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Andrew Murray
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| Devotionals: Counsel And Help, Daily Readings Selected from the Writings of J R Miller | |
Back to Devotionals >> "Counsel And Help" Daily Readings Selected from the Writings of J R Miller January February March April May June July August September October November December Counsel And Help was first published in 1907 by The Pilgrim Press, London. AUGUST 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Ignorant Blindness We miss a great deal in this world because of our ignorance. Life is full of illustrations of loss through not knowing. Two people walk out through the country. One has the artist’s eye, and his soul is entranced by what he sees. The other has two eyes in his head, but sees nothing with them. He does not know of the beauty that glows everywhere, and misses all the enjoyment which would be his if he had learned the art of seeing. Two persons go into an art gallery. One sees in the great pictures nothing but patches of colour. The other sees that which thrills his soul. These are suggestions of what we miss by not knowing. One man looks at the Bible with a certain sort of superstitious reverence, but sees nothing in it. Another reads the words, and they glow with life and beauty.
A Reason For Happiness Not access only, but transformation at length into the likeness and glory of God. It may seem ofttimes that the present gains of faith in Christ are not very great. But this is not the end. There is a future in which there shall be compensation for earth’s ills and losses to all who are in Christ. We are some day to be like Christ, and to be with Him in glory. Here is a man journeying along a lonely road at night. The storm beats about him. He is weary and faint, but in his heart there is the vision of a beautiful and happy home to which he is going. Loved ones are there, waiting for him. There he will find shelter from the storm, food for his hunger, rest to relieve his weariness. This vision of happiness a little way before him makes him forget the hardness and discomfort of the journey. So it is that the "hope of the glory of God" should cheer us as we move through the world’s darkness and sorrow and trial.
Safe Treasure It is possible to gather riches that we can carry with us. A ship wrecked on a desert island in ancient times. There were many merchants on board with their wealth, and they saved nothing from the sea but their own life. They were making great lament over their losses. There was a poet on board, however, and he was calm and at peace amid all the misery of the merchants. When asked why he bore his misfortune so calmly, he said the others had their treasures in their goods and had lost all; but that he had his in brain and heart and had lost nothing. When a worldly man dies his loses all his treasures in the wreck of his ventures on death’s cold rocks. But when a godly man dies he carries his treasures over with him into the other world.
An Ill Kept Law Until we think about it we do not realize how dimly the law of love for one’s neighbour was understood in those days. Indeed, the parable of the Good Samaritan was a new revelation to the world. "A certain man … fell among robbers, which both stripped him and beat him … leaving him half dead." The road from Jerusalem to Jericho is a type of many roads in this world. Every day men and women are robbed, not robbed of money, perhaps, but of their very life, of things in their life which are greater treasures than gold or silver or gems. Think of temptation’s work. Think of what selfishness and greed are doing all the while for thousands of people.
True Knowledge Of Christ We may be able to state all that the creeds say about Jesus Christ, and yet the really important question for us is, "Who do you say that I am?" It is very important that we have a true view of the Person of Christ. If we think of Him as only a man, the best of men, the wisest of teachers, we may learn much from his words and from His life; but can one only a man be to us all that we need in Him to whom we have to look for salvation? Another question equally important is, "What is Christ to you?" Is He only in your creed, or is He in your life as your life, as your personal Saviour, Lord, Guide, Friend, Helper as well? Other people’s opinion may interest us, but on what Christ is to us personally our salvation depends.
Resisting Evil Some of us meet injustice, wrong treatment, harshness, rudeness, and unkindness, from those among whom we live and work. It is not easy to keep our hearts sweet and loving all the while in such experiences. It is easier for us to do as the world does – harden ourselves against the injustice or rudeness, or grow bitter, resentful, and soured. That is what too many do in the midst of the selfishness, harshness, and wrong they meet in their condition. But this is not the transforming that is toward Christ-likeness. The struggle between the good and the evil in us goes on continually; but when the world is getting the better of us, when the good in us is being smothered, when the lamp within our bosom is being quenched, when its flame is growing dimmer, we are losing in the struggle. Instead of being transformed, our life is being darkened.
