” But this affliction works out such precious results, that the Christian who is the subject of it must learn to rejoice in tribulations, because as his tribulations abound, so his consolations abound by Christ Jesus. Rest assured, in the event you are a kid of God, you will be no stranger to the rod. Finally every bar of gold must pass through the fire. Fear not, but rejoice that such fruitful times are in store for you, for in them you will be weaned from earth & made meet for heaven; you will be delivered from clinging to the present, & made to long for those eternal things which are so soon to be revealed to you. When you feel that as regards the present you do serve God for zero, you will then rejoice in the boundless reward of the future.

“Abel was a keeper of sheep.”

Genesis 2 : 2

As a shepherd Abel sanctified his work to the glory of God, and offered a sacrifice of blood on his altar, and the Lord had respect unto Abel and his offering. This early type of our Lord is exceedingly clear and distinct. Like the first streak of light which tinges the east at dawn, it does not reveal everything, but it clearly manifests the great fact that the sun is coming. As they see Abel, a shepherd and yet a priest, offering a sacrifice of sweet smell unto God, they discern our Lord, who brings before his Father a sacrifice to which Jehovah ever hath respect. Abel was detested by his brother hated without a cause; and even so was the Savior: the natural and carnal man detested the accepted man in whom the Spirit of grace was found, and rested not until his blood had been shed. Abel fell, and sprinkled his altar and sacrifices along with his own blood, and therein sets forth the Lord Jesus slain by the enmity of man while serving as a priest before the Lord. “The nice Shepherd laid down his life for the sheep.” Let us cry over him as they view him slain by the hatred of mankind, staining the horns of his altar along with his own blood. Abel’s blood speaked. “The Lord said unto Cain, The voice of thy brother’s blood cried unto me from the ground” The blood of Jesus hath a mighty tongue, and the import of its prevailing cry is not vengeance but mercy. It is precious beyond all preciousness to stand at the altar of our nice Shepherd! to see him bleeding there as the slaughtered priest, and then to listen to his blood speaking peace to all his flock, peace in our conscience, peace between Jew and Gentile, peace between man and his offended Maker, peace all down the ages of eternity for blood-washed men. Abel is the first shepherd in order of time, but our hearts shall ever place Jesus first in order of excellence. Thou great Keeper of the sheep, they the people of thy pasture bless thee with our whole hearts when they see the slain for us.

Psalm 65:11

Thou crowns the year with thy goodness.”

All the year round, every hour of every day, God is richly blessing us; both when they sleep and when they wake his mercy waits on us. The sun may leave us a legacy of darkness, but our God seldom ceases to shine on his children with beams of affection. Like a river, his loving-kindness is always flowing, with fullness inexhaustible as his own nature. Like the atmosphere which constantly surrounds the earth, and is always prepared to support the life of man, the benevolence of God surrounds all his creatures; in it, as in their element, they live, and move, and have their being. Yet as the sun on summer days gladdens us with beams more warm and bright than at other times, and as rivers are at definite seasons swollen by the rain, and as the atmosphere itself is sometimes fraught with more fresh, more bracing, or more balmy influences than heretofore, so is it with the mercy of God; it hath its golden hours; its days of overflow, when the Lord magnified his grace before the sons of men. Amongst the blessings of the nether springs, the joyful days of harvest are a special season of excessive favor. It is the glory of autumn that the ripe gifts of providence are then abundantly bestowed; it is the mellow season of realization, whereas all before was but hope and expectation. Great is the enjoyment of harvest. Happy are the reapers who fill their arms with the liberality of heaven. The Psalmist tells us that the harvest is the crowning of the year. Surely these crowning mercies demand crowning thanksgiving! Let us render it by the inward emotions of gratitude. Let our hearts be warmed; let our spirits keep in mind, meditate, and think on this goodness of the Lord. Then let us praise him with our lips, and laud and magnify his name from whose bounty all this goodness flows. Let us glorify God by yielding our gifts to his cause. A practical proof of our gratitude is a special thank-offering to the Lord of the harvest.

Song of Solomon 3:1

I sought him, but I found him not.”

