Safe Shelter
A sermon
(No. 902)
Delivered by
C.H.SPURGEON,
At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington
"He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings shall you
trust."- Psalm 91:4.
WHAT condescending words! I cannot express the sense I feel of the
great loving kindness of the Lord to us in using such a simile to set
forth His protecting care of His people. Had any poet suggested the
metaphor, we might have recoiled from it as unseemly, or rejected it as
profane. It really is so familiar and so homely that unless God Himself
had spoken it by the mouth of His Holy Spirit, we might have accounted
it impertinent for any human being to have used the comparison. The
Lord here compares Himself to a hen covering her brood–and He speaks
not only of the wings, which give shelter, but He enters into detail
and speaks of the feathers which give warmth and comfort and repose.
"He shall cover you with His feathers and under His wings shall you
trust."
Using thus the maternal instinct as an emblem of His own parental
tenderness, God compares Himself to the mother bird which fosters,
cherishes and protects her little ones. You have stood, sometimes, in
the farmyard and there you have noticed the little chicks as they
cowered down under the hen. She has given some note of warning that
betokened danger–perhaps your very presence discomposed her and made
her betray some little fluttering of fear. She called her little ones
by her peculiar cry. They came to her and then, stooping down and
spreading out her wings, she covered them and they were safe.
You would have noticed that after they were safely nestled there, the
warmth of her feathers made them seem peculiarly happy and at ease. You
could hear them clucking to one another and playfully pushing one
another sometimes out of their places, but evidently cheerful,
contented and peaceful. It was something more than the protection which
a soldier would give to a comrade–it was the protection of a mother of
her young. There was love in it. There was homeliness, relationship,
kindliness, heart-working in it all. It was not merely the relief that
might supply a little cold comfort, but the breast feathers came down
upon the little ones and there they rested cozily and comfortably,
serene and unmolested.
Well now, that is precisely the idea that the text teaches. So, at
least, I understand it. So, evidently, Dr. Watts thought, when he wrote
the well-known paraphrase–
"Just as a hen protects her brood, From birds of prey that seek their
blood, Under her feathers, so the Lord Makes His own arm His people's
guard." There is even more fullness of meaning than the doctor has
compassed. Not only is protection from danger vouchsafed, but a sense
of comfort and happiness is communicated, making the child of God feel
that he is at home under the shadow of the Almighty. He feels he has
all the comforts that he can need when he has once come to cower down
under a blessed sense of the Divine Presence and to feel the warm
flowing out of the very heart of God, as He reveals Himself in the most
tender relationship towards His weak and needy servants.
Carrying this picture in your mind's eye, may it often cheer and
encourage you. Though I have nothing new, no bewitching novelty to
introduce to you, I want to bring this old, old Truth of God vividly
before your minds, to examine it in detail and press it home to your
souls.
I. Let our starting-point be a question–a question of paramount
interest–WHEN MAY THIS TEXT BE RELIED UPON BY A BELIEVER? "He shall
cover you with His feathers and under His wings shall you trust." Well,
it may be relied upon in cases of extreme peril. I do not doubt that
servants of God, in times of danger at sea, when the huge billows have
roared and the tempest has raged and the vessel seemed likely to go to
pieces, have often cheered their hearts
with such a thought as this. "Now, He that holds the waters in the
hollow of His hand will take care of us, and cover us with His feathers
and under His wings may we trust."
Perhaps at this very moment, down in some cabin, or amidst the noise
and tumult and the raging of the ocean, when many are alarmed, there
are Christians with calm faces, patiently waiting their Father's will,
whether it shall be to reach the port of Heaven, or to be spared to
come again to land into the midst of life's trials and struggles once
more. They feel that they are well-cared for. They know that the storm
has a bit in its mouth and that God holds it in and nothing can hurt
them–nothing can happen to them but what God permits. On the dry land,
too, the same blessed text has often comforted the Lord's people. Some
are particularly timid in times of storm when the thunder comes, peal
after peal and the lightning flashes follow each other–when it seems
as if the very earth did tremble and the skies fled away from the
glance of an angry God.
