By Victor Bireaud, mp3
Scripture Reading: Psalm 46:1 God [is] our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 2 Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Welcome all loved and blessed, welcome sweet scenes of rest, welcome my Saviour’s breast. Jesus is mine!
“Welcome o loved and blessed, welcome sweet scenes of rest, welcome my saviours breast, Jesus is mine!”
Isn’t this a beautiful introduction to our message as we are facing the difficulties of the last days and preparing to enter into the sweet scenes of rest of the eternal abode? It really makes my heart abound with joy to think of this statement; Jesus is mine.
We are facing some terrible problems in the last days. It is the darkness of the religious world.
Isaiah 60:1 Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. 2 For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.
At the very time when we are asked to arise and shine and let our light shine forth and let the glory of the character of God be revealed upon us, we are living in the time of verse 2. The darkness shall cover the earth and gross darkness the people. Then it talks about what is to happen in the believer’s heart.
Where is this darkness?
We have already been introduced to the fact that this happens at the time of verse 8.
Isaiah 60:8 Who [are] these [that] fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows?
That’s the context of this call of God for His people to arise and shine They are to arise and shine when these (planes) are flying as a cloud and as the doves to their windows.
We looked up and the first successful flight of aircraft was around 1910. Ever since that time the prophecy is saying to us that we are living in darkness and gross darkness is covering the people.
If that was only for the heathen, that would be quite all right for the religious world, for God’s people in the last days. But, it’s also in the religious world.
Luke 11:34 The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when [thine eye] is evil, thy body also [is] full of darkness. 35 Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness.
If mine eye is single, spiritually speaking, my whole body is going to be full of light, so my spiritual health is going to affect my physical health. This is what we were meditating upon somewhat in the Sabbath school lesson.
But if my eye is evil, if I am contemplating some evil things, thinking about this and that, what happens? My body also is full of darkness.
In Isaiah 60 it talks about gross darkness covering the earth and the people. What kind of darkness is that? Jesus was saying that it has to do with whether my eye is single or whether my eye is evil. This will affect me, and it will define if I am influenced by the gross darkness that is covering the people in the last days.
Is my eye directing in an evil direction, or is it being single to the glory of God? Am I thinking about the Lord, or am I thinking about something that’s not quite fitting my opinions? We will expand on that thought. The Scripture of verse 34 of Luke 11 was just given, then this statement follows.
“This privilege is presented before every soul. RH, August 23, 1898 2.
What privilege? The privilege to have mine eye being single and my whole body being full of light.
“Each may have heaven’s light to guide him. If we discern the truth, and obey it, our whole course of action will be in accordance with the truth; for the truth sanctifies the receiver. But if men refuse to search for the truth as for hidden treasure, if the mind is pleased with the theories of error, the soul will remain in darkness. RH, August 23, 1898 2.
This is giving us a deeper appreciation of the Scripture in Isaiah 60.
“The course of the life, the development of the character, will be corrupted by false sentiments. Error never sanctifies. It can do no good. And how full of darkness is the soul that receives error as truth, and shapes his course of action in accordance with it. RH, August 23, 1898 2.
The darkness of the last days has to do with whether I am personally, individually, letting error have an influence upon me in how I conduct my course of action. If I conduct my course of action, if I shape my course of action in accordance with error, it can do me no good.
“Love of self, pride and self-sufficiency lie at the foundation of the greatest trials and discords that have ever existed in the religious world. Again and again the angel has said to me, “Press together, press together, be of one mind, of one judgment.” Christ is the Leader, and you are brethren; follow Him. Walk in the light as He is in the light. Those who walk in the footsteps of Christ shall not walk in darkness, but those who draw apart in unsanctified independence cannot have God’s presence and blessing in the work. ChL 11.4
You may wonder, why are we meditating upon that? What has this to do with our present experience? The problem is that we are living in a time where there is gross darkness upon the people and if I do not want that gross darkness to be upon me as an individual, I must not draw apart in unsanctified independence. If I do that, I cannot have God’s presence and blessing in the work; whichever work you want to call it God’s work, your day-to-day work.
Unsanctified independence is so dangerous! You can see in the religious world today there is this independence that is unsanctified. It doesn’t come from God, so it causes darkness to gather upon me and it is gross. It is no good. It can do me no good.
As we think about that, there is a dilemma at the time when we are nearing the close of probation as we are striving for unity. The problem is thinking of my own ways are perfect. As Adventists we read plenty of the Spirit of Prophecy to get an idea of what I should do. If someone does something not quite in accordance with the word, then I start to think my own way is perfect and I have an unsanctified independence, and I gather darkness. It doesn’t do me any good.
“Workers can easily place themselves where divine love and power and wisdom cannot reach them, where they cannot have help in counsel, in difficulties and trials, ChL 11.5
Why?
“…because they would not understand and rightly appropriate heaven’s rich treasure. They would glorify themselves, and think their own ways perfect, and become established in self-righteousness.” ChL 11.5
That’s it; this is darkness. From such a terrible dead-end of having gathered unsanctified independence, and of thinking my way is perfect, from such a terrible dead-end we have only one way of escape.
