The proud under the rebuke of God

Posted : 26 Feb, 2013 05:11 AM

Psalm 119:22 Remove from me reproach and contempt; for I have kept Your testimonies.





The proud under the rebuke of God are usually distinguished

by their enmity to His people. They delight to pour upon them

"reproach and contempt," with no other provocation given,

than that their keeping the testimonies of God condemns their

own neglect. This must, however, be counted as the cost of a

decided, separate, and consistent profession. Yet it is such a

portion as Moses valued above all the treasures of the world;

yet it is that reproach, which our Master Himself "despised,"

as "reckoning it not worthy to be compared with "the joy that

was set before Him." For did He bear His cross only on the

way to Calvary? It was laid for every step in His path; it met

Him in every form of suffering, of "reproach and contempt."

Look then at Him, as taking up His daily cross in breathing the

atmosphere of a world of sin, and "enduring the contradiction

of sinners against Himself." Mark Him consummating His

course of "reproach and contempt," by suffering "without the

gate;" and can we hesitate to "go forth unto Him without the

camp, bearing His reproach?"

The trial, however-especially if cast upon us by those whom

we have loved and valued, or by those whom we wish to love

and value us-proves most severe; and the spreading our case, after David's example, before the Lord, is the only

preservation from faintness-"Remove from me reproach and

contempt."

Perhaps "contempt" is more hard to bear than "reproach."

Even our enemies think of us so much better than we

deserve, that it strikes with peculiar poignancy. Yet when the

submissive prayer of deprecation is sent us; doubtless some

answer-and that the right answer-will be given; and whether

the "reproach" be removed, or "grace" given "sufficient" to

endure it, the issue will prove alike for the glory of God, and

the prosperity of our own souls.

But let us beware of that "way of escape" in returning to the

world, which the insincere are ever ready to pursue. They

dare not act according to the full conviction of their

consciences: they dare not confront their friends with the

avowal of their full determination to form their conduct by the

principles of the word of God. This is hard-this is impossible.

They know not the "victory that overcomes the world", and,

therefore, cannot bear the mark upon their foreheads-"These

are they, which follow the Lamb wherever He goes." Far

better, however, will be the heaviest weight of "reproach and

contempt," than any such endeavor to remove it from

ourselves. The desire to escape the cross convicts the heart

of unfaithfulness, and makes way for tenfold difficulties in our

path. Every worldly compliance against the voice of God is a

step into the by-path, which deviates wider and wider from the

strait and narrow way, brings discredit upon our professions,

proves a stumbling-block in the way of the weak, and will

cause us, if not actually to come short, at least to "seem to

come short, of the promised rest."

But is the weight of the cross really "above that we are able to

bear?" He who bore it for us will surely enable us to endure it

for Him, and, upheld by Him, we cannot sink. It is a sweet exchange, by which the burden of sin is removed, and bound

to His cross; and what remains to us is the lighter cross of

"reproach and contempt,"-the badge of our discipleship. If,

then, we have the testimony of our consciences, that in the

midst of the persecuting world we "have kept His testimonies,"

here is our evidence of adoption, of our Father's special love,

of the indwelling, comforting, supporting Spirit. Here, then, is

our warrant of hope, that the overwhelming weight will be

removed from us; and that we shall be able to testify to our

Master's praise in the Churches of God, that "His yoke is

easy, and His burden is light."



by

Charles Bridges

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