Oh, how it calms the anxious heart, stills the foreboding fears, and
makes the heart tranquil to feel that He covers us with His feathers
and that under His wings we may trust! I always feel ashamed to stay
indoors when peals of thunder shake the solid earth and lightning
flashes like arrows from the sky. Then God is abroad and I love to walk
out in the open space and to look up and mark the opening gates of
Heaven as the lightning reveals far beyond and enables you to look into
the unseen. I like to hear my heavenly Father's voice, but I do not
think we could ever come to a state of peace in such times as those if
we did not feel that He was near–that He was our Friend–that He would
not hurt the children of His own love. It would be contrary to His own
Nature and altogether apart from the kindness of His Character, as well
as the constancy of His Covenant engagements, that He should suffer
anything to touch His people that could do them real ill.
Nor is it only from violent commotions in the physical world that you
are liable to suffer shocks. Many of you have known times of disruption
in the mercantile world which have been the occasion of frightful
horror. The wheels of trade have run off the tramline through some
violent collision of opposing interests. Or on a larger scale the whole
system of commerce may appear to have collapsed as with an earthquake.
Great houses, whose very names were the bulwarks of credit, have
suddenly tottered and fell. While curious eves have looked on with
marvel, many have been the humble people struggling hard for a bare
livelihood who were involved in loss and disaster which paralyzed all
their efforts. Though panic has prevailed on every side, has it not
been sweet, passing sweet, to find succor under the wings of the
Almighty and hear His voice saying to you, "Trust in the Lord and do
good, so shall you dwell in the land and verily you shall be fed"?
I know that such calamities are heavy and hard to bear. Were it not so
we should never have been furnished with such strong consolation. When
the foundations of enterprise are slackened and gigantic schemes burst
like a bubble. When the mill is at rest and looks like the hulk of a
disabled vessel. When the workshops are closed and the artisans,
skilled to labor, seek a pauper's pittance at the gates of the
union–or when the affliction falls upon the fields and the folds, a
blight destroying the crops and disease cutting down the oxen–these
are the sorrows of the world, and chosen men of old have trusted in God
nor found Him to fail in straits like these. So said one, "Although the
fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the
labor of the olive shall fail and the fields shall yield no meat; the
flock shall be cut off from the fold and there shall be no herd in the
stalls: yet will I rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my
salvation."
Yet more, Brothers and Sisters–who among you need be reminded of the
fears that seize the breast when pestilence is spreading through the
land and rumors that it has approached your own doors have reached your
ears? Neighbors or kinsfolk are struck down without warning. With
anxious looks and eager enquiries you listen for tidings that are well
near death to hear. Have you ever counted the watches of the night,
dreading every sound and pondering every sensation as if it were an
ominous omen? What about when the cholera has been raging, or the fever
has been making havoc–when science has been baffled to find out the
cause or cure of some insidious disease that walks in darkness and
wastes at noonday? And when those who were prone to jeer at religion
and laugh at prayer have uttered pious ejaculations and said, "This is
no doubt a visitation of God"–do I need to remind you?
Well, at such times has it not been good for you to seek the cover of
His wings and rely on the gracious promise, "Because you have made the
Lord, which is my refuge, even the Most High, your habitation, there
shall no evil befall you, neither shall any plague come near your
dwelling"? In all times of public calamity, in any season of domestic
grief and on every occasion of personal danger, I beseech you, do not
cast away your confidence which has great recompense and
reward–for if your faith will not bear up under such trials as these,
what is it good for? What anchorage is there for your soul? If you
cannot bear these little alarms, how will you do in the swellings of
Jordan, when grim Death appears in view? And amidst the terrors of the
world to come, when the very pillars of the universe shall reel and all
things shall pass away–how will you be able to stand calmly and
serenely if these things move you?
