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Many are our persecutors and enemies.
Posted : 26 Aug, 2013 02:18 AM
Psalm 119:157 Many are my persecutors and my enemies; yet do I not decline from Your testimonies.
David's experience is common to us all. Many, indeed, are our
persecutors and enemies. This is a solemn cost. Let those
who are setting out in the Christian course count it well. From
neglect of our Lord's rule of Scriptural calculation, many seem
to begin well; but they have been "hindered"-they turn back;
they are zealous but inconsiderate; warmhearted, but ignorant
of themselves, their work, and their resources. They were
allured at first, perhaps, by an interest in the Gospel-some
delusive excitement of love to the Savior-the picture of the
paths of "pleasantness and peace," or the joys of heaven. The
cross was out of sight, and out of mind. But this promise of ease and happiness was no less foolish and unwarrantable,
than that of a soldier, utterly forgetful of his profession, and
who should promise himself peace at the very time that he
was called out to the wars. Surely, if like God's ancient
people, we begin our road in sunshine, it is well to be provided
against the storms, which will soon overtake us. We would
say therefore to all-specially to sanguine beginners-Let your
course be commenced with serious consideration, and
zealous self-scrutiny. Beware of hasty determinations. See to
it, that your resources are drawn, not from your own
resolutions, or from the sincerity and ardor of your love; but
from the fullness that is treasured up in Jesus for your present
distress. Feel every step of your way by the light of the sacred
word. If you expect Christian consistency to command the
esteem of an ungodly world, you have forgotten both your
Master's word and example; and you will soon be ready to
exclaim-Many are my persecutors, and my enemies. For if
their hostility is not always active, the enmity "is not dead, but
sleeps." If, however, their unexpected surprisals and
inveteracy should daunt you in the conflict, you are again
forgetting the word of cheering support in the most awful
crisis-"My grace is sufficient for you; for My strength is made
perfect in weakness." Thus the word of God will be "the armor
of righteousness on the right hand and on the left."
Presumption is cast down, self-confidence is humbled, and
the trembling simplicity of dependence upon an Almighty arm
is upheld and honored.
Count then upon the difficulties that beset the heavenly path.
You will never pluck the Rose of Sharon, if you are afraid of
being pierced by the thorns which surround it. You will never
reach the crown, if you flinch from the cross in the way to it.
Oh! think of the honor of bearing this cross. It is conformity to
the Son of God. Let the mind be deeply imbued with the
remembrance of his daily cross of suffering and reproach; and
we shall gladly "go forth without the camp, bearing His reproach," yes-even "rejoicing, if we are counted worthy to
suffer shame" with Him and for Him. Indeed, what is our love,
if we will not take up a cross for Him? How can we be His
followers, without His cross? How can we be Christians, if we
are not confessors of Christ before a world that despises His
Gospel?
But a steady, consistent profession is no matter of course.
The crown is not easily won. Many are our persecutors, and
our enemies. Persecution, to the false professor, is an
occasion of apostasy; to the faithful servant of Christ, it is the
trial of his faith, the source of his richest consolations, the
guard of his profession, and the strength of his perseverance.
It drives him to his God. He casts himself upon his Savior for
immediate refuge and support; and the quickening influence,
which he had just been seeking, enables him to say-Yet do I
not decline from Your testimonies. Thus did the great Apostle,
at the time, when his persecutors were many, and human help
even from his friends had failed him, maintain an unshaken
confidence in the service of his God-"At my first answer"-he
tells us-"no man stood with me, but all men forsook me.
Notwithstanding, the Lord stood with me, and strengthened
me." David himself often acknowledged the same principle of
perseverance under similar trials-"Lord, how are they
increased that trouble me! Many are those who rise up
against me. Many there be, which say of my soul, There is no
help for him in God. But You, O Lord, are a shield for me; my
glory, and the lifter-up of my head. O God the Lord, the
strength of my salvation, You have covered my head in the
day of battle."
But have we never taken a devious path in declining from the
Lord's testimonies, to escape the appointed cross? Do we
never shrink from "the voice of him that reproaches" and
blasphemes, by reason of the enemy and the avenger? Can
we always in the integrity of our heart appeal to an Omniscient God-"All this is come upon us; yet have we not forgotten You,
neither have we dealt falsely in Your covenant; our heart is
not turned back, neither have our steps declined from Your
way: though You have sore broken us in the place of dragons,
and covered us with the shadow of death?" This profession is
not the foolish confidence of boasting; but the fulfillment of the
covenant promise-"I will put My fear in their hearts, that they
shall not depart from Me." So beautifully does the promise of
perseverance connect itself with the duty of persevering! And
so clearly in this, as in every other way, does the "wrath of
man" ("howbeit he means not so, neither does his heart think
so") "praise God." How glorious is the display of the power of
His grace in the constancy of His people! like the rocks in the
ocean, immoveable amid the fury of the waves; like the trees
of the forest, "rooted and established" by every shaking of the
tempest! Must not the world, in witnessing the total defeat of
their enmity against the Lord's people (or rather its eventual
results in their increased prosperity), be constrained to
confess to the honor of God, "Surely there is no enchantment
against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel:
according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel What has God wrought!"
by
Charles Bridges
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