ONLY ONE WAY OF ESCAPE
Here is a beautiful psalm to pray before the Lord as we realise I have made a mess of it:
Psalm 51:1 Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin [is] ever before me. 4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done [this] evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, [and] be clear when thou judgest. 7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
The problem is that we have read that so often that there is a barrier there and it gets harder to break. When you hurt your brother or your sister, you are actually sinning against Him, it really melts inside, and you say, Lord, purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow! That expression is absolutely unrealistic, because how can I be whiter than snow? I may be clean on the outside but inside is so red, like crimson. But the faith that reaches out to the hand of Jesus says, I don’t care; I will be whiter than snow because I am hanging on. Isn’t it beautiful? We have an expansion on that thought.
“I present before you the fifty-first psalm, a psalm filled with precious lessons. From it we may learn what course to follow if we have departed from the Lord. To the king of Israel, exalted and honored, the Lord sent a message of reproof by His prophet. David confessed his sin and humbled his heart, declaring God to be just in all His dealings.” 3BC 1147.2
Against thee, thee only have I sinned and done this evil in Thy sight.
“Sin is sin, whether committed by one sitting on a throne, or by one in the humbler walks of life. The day is coming when all who have committed sin will make confession, even though it is too late for them to receive pardon. God waits long for the sinner to repent. He manifests a wonderful forbearance. But He must at last call the transgressor of His law to account.” 3BC 1147.3
“A man incurs guilt by injuring a fellow-being, but his chief guilt is the sin that he has committed against the Lord, and the evil influence of his example upon others.” 3BC 1147.4
Any personal experience as you ponder about this statement, you see, I’ve felt my way is perfect and maybe I’ve injured a fellow being and have had an evil influence of his example upon others.
“The sincere child of God does not make light of any of His requirements.” 3BC 1147.5.
He experiences have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness, according unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies.
A PERSONAL REFUGE
Once we have got that clear, we continue on in the journey of finding in the Lord a personal refuge.
“He is most fit to carry responsibilities and command who most resembles God in character,–in goodness, mercy, and staunch loyalty to the cause and work of God. Every one needs now to work for brother, for friend, for neighbor, and for stranger, drawing the mind away from the discouragements that will crowd in.
When we are together it is quite nice. We enjoy ourselves. Our company is very pleasant. But, when we are alone, what happens? Discouragements. We have all felt it. Sometimes even when we are with fellow beings, people who believe as we do, even then discouragements crowd in. We feel like, I thought I was safe now! But you realise that you must draw the mind away from the discouragements that will crowd in. How can you do that?
“God Exalts the Humble – The truth is to be magnified. We must not be surprised at strange movements. No one must seek exaltation. The more humbly we move and work, the more will we be exalted with God. The return of Jesus Christ to our world will not be long delayed. This is to be the keynote of every message.” ChL 12.3
It’s all about will I be humble? When someone is doing something that doesn’t really fit in with my opinion, will I be humble, or will I think my own way is perfect? No one must seek exaltation. The more humbly we move and work, the more will we be exalted with God. When we are with people in the world it is easy, because we are striving, but we feel like it is easier because we know that they are all wrong and I am on the platform of truth. But, when we are with believers who believe the same thing as you, now it gets difficult. That is why we need to really take on that thought that no one must seek exaltation. The more humbly we move and work, the more will we be exalted with God.
It is always safer to move humbly and work humbly, because this is the only way I can ever be exalted with God.
Proverbs 29:23 A man’s pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit.
Sometimes when you read Proverbs it is hard to understand. Honour, that is nice. Honour is the fact that I have been redeemed, I have been bought at a price, so I am being honoured, because such a terrible price has been put upon my soul! This is safer. God exalts the humble, but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit. If I walk humbly before the Lord I can benefit of the honour which He has placed upon me by buying me with His blood.
When you’ve made a mistake, you feel like hiding yourself, right?
Psalm 25: 8 Good and upright [is] the LORD: therefore will he teach sinners in the way. 9 The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way.
As you look inwardly and you contemplate upon your failures in your life you feel like you’ve made a mess of it and you wonder how can I fix it up? You try to work ways out how it can get better. But, as you look at the character of God, and you really drink it in what this is saying, Good and upright [is] the LORD. What does that mean? It means that He will actually teach sinners in the way. Will He teach righteous people? Are they all good that He teaches them? He will teach sinners in the way. The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way.
It’s His judgment, His way, and if I want to understand I have to be meek, but not voluntarily meek. Voluntary humility, that doesn’t work because I feel better when I do that. But the humility that takes into account the fact that God is actually leading me although I have failed completely. That is beautiful when you really take it in.
Again, as we are striving for unity in the last days, we have a character to perfect and a unity to be brought into. When you are alone sometimes you feel maybe I can make it. The Lord will have me. But when you come into the close circle that’s another story. Because of that, we have a need to be individually engrafted on the vine. We have that simple lesson of the Lord.