No, Beloved, let the weakest of you play the man and as you have
believed in your God, be ashamed of cowardly fear! Be as Ezra was when
having once made a resolve, he resolved to abide by it at all hazard.
"The hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek Him and His
wrath is against all them that forsake Him." Pluck up courage and say
within yourselves, "Now will I prove that promise true, 'He shall cover
you with His feathers and under His wings shall you trust.' But texts
of Scripture like this are not made to be hung up on a nail and only
taken down now and then in stress of weather! Blessed be God, the
promise before us is available for sunny days, too–yes, for every hour
of this mortal life. When you leave your house tomorrow morning, you
will little know what peril may befall you during the day. "At least,"
said an old Divine, who was accustomed to spend the most part of his
time in his study–"at least the studious man is safe from the
accidents which shorten the lives of others."
So he vainly thought. The very day after he had used the expression, a
chimney stack fell through his study and had he happened to have been
sitting where he customarily did, he must have been crushed to pieces!
There are dangers everywhere and the guardian care of God can never be
safely dispensed with. If we walk aright, we shall never venture upon a
single day without first seeking Divine protection. How many who have
escaped out of terrible storms have, nevertheless, died in a calm?
Where some have passed through battles without a scar, they have
afterwards been killed by an accident so slight that they would utterly
have despised a precaution to avoid it. You always need Divine
protection and, Believer in Christ, you shall always have it, for, "He
shall cover you with His feathers and under His wings shall you trust."
This is for you tonight when you strip off your garments and lay your
weary frame upon your bed. Then you may say, "Now, Lord, cover me with
Your feathers." And it is for you tomorrow, when you are going out to
your daily labor, not knowing what may befall you, you can use the same
petition, "This day, O God, grant that under Your wings I may trust."
When–shall I ask again–may this promise be relied upon? Well,
Beloved, it may be particularly relied upon in times of temptation.
Earnest Christian men are not so much afraid of trials as of
temptations. If you could extract the tempting element from our
afflictions you would have rendered the gall devoid of at least half
its bitterness. To suffer is little, but to be provoked to sin–this is
the great cause of fear. "Give me neither poverty nor riches," said the
wise man. But why? It was not because poverty would be inconvenient,
but lest he should sin through poverty. "Give me not riches," he
said–not because riches might not be desirable, but lest he should sin
through the deceitfulness of wealth. The great horror of a Christian is
sin. Find him a place on earth where he could live without sin and
there he would fix his residence, not asking you whether it were a
dungeon or a palace!
If there were a place where my temper could never be ruffled. A place
where I could never be agitated into pride or be silenced into
cowardice. If I could find a spot where sloth would never molest me, or
where earthly passions would never rise up for my casting down, thrice
happy would I be to borrow the wings of a dove and fly there at once!
As your temptations are just the things which you dread, it behooves
you to pray, "Lead us not into temptation," but remember, if the
Providence of God should at any other time constrain you to go where
you are tempted and must be tempted, you may then fall back upon this
gracious Word of God–"He shall cover you with His feathers and under
His wings shall you trust."
I have noticed that young people who are often exposed to severe
temptations are very generally preserved from falling into sin. But I
have noticed that others, both old and young, whose temptations were
not remarkably severe, have been generally those who have been the
first to fall. In fact, it is a lamentable thing to have to say, but
lamentably true it is, that at the period of life when you would
reckon, from the failure of the passions, the temptation would be less
vigorous, that very period is marked more than any other by the most
solemn transgressions among God's people. I think I have heard that
many horses fall at the bottom of a hill because the driver thinks the
danger past, and the need to hold the reins with a firm grip less
pressing as they are just about to renew their progress and begin to
ascend again.