Real Consecration Culture, in a consecrated life, is not to be sought for its own sake, but that we may thereby be made capable of doing more for the good or the joy of others. Each new lesson in life, each new accession to our knowledge, each new experience, is legitimately employed only when it is turned at once into some channel of personal helpfulness. One has the gift of music, – can sing or play well. The kind of consecration Christ wants of this gift is its use to do good to others, to make them happier or better, to put songs into silent hearts and joys into sad hearts. Of all gifts, there is no one, perhaps, capable of a diviner ministry than is the gift of song.
Bearing And Forbearing No Christian grace is likely to be called into play more frequently than that of mutual forbearance. Without it there can really exist no close and lasting friendly relations in a society composed of imperfect beings. Even the most tender intimacies and the holiest associations require the constant exercise of patience. If we resent every apparent injustice, demand the righting of every little wrong, and insist upon chafing and uttering our feelings at every infinitesimal grievance, and if al the other parties in the circle claim the same privilege, what miserable beings we shall all be, and how wretched life will become.
Rainbows In The Clouds There is no life of Christian discipline, however dark and full of cares and grief, into which God does not at some hour of each day pour a little at least of the splendour of heaven. The trouble is that we shut our eyes to the comfort and will not look upon it. We see all the clouds and sit in the darkness, beholding not the sunbeams and the bits of rainbow that our Father sends into our lives to brighten and illumine them.
Seeing Eyes Many persons never see anything lovely in nature. They will stand amid the most picturesque landscapes, walk amid the rarest flowers, and witness the most gorgeous sunset splendour, without a thrill of pleasure or an expression of admiration. They have no sympathy with nature. There are many who will pass through a grand art gallery rich with paintings and statuary, and see nothing to seize their attention, while others will spend days in enthusiastic study of the works of art that are stored there. Some knowledge of art and an interest in it are necessary to the appreciation and enjoyment of paintings and statues. In like manner, he that would find the beautiful things in the Scriptures must have a mind and heart prepared for it. Hence the more of the divine life we have in our souls, the more will the sacred pages reveal to us. It is not so much intellectual acumen and fine scholarship that we need, as spiritual culture, love for Christ, and the warmth of devotion.
Not Enough We are good and kind to people – most of us. We comfort them in their sorrow. We help them in their trouble. We are courteous and gentle and neighborly toward them. But we do not try to save their souls. We shall never do all the work of our "day," as Christians, until we learn to seek the salvation of every unsaved soul that God brings near to us. It is our duty to do good to others in all gentle and beautiful ways; – the work of the Lord includes the smallest courtesies and the simplest kindnesses. But saddest of all neglects is to be polite and gracious to people in all neighborly ways, and yet never seek to lead them to Christ to be saved.
A Debt Unpaid We owe other people more than their rights; we owe them love. To some of them it is not hard to pay this debt. They are lovable and winsome. They are thoroughly respectable. They are congenial spirits, giving us in return quite as much as we can give them. It is natural to love them, and be very kindly and gentle to them. But we have no liberty of selection in this broad duty of loving other people. We may not choose whom we will love if we claim to be Christians. The Master’s teaching is inexorable. "If ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? For sinners also love those that love them. And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? For sinners also do even the same. And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? For sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again: and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest; for He is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil."
Line Upon Line Life is a building. It rises slowly, day by day, through the years. Every new lesson we learn lays another block on the edifice which is rising silently within us. Every experience, every touch of another life on ours, every influence that impresses us, every book we read, every conversation we have, every act of our commonest days, adds something to the invisible building. Sorrow, too, has its place in preparing the stones to lie on the life-wall. All life furnishes the material.
His Own Time When we pray long and with importunity for the lifting away of some heavy cross, or the lightening of some sore burden, and no answer comes, does the thought never arise in our minds that Jesus does not hear us, or that He does not come to us? But such complaint is never just. Sometimes He may seem not to care. The disciples had some lessons to learn. One was how helpless they were in themselves in the world’s danger. Another was that Christ alone could deliver them. They could not learn these lessons save in the storm with the Master asleep. So there are similar lessons that we never can learn until Christ withholds His help for a time. And sometimes He hides Himself for a season just to teach us faith. But He is never indifferent to us. He never neglects nor forgets us. His heart ever wakes and watches, and at the right moment He comes and brings deliverance. We should learn to trust our Lord so confidently that in any hour of danger we can nestle down in His bosom without fear or anxiety, and let Him take care of us.