Tell me where you lost the company of a Christ, and I will tell you the most likely place to find him. Have you lost Christ in the closet by restraining prayer? Then it is there you must seek and find him. Did you lose Christ by sin? You will find Christ in no other way but by the giving up of the sin, and seeking by the Holy Spirit to mortify the member in which the lust doth dwell. Did you lose Christ by neglecting the Scriptures? You must find Christ in the Scriptures. It is a true proverb, “Look for a thing where you dropped it, it is there.” So look for Christ where you lost him, for they have not gone away. But it is hard work to return for Christ. Bunyan tells us, the pilgrim found the piece of the road back to the Arbour of Ease, where they lost his roll, the hardest they had ever travelled.0 miles onward is simpler than to go mile back for the lost proof.

Take care, then, when you find your Master, to cling close to him. But how is it you have lost him? Would have thought you would never have parted with such a precious mate, whose presence is so sweet, whose words are so comforting, and whose company is so dear to you! How is it that you did not watch him every moment for fear of losing sight of him? Yet, since you have let him go, what a mercy that you are seeking him, although you mournfully groan, “O that I knew where I might find him!” Go on seeking, for it is dangerous to be without thy Lord. Without Christ you are like a sheep without its shepherd; like a tree without water at its roots; like a sere leaf in the tempest not bound to the tree of life. With thine whole heart seek him, and they will be found of thee: only give thyself thoroughly up to the search, and verily, thou shall yet discover him to thy joy and gladness.

Colossians 2:4

Christ, who is our life.”

Paul’s marvelously rich expression indicates that Christ is the source of our life. “You hath they quickened who were dead in trespasses & sins.” That same voice which brought Lazarus out of the tomb raised us to newness of life. They are now the substance of our spiritual life. It is by his life that they live; they is in us, the hope of glory, the spring of our actions, the central thought which moves every other thought. Christ is the sustenance of our life. What can the Christian feed on but Jesus flesh & blood? “This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, & not die.” O way worn pilgrims in this wilderness of sin, you seldom receive a morsel to satisfy the hunger of your spirits, except ye find it in him! Christ is the solace of our life. All our true joys come from him; & in times of trouble, his presence is our consolation. There is nothing worth living for but him; & his loving-kindness is better than life! Christ is the object of our life. As speeds the ship towards the port, so hastes the believer towards the refuge of his Savior’s bosom. As flies the arrow to its aim, so flies the Christian towards the perfecting of his fellowship with Christ Jesus. As the soldier fights for his captain, & is crowned in his captain’s victory, so the believer contends for Christ, & gets his triumph out of the triumphs of his Master. “For him to live is Christ.” Christ is the exemplar of our life. Where there is the same life within, there will, there have to be, to a great extent, the same developments without; & if they live in near fellowship with the Lord Jesus they shall grow like him. They shall set him before us as our Divine copy, & they shall seek to tread in his footsteps, until they shall become the crown of our life in glory. Oh! How safe, how honored, how happy is the Christian, since Christ is our life!

Romans 8:23

Ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit.”

Present possession is declared. At this present moment they have the first fruits of the Spirit. They have repentance, that gem of the first water; faith, that priceless pearl; hope, the heavenly emerald; and love, the glorious ruby. They are already made “new creatures in Christ Jesus,” by the effectual working of God the Holy Ghost. This is called the first fruit because it comes first. As the wave-sheaf was the first of the harvest, so the spiritual life, and all the graces which adorn that life, are the first operations of the Spirit of God in our souls. The first fruits were the pledge of the harvest. As soon as the Israelite had plucked the first handful of ripe pears, they looked forward with glad anticipation to the time when the wain ought to creak beneath the sheaves. So, brethren, when God gives us things which are pure, lovely, and of nice document, as the work of the Holy Spirit, these are to us the prognostics of the approaching glory. The first fruits were always holy to the Lord, and our new nature, with all its powers, is a consecrated thing. The new life is not ours that they ought to ascribe its excellence to our own merit; it is Christ’s picture and creation, and is ordained for his glory. But the first fruits were not the harvest, and the works of the Spirit in us at this moment are not the consummation the perfection is yet to come. They must not boast that they have attained, and so think the wave-sheaf to be all the produce of the year: they must hunger and thirst after righteousness, and pant for the day of full redemption. Dear reader, this evening open your mouth wide and God will fill it. Let the boon in present possession excite in you a sacred avarice for more grace. Groan within yourself for higher degrees of consecration, and your Lord will grant them to you, for they can do exceeding abundantly above what they ask or even think.