So it is often with us–when we are not tempted through imminent danger
we are the more tempted through slothful ease. I think it was Ralph
Erskine who said, "There is no devil so bad as no devil." The worst
temptation that
ever overtakes us, is, in some respects, preferable to our being left
alone altogether without any sense of caution or stimulus to watch and
pray. Be always on your watchtower and you shall always be secure.
In anticipating the temptations of next week–you working men who labor
side-by-side with skeptics. You young women living in graceless
families. You merchants who have to go among others whose mode of
conducting trade is not clean. (You each and all know the temptations
common to your own lot in the busy commonwealth). Resolve in the
strength of God that you will walk uprightly and that as Christians you
will not soil your garments. And then you may come to your heavenly
Father for His protection and say to Him, "My God, I am more afraid of
sin than I am of lightning, or of fire, or of the murderer's dagger.
Keep me day by day from sin. Defend me from evil. 'Cover me with Your
feathers, for under Your wings will I trust.'"
So, again, this text may be very blessedly applied to our souls and I
hope it will be, in times of expected trials. I do not know that it is
right for us to anticipate trials at all. "Sufficient unto the day is
the evil thereof." We ought never to sit down and begin fretting
ourselves about what may happen, because the ill we dread may never
come to pass. Many a true servant of God has said to himself–"What
shall I do when I get old? I am just able, now, to pick up a living,
but what shall I do when these withered limbs can no longer earn my
daily bread?" Do? Why, you will have the same Father, then, as you have
now to succor you and you will have the same Providence then as now to
supply your needs! You thank God for your daily bread, now, and you
shall have your daily bread then, for He will cover you with His
feathers and under His wings shall you trust!
Some of God's servants who have been thus afraid have had no cause of
complaint, for their latter days have been blessed. They have been
placed in comfortable circumstances and they have had to wonder at the
liberal hand which furnished their table and to chide the unbelief of
their own fretful spirits. Others of them have been taken away from the
ills they forecast and conveyed to Heaven long before they had reached
anything like the period of bodily infirmity or mental imbecility they
dreaded. So with you, dear Friends. God will take care of you. Only
rest on Him.
It is bad to make troubles. I always say of home-made troubles, that
they are very like home-made clothes–they never fit well and they are
generally a long while before they are worn out. You had better take
the troubles God sends you–they are more suitable for you! You will be
able to carry them, and you will be able to get over them by His Grace.
Do not begin to think of what you will do in the year, 1899. Why, Jesus
Christ may come before then, or you may be absent from the body and
present with Him before then! But, if you are of such a nervous temper
that you cannot help sometimes anticipating, or if you are so
speculatively disposed that you will carry your almanacs with you and
chronicle black days in the coming years, then just make a note of this
in the margin–"He shall cover you with His feathers and under His
wings shall you trust."
Let the unknown tomorrow bring with it what it may, it cannot bring us
anything but what God shall bear us through. So let it come and let it
go. The Lord's name be praised! We shall bless His name in it and after
it and why not before it? There is another hour in which this text will
be particularly consoling to us, and that is the hour of death. Ah, we
may sing what we will and say what we will, but dying is no child's
play. Thank God it is going Home! We know that it is not death in some
respects. It is but a change in our mode of life. Absent from the body
we are present with the Lord! But still, we cannot think of that death
dew which will lie cold on our brow, the failing voice and the glazing
eye, without some natural shrugs. When we would gladly go forth to meet
it, we shrink back again to life–"Fond of our prison and our clay."
But what shall we do when we come to die, when the physician can no
longer help us and the beating of the pulse waxes faint and few? Why,
then, "He shall cover us with His feathers and under His wings shall we
trust."
Oh, it will be so blessed to go cowering down right under the shadow of
the Almighty, hiding ourselves as the little chickens do in the hen's
feathers–losing our own individuality in the realization of our union
to Christ–finding that it is not death to die, but coming nearer to
God in very deed, in blissful experience, nearer than ever we were
before! Looking forward into that unknown future, across the shoreless
sea and listening to the billows as we hear them sounding in the dark,
we thank God that they are not billows of fire to us–that they are not
waves of everlasting wrath, but that they are waves of eternal bliss!
