dwelt on the fact that users of his product were not getting the full benefit of it would soon be out o f customers. We are facing men and women be- seiged today by all hell’s legions. They need to be made conscious of their plight but, beyond that, they need to have their eyes opened to behold the Stronger Man who can bind the strong man and set all captives free. It was after the four lepers in Samaria’s gate had broken the siege o f the city that they said, “ This day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace.” Our Christ has broken the siege o f sin and Satan and we have good news for all the beleaguered souls of earth. We saints can bemoan our own low spiritual state until the world gets the impression that our adversaries still have the edge. “ This is the victory that overcometh [not endureth] the world, even our faith.” Finally, as we look upon this poor world, we are prone to cry, “Alas, my master; how shall we do?” Yonder is Russia and there is the atom bomb. Here is labor strife and this direction there is anarchy and that way is apostasy. If, like Will Rogers, we go by what we read in the papers, we shall be sore dismayed. It is indeed well to take stock of the situation and know the facts for part of mili tary strategy is to know the strength o f the enemy. There are combinations of adversaries today that look invincible. But no alignment of horses and chariots ever gathered against God and prospered. Hitler’s war machine rolled through Poland and France and to the front doorstep of England. Whoever thought he would win forgot a promise God made to the Jews in the morning of history: “ Cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee.” When the Paperhanger turned on God’s chosen people, all his wehrmacht and luftwaffe couldn’t save him because he ran into God’s eternal Word. Neither men nor nations can work against God’s purposes and prosper. I have read o f a spider that tried to build a web on the moving hands o f a town clock. Far more foolish it is to try to prosper against the onward march o f God’s plan and pro gram. Cheer up, saints of God, no weapon formed against us can succeed. The saints, the angels, and God are with us and “ if God be for us, who can be against us?” “ Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.” DU
dips into the future for things to come. He goes up for height and down for depth and then, to make sure he has overlooked nothing, he adds “any other creature.” It is a formidable aggregation. But Paul has had his eyes opened and he has seen, like Elisha’s servant, the horses and chariots of God. With one sweep, he declares that the whole combination can never separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. It is just another way o f saying: “ Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.” Thank God for such a faith that will not shrink though pressed by many a foe. My old-fashioned country mother in the Carolina hills was no theo logian but she learned to take stock of her allies and discount her adversaries. There were times when she could have said with Jacob: “All these things are against me.” Jacob was counting his adversaries when he said that! But really you can’t believe that and at the same time believe that all things are working together for good to you. So Mother, when the going was rough and circum stances seemed to mock her faith, took fresh count o f her resources and found them adequate. She con sidered them adequate for me too! Her last message to me, dictated a few days before her passing, was: “ Keep up the good fight for God is with you and if God be for us, who can be against us!” She knew what Moses knew at the Red Sea; what Joshua knew at Jericho; what David knew before Goliath; what Hezekiah knew before Sennacherib; what Daniel knew in the lion’s den, — the blessed truth that Elisha would have his servant know, that they that be with God’s people are more than they that be against them. How the church needs to learn this lesson! We are so inclined to discount our allies and count our adversaries these days. “We cannot have a re vival” ; “The times forbid it” ; “ Revivals and mass evangelism are out.” So the chorus goes as we sit wrapped in defeatism. Now we do need to remem ber whence we have fallen and repent and break up the fallow ground and humble ourselves and seek God’s face. But after that, there comes a point where we need to open our eyes and quit groaning over our adversaries and begin glorying in our allies. We need to take stock of our Helper as well as of our hindrances. A salesman who forever
15
A P R IL, 1968
Made with FlippingBook HTML5