Notes on the Book of Deuteronomy, Volume IMackintosh, Charles Henry
Religion
Notes on the Book of Deuteronomy, Volume I
Mackintosh, Charles Henry
Bible. Deuteronomy -- Commentaries
And just so is it with the Lord's people now. There is no limit to the
blessings which we might enjoy, could we only count more fully upon
God. "All things are possible to him that believeth." Our God will
never say, You have drawn too largely; you expect too much.
Impossible. It is the joy of His loving heart to answer the very
largest expectations of Faith.
Let us, then, draw largely. "Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it."
The exhaustless treasury of heaven is thrown open to Faith. "_All
things_ whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall
receive." "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth
to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
But let him ask in faith, _nothing wavering_." Faith is the divine
secret of the whole matter--the main-spring of Christian life from
first to last. Faith wavers not, staggers not: Unbelief is ever a
waverer and a staggerer, and hence it never sees the glory of God,
never sees His power. It is deaf to His voice and blind to His
actings; it depresses the heart and weakens the hands; it darkens the
path and hinders all progress. It kept Israel out of the land of
Canaan for forty years; and we have no conception of the amount of
blessing, privilege, power and usefulness which we are constantly
missing through its terrible influence. If faith were in more lively
exercise in our hearts, what a different condition of things we should
witness in our midst. What is the secret of the deplorable deadness
and barrenness throughout the wide field of Christian profession? How
are we to account for our impoverished condition, our low tone, our
stunted growth? Why is it that we see such poor results in every
department of Christian work? Why are there so few genuine
conversions? Why are our evangelists so frequently cast down by reason
of the paucity of their sheaves? How are we to answer all these
questions? what is the cause? Will any one attempt to say it is not
our unbelief?
No doubt, our divisions have much to do with it; our worldliness, our
carnality, our self-indulgence, our love of ease. But what is the
remedy for all these evils? How are our hearts to be drawn out in
genuine love to all our brethren? By faith, that precious principle
"that worketh by love." Thus the blessed apostle says to the dear
young converts at Thessalonica, "Your faith groweth exceedingly." And
what then? "The love of every one of you all toward each other
aboundeth." Thus it must ever be. Faith puts us into direct contact
with the eternal spring of love in God Himself, and the necessary
consequence is that our hearts are drawn out in love to all who belong
to Him--all in whom we can, in the very feeblest way, trace His
blessed image. We cannot possibly be near the Lord and not love all
who in every place call upon His name out of a pure heart. The nearer
we are to Christ, the more intensely we must be knit, in true
brotherly love, to every member of His body.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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