But, be they what they may, whatever there may be in the future,
whatever may be meant by the millennium and the burning of the earth,
and the wreck of nature–whatever may be meant by vials and trumpets
and by all besides in the
arena of prophecy, "He shall cover us with His feathers and under His
wings shall we trust." And amidst the wreck of matter and the crash of
worlds, safe, safe, safe and near our God and blessed eternally shall
we be! Beloved, in such an hour may such an oracle as this come rolling
sweetly into your souls to cheer and comfort you!
II. Having thus answered a first question and told you when this
promise may be relied upon, let us proceed to
answer another question–HOW MAY WE EXPECT THE TEXT TO BE FULFILLED? It
may possibly be verified to
us by our being preserved altogether from the danger which we dread.
God has often, as predicted in the present Psalm, in times of
pestilence and famine and war, preserved His people by remarkable
Providences. Especially has this been the case in the experience of
those of His people who have been lively in their faith and careful to
follow His instructions. Now, if there is one instruction that Jesus
Christ has plainly given to a Christian, it is this–"I say unto you,
resist not evil."
Our Brethren of the Society of Friends have been admirably firm and
consistent in their declaration that they have no right to bear arms.
In the times of the massacre in Ireland, when Protestants took a town,
they generally cut the throats of the Catholics. And when Roman
Catholics took a town, they always returned the compliment by killing
the Protestants, but the cry always was–"Spare the Quakers! Spare the
Quakers!" They had hurt no one–they had taken up no arms. Strange to
tell, through that long and bitter warfare only three Quakers died and
those three had fled from their homes to find a refuge in a neighboring
castle with the troops. Of course they rested on an arm of flesh and it
failed them.
When the British bolts were flying through Copenhagen, fast and
furious, and the Danish town seemed given over to destruction by
Nelson's terrific bombardment, there was one house upon which not a
shot or shell ever fell. Nelson and the British knew nothing of that
house, of course, but there it stood, as safely as old Rahab's house
when the walls of Jericho fell down. It was the house of a Quaker, who,
when an order was given for all to defend their houses in a particular
way, said he had nothing to do with fighting. The man rested in God and
God's protection was wonderfully spread over him. In the literature of
the Society of Friends, there is a large number of anecdotes showing
how God has especially marked out times of peril for preserving those
men who scrupulously refused to defend themselves and rested on the
promise of their faithful God.
We all know how singularly the Lord has shielded those who trusted in
Him in the times of pestilence. That old house, still standing in the
High Street at Chester, is a lasting proof of the power of faith, with
its old letters cut in the black wood, "God's Providence is my
inheritance." When everybody else was flying out of Chester into the
country, the man who lived in that house just wrote that inscription up
over the door and stayed in the town, depending on God that he should
be preserved. And none in his house fell a victim to that black death
which was slaying its thousands on all sides. Strong faith has always a
particular immunity in times of trouble. When a man has really, under a
sense of duty– under a conscientious conviction–rested alone in God,
he has been enabled to walk where the thickest dangers were flying, all
unharmed. He has put his foot upon the adder and the young lion and the
dragon has he trampled under his feet. Having confidence in God, God
has verified and vindicated His promise and the child of God that could
so trust has never been put to confusion.
There are some dangers from which the Providence of God does not
preserve the Lord's people, but still He covers them with His feathers
in another sense, by giving them Divine Grace to bear up under their
trouble. It little matters, you know, whether a man has no burden and
no strength, or a heavy burden and great strength. Probably of the two,
if it were put to the most of us, we should prefer to have the burden
and the strength. I know I should. Now there is generally this for
you–that if you have little trouble, you will have little faith–but
if you have great faith, you must expect to have great trouble. A manly
spirit would choose to take the trouble and take the faith, too. Well,
then, God will give you this cover with His feathers–though you have
to carry the load you shall have strength enough to carry it. You shall
find, as a dear saint once said, the sweetest thing next to Christ in
all the world was Christ's Cross. And that to carry Christ's Cross was
the next best thing to beholding His Glory. You shall find your
afflictions become your mercies and your trials become your comforts.