Our Rock Of Hope Son of God tells of His divine nature and His eternal Sonship. This is the name that gives security to all our hopes and trusts. If He were only a man, He might be very tender, loving, and kind, but could He do for us everything we need? Could a man make atonement for our sins? Could a man put his own life into our dead souls? Could a man fight our battles for us, and rescue us out of the hands of Satan? Could a man be with us in all the ways of toil, sorrow, need, and struggle? Could a man save us in death, and bear us through the dark mystery to glory? Could a man stand for us in the judgment? The divinity of Christ is the rock of our hope, and our salvation.
The Refuge Of Prayer We see the Master at prayer in Gethsemane. It was here that He prepared for His Cross. We should notice that His refuge in His exceeding sorrow was prayer, and that, as the sorrow deepened the refuge still was prayer. "Being in an agony He prayed more earnestly." Prayer is the only refuge in sorrow. The lesson from the garden prayer is that we should take all the hard things, the anguishes, the insufferable pains, the bitter griefs of our lives, to God in prayer. We may be sure, too, that God will answer. If He does not relieve us of the suffering, He will strengthen us so that we can keep it, and still go on trusting and singing.
Stars In The Darkness All day the stars are in the sky. We cannot see them in the glare of the sunshine; but it is something, surely, to know that they are there, and that, when it grows dark, they will shine out. So, amid abounding human joy, it is a precious confidence to know that there are divine comforts veiled, invisible to our eyes in the sunshine about us, which will flash out the moment the earthly joy is darkened.
A Beautiful Year The only way to have a year at its close stainless and beautiful is to keep the days, as they pass, all pure and lovely, with the loveliness of holy, useful living. It is thus, in little days, that our years come to us, and we have but the one small fragment to fill and beautify at a time. The year is a book, and for each day one fair white page is opened before us; and we are artists, whose duty it is to put something beautiful on the page; or we are poets, and are to write some lovely thought, some radiant sentence, on each leaf as it lies open before us; or we are historians, and must give to the page some record of work or duty or victory to enshrine and carry away.
A Great Gain Nothing is lovelier in life than the spirit of contentment. Fretting mars the beauty of many a face. Discontent spoils all one’s world. Out of whatever window he looks the discontented person sees something that is not pleasing. If there be a contented mind there is only good seen everywhere. The happiest homes in the world are not those in which are the finest carpets, the costliest pictures, the most luxurious furniture, but those in which glad, happy hearts dwell. A mind at rest glorifies the plainest surroundings and even the hardest conditions.
The Cross In The Heart Martin Luther’s seal was a rose: in the rose a heart; in the heart a Cross. The rose suggested fragrance and beauty. A Christian’s life should be winning. It should be sweet, pouring forth the perfume of love. The heart in the rose told that all true life is love inspired. Then at the centre of all was the Cross. That is the inspiration of it all. Until we have the Cross of Christ in us, in our very heart, we can have neither fragrance nor beauty.
Partners With Christ We are children of God. We have Christ’s peace in our hearts. We walk beneath the smile of God. We have comfort in our sorrow, guidance in our perplexities, help in temptation, and the assurance of eternal life. We should never forget that all these priceless blessings, which yet are so free to us, come to us through the Cross and passion of our Saviour. By His stripes we are healed. We have joy because He endured sorrow. We have peace in the midst of storm because He faced the storm. We have forgiveness because the darkness gathered about His soul on the Cross. The hands that save us are pierced hands, pierced in saving us.
Alone With God In a certain sense all life is lonely. Even with sympathetic companionships all about us there is an inner life which each of us lives altogether alone. We must make our own choices and decisions. We must meet our own questions and answer them ourselves. We must fight our own battles, endure our own sorrows, and carry our own burdens. Friendship may be very close and tender, but there is a sanctuary of each life into which even the holiest friendship may never enter. Blessed are they who in loneliness can say, "Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me." God’s is the only friendship that can really meet all our soul’s deep needs and cravings.