You shall glory in tribulation and find light in the midst of gloom and
have joy unspeakable in the season of your sorrow. Thus God covers us
as with His feathers.
In yet another way does God set seal to this record when by His Grace,
having sustained His servants in their trouble He brings them out of it
greatly enriched. Oh, it is a great blessing to be put through the fire
if you come out purified! It is a sweet mercy to have to go through the
floods if some filthiness may be removed! The children of Israel went
down to
Egypt to sojourn there, but after hard servitude and cruel oppression
they came up out of it with silver and gold, much enriched by their
bondage. Did you ever notice that memorable passage in which the Lord
has borne witness to His gracious heed for them before He brought about
their deliverance? "God heard their groaning and God remembered His
Covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. And God looked upon
the children of Israel and God had respect unto them."
Comment is needless. In the season of their direst grief God was All in
All to them. And you, child of God, shall lose nothing by your
losses–you shall be a gainer by them, a greater gainer than others by
their gains–for all your losses and troubles shall not touch your
immortal part! As bars of iron make not a prison or a cage to a free
soul, so afflictions that are merely temporal and bodily shall not
hamper or lessen the joy of an immortal spirit. No, we shall mount
above the billows of our griefs and sing as we lift our heads above the
spray! We shall rise above the clouds of our present afflictions and
look down upon them as they float beneath our feet, rejoicing that the
Lord has borne us, as upon wings, above them all, to bring us to
Himself!
So you see, either by keeping us out of trouble, by helping us to bear
it, or by bringing us through it with great gain to ourselves, "He
shall cover us with His feathers and under His wings shall we trust."
III. A third enquiry suggests itself to me, in responding to which I
shall be very brief–WHY MAY WE BE QUITE SURE THAT IT SHALL BE SO? You
may find a strong ground of personal assurance in the fact that faith
enlists the sympathy of God. Faith seems to me to enlist everybody's
sympathy. There is a blind man going along and he wants to get across
the street. He puts perfect confidence in you, though he cannot see you
and does not know you. He feels sure that you will lead him across.
Now, I know you will.
If there were a little child that had lost its way and it came running
up to you, a big, tall man, and said, "O, Sir, I do not know my way
home, nor where I came from, but I feel quite sure you will take care
of me till I have found my mother." Well, you would not, any one of
you, turn round and spurn him away–you would feel as if you were
firmly held with chains around you. Now, it is a point with God that He
always will be as good as you think Him to be, yes, and a great deal
better! And if you but think that He will be a gracious and merciful
God to you and so rely on Him as His child, it is not in the heart of
God to turn away from a humble faith that dares to lay hold upon Him.
Try it, dear Friends, and you will prove it true.
And you may be quite sure that He will cover you with His feathers,
because we have hundreds of promises to that effect. There is not time
to quote them all, but there is one like this, "He has said, I will
never leave you nor forsake you." And here is another, "When you pass
through the waters, I will be with you, and through the rivers, they
shall not overflow you: when you walk through the fire, you shall not
be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon you." And then there is
this, "Fear you not; for I am with you: be not dismayed; for I am your
God! I will strengthen you; yes, I will help you; yes, I will uphold
you with the right hand of My righteousness." "Fear not; for you shall
not be ashamed: neither be you confounded." There are hundreds of
promises like these, and will He break them? You keep your promise to
your child and will not God keep His promise to you? O rest in Him,
then! He shall cover us with His feathers, for His own Word declares
it!
Moreover, you are His child and what will not a father do for His own
dear child? Were one a stranger you might take little heed though he
were in trouble, in danger, or in deep distress–but your child, your
own child–oh, you cannot rest while he suffers! How agitated we are
when our little ones are sick. How we get the best advice for them.
When they are in pain how willingly would we take their pain if we
could relieve them and spare those cries that seem to pierce our heart
as well as our ears! If anybody hurts them, why the most placid of us
find our temper soon roused. "And shall not God avenge His own elect,
which cry day and night unto Him, though He bear long with them? I tell
you that He will avenge them speedily."
Though He bears long with their adversaries, yet will He come to the
help of His own beloved ones, for He is fatherly in all the
sensitiveness of His heart, as well as in all the judiciousness of His
chastisements. He will protect His own. Remember there is one point of
which God is always jealous, that is His own honor. There is no verse
of any hymn we ever sing more Scriptural than that one we were singing
just now–
"His honor is engaged to save
The meanest of His sheep.
All that His heavenly Father ga ve His hands securely keep."
Christ must convey even the smallest boat safe into the port of
Paradise. He must not suffer one of these little ones to perish, for
such is not the will of our Father who is in Heaven. Come then, you
tremblers, you doubters, you little ones, you that think you cannot
have a part in the promise! Come now, come nestle down under those
great wings which seem so close to you! The wings that are lined with
the feathers of the Eternal will be strong wings, as though they were
bars of iron through which no storms of trouble can ever beat–through
which the enemy, though he comes from Hell itself– shall not be able
to drive his darts. Come to the strong wings yet so softly feathered,
so tenderly lined with loving kindness and affection that the weakest
and most trembling may find comfort there!
And now, dear Friends, although I have not said anything new, yet I
know that this is full of comfort to God's people. It must be so! At
least, if I am one of them, I know it is, for it has often greatly
cheered and gladdened me in the times of darkness and despondency, (and
I have plenty of such times), to feel that I could abide under the
wings of my God and all was well and all was safe. But what must it be
to be without God? Blessed be His name, we do not mean to try it, but
what must it be? "Sam," said a man once to his Negro, "would you give
up your religion and be made a king, or would you keep your Jesus
Christ and be flogged to death?" "Oh, Massa," said he, "give me Jesus
Christ and flog me to death 20 times if you will! I could never give
Him up! He is my joy and my comfort."
And truly we can say that! Give us but a sense of Divine love and we
will not strike about our condition. Only to know that God is our
Friend we will not ask who else is on our side, for having God we have
all! Let who will be our enemies–all must be well when God befriends
us! What must you be without God, some of you? You may be trying to
satisfy your soul with the love of kindred–your wife and children are
your only inheritance under the sun. That is better than some men
strive after. But they are dying comforts–there is a thorn in all
these roses, sweet roses as they are. I do not think the dearest wife
and the most beloved children can really fully fill the heart. I know
you need something more sometimes. I know you do!
Others of you have been trying to fill your hearts full with those idle
associates of yours, those jolly companions, those jolly fellows, just
the sort you delight to spend an evening with. They are poor comforts
when you are sick and they will be poorer comforts, still, when you
come to die. You must not suppose that if you loved Jesus Christ and
put your trust in Him, you would give up the joy of life. You would
just have found it! You would, then, begin to be happy because you
would have found what your soul needs to fill it. As quaint old Quarles
says–"The heart is a triangle and all the world is a globe and you
cannot fill a triangle with a globe. It is nothing but the Trinity that
can fill the heart." Let Father, Son and Spirit get into the heart by a
living faith and the heart is right full to the brim and the man is
content in all his trials!
I would you had Christ to be yours! He is to be had, my Friend. Whoever
trusts in Him is saved. He is God–worthy to be trusted! Moreover He
died, the Just for the unjust, bearing our sins. Depend upon the merit
of that death of His and you shall be saved! God bring you into a state
of faith and bless you now for Christ's sake. Amen.
PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON–Psalm 91