Heaven Begins Here A gentle author has recently said: "We are too much in the habit of looking forward to heaven as something that will be an easier, pleasanter story for us to read when we have finished this tiresome earth narrative; a luxurious palace-chamber to rest in after this life’s drudgery is ended; a remote celestial mountain retreat, where the sound of the restless waves of humanity forever fretting these shores will vex our ears no longer." We forget that heaven is not far off yonder – at least, our heaven is not – but begins right here in our common days, if it is ever to being at all for us. It not that what the prayer means – "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven?" "On earth" – in our shops and stores and schools; in our homes and social life; in our drudgery and care; in our times of temptation and sorrow.
God In His Children God has so ordered that we cannot love and serve Him, and not also love and serve our fellow-men. Jesus made this very plain in His picture of the Last Judgment, when He said that He is hungry in every hungry little one of His; that He is sick in every least one of His who is sick; that in the stranger who comes to our door He stands before us, waiting for the hospitality of love. In serving His we are serving Him; in neglecting His we neglect Him. We cannot fulfill our duty by loving Christ and serving Him, while we ignore our fellow men. He accepts no such service. If we say we love Him, He points to the needy, the hungry, the sick, the burdened ones, the suffering all about us, and says: "Show your love to these. I do not need service now, but these need it. Serve them in My name."
A Heart's Record All Christians love to read the Hebrew psalms. In every mood and phase of our heart’s feelings we find in these psalms the very words in which to frame our thoughts and utter our desires. The reason is that these psalms are the faithful records of what other men thought and felt when they were in experiences like ours. We walk in the paths which their feet broke for us in the rough wilderness. The blessing we receive comes out of their pain and tears.
Trust In The Dark We know that all things work together for good to them that love God. It is made plain in the Scriptures that no tribulation can harm us if we abide in Christ, that we shall be preserved blameless through the most terrible trials, if our faith in Christ does not fail. Many of life’s events are full of mystery – we cannot understand them, nor can we see how they are consistent with God’s love and wisdom. But we have the most positive assurance that some time we shall understand, and that in everything we shall see divine goodness.
A Refuge From The Storm One of the legends of the life of Jesus tells of a day when He was walking beside the sea, when suddenly a sea-bird, driven by a storm that had been sweeping on the farther shore, came fluttering towards Him, and, panting, fell on the sand at His feet and died. Then He took the bird and laid it in His hand, and breathed on it – when lo! The bird fluttered a moment and then flew aloft, its life restored. It is only a legend, and yet it was just in this gentle way that Jesus dealt always with human weakness and failure which fled to Him out of life’s storms.
Sowing Blessings One of the old legends tells of the visits of a goddess to ancient Thebes, and relates that the people always knew when she had been there, although no eye saw her, by the blessings she left behind. She would pause before a lightning-blackened tree, and the tree would be covered with beautiful vines. She would sit down to rest upon a decaying log, and the decay would be hidden under lovely moss. When she stepped on the muddy shores of the sea, violets would spring up in her tracks. This is only a legend, but it illustrates the influence of the beautiful life in which the fruits of the spirit have full and rich growth. There are lives so full of grace and goodness that every influence they give forth is toward cheer and hope and purity.
Echoes Like echoes are our lives; what they hear they reflect back to the speaker’s ear and heart. So it is that we may find out, in the way others treat us, just how we really treat them. They echo into our ears in their judgments of us the very things which our lips have spoken concerning them. Hence our judgments of others are really self revealings. If we are suspicious and distrustful of men, we are showing the world that in us are causes fro suspicion and distrust. If we find selfishness wherever we go, it is an evidence that we are selfish ourselves.
Going Forth Weeping Great thoughts, wherever we find them, have been born in struggle and anguish. So it is in all life. We cannot be of use in the world without cost. What it costs us nothing to give or to do is not worth the giving or the doing. It is those who sow in tears who reap in joy. It is he that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed that shall come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.
Ready For His Coming Christ will come as a thief in the night. This means that His coming will be most unexpected. "Of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven." Since the time of Christ’s coming cannot be known in advance, the simple duty of the Christian is to be always ready. For one thing, this is to be at peace with God. One who is not saved is not yet ready for that coming. In a sense death is the coming of Christ to men, for it ushers them into the presence of God. No one is prepared for death who has not accepted Christ for his Saviour. What can be more awful than the sudden coming of death to one who is not forgiven and is thus unprepared to meet his God. The way to be ready for Christ’s coming is not to sit down in idleness and wait and watch for His appearance in the clouds, but to keep at one’s work with diligence. |
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