John 15:4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 5 I am the vine, ye [are] the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
How much can you do without the Lord? Without entering into a personal experience with Jesus, without letting Him show you your transgressions? Well, it says nothing. But, if I abide in Him and if I do that, He also abides in me, then I can bear fruit. Much fruit. That’s if I do that. If I don’t do that, I don’t bear much fruit. I don’t bear any fruit at all.
Habakkuk 2:4 Behold, his soul [which] is lifted up is not upright in him:
We saw that, its unsanctified independence. If he has unsanctified independence, he is not upright in himself.
Habakkuk 2:4 …but the just shall live by his faith.
The believer needs to have to live by his faith. He cannot live by the faith of his brother or by the faith of his sister. If he does that, he is going to fail. But, the just shall live by his faith, and his faith is actually his appropriation of the faith of Jesus. But his brother’s appropriation of the faithAl of Jesus, that won’t help him. That can only help him if he gets the inspiration from the experience of his fellow brother and takes it into his personal experience.
I emphasize the fact that without that there is this problem that we do what the bishop was telling Margaret Donaldson not to do. He said to her he often fails who fights by others. If I try to fight the good fight by others, well, his was not really Scriptural because he always fails who fights by others.
So, I must be sure that my brother’s faith is not my foundation, because the just shall live by his faith. It is all the same faith, but it has to be personal.
CONNECTION TO EACH OTHER
Although each spoke is connected individually to the centre, which is Christ, yet being connected individually, they speak to one another.
Ephesians 4:1 I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, 2 With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; 3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
“God’s servants are to work together, blending in kindly, courteous order, “in honor preferring one another.” Romans 12:10. There is to be no unkind criticism, no pulling to pieces of another’s work; and there are to be no separate parties.
If I am alone and I draw back, that’s a separate party itself.
“Every man to whom the Lord has entrusted a message has his specific work. Each one has an individuality of his own, which he is not to sink in that of any other man. Yet each is to work in harmony with his brethren. In their service God’s workers are to be essentially one. No one is to set himself up as a criterion, speaking disrespectfully of his fellow workers or treating them as inferior. Under God each is to do his appointed work, respected, loved, and encouraged by the other laborers. Together they are to carry the work forward to completion.” AA 275.2
Together and yet individually engrafted on the vine. It is a mind boggling experience. To be together but at the same time you have to be relying on the Lord constantly. It’s a both sides experience. When the communion is so good you feel like it’s together, and when you have unsanctified independence! It must be very harmonious. I must be very intimately connected with the Lord, and at the same time very intimately connected with the family of Christ.
I wanted to share this message today in the Sabbath hours because I felt like this is a cornerstone in the experience of the last days. We are not entering into heaven alone. Sometimes we feel like we are going to enter alone and we have reason to think that, well, these branches individually engrafted on the vine. It is true, but at the same time, we are to prepare for spending eternity together. That’s a long time, a very long time. When I was young I tried to see through eternity and it never finished, it kept on going.
This unity that is described for us as we just read in Ephesians 4 in verse 3, Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. As you ponder about that, it grows big, because, it is to be forever. We thought that we were going to spend eternity with the Lord, but we hardly ever think that we are going to spend eternity with my brother.
“God does not wish you to make your conscience a criterion for others. You have a duty to perform, which is to make yourself cheerful and to cultivate unselfishness in your feelings until it will be your greatest pleasure to make all around you happy.” 1MCP 327 2
Does this strike a chord in your heart? Not making your conscience a criterion for others. What is my duty? Sometimes we feel like my duty is to tell my brother he is doing something wrong. No, that’s not it. My duty is to make myself cheerful and to cultivate unselfishness in my feelings until it will be my greatest pleasure to make all around me happy. That was Jesus’ greatest pleasure, to make all around Him happy, even if they don’t accept Him, He did the same. Amazing!
OUR REFUGE
As you take that as a foundation for your experience, you really start to get close to the Lord and to see that you need, I need, to find a refuge amid the perils of the last days. As I need to find this refuge, God is asking His people to hide themselves in a very personal way. As you read these words, I really would like us to think what does it mean personally?
Isaiah 26:20 Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.
If you want to know what that indignation is it is written in verse 21.
Isaiah 26:21 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.
It’s the plagues. How can I hide from the plagues? How can you hide from the plagues? It’s not about hiding from physical events. They will come. It’s about being protected in the chambers. What chambers? I go in my chambers, lock the doors, am I safe? No, that is not it. The chambers is a refuge. What is that refuge? You are a Seventh Day Adventist, what is that refuge? The protection of Christ and His holy angels. We harmonise with the Lord in His work of intercession for us at this moment and we hide ourselves under the protection of Christ and His holy angels as He is ministering in the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary.
Hebrews 6:17 Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed [it] by an oath: 18 That by two immutable things, in which [it was] impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: 19 Which [hope] we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; 20 Whither the forerunner is for us entered, [even] Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
God confirms His own promise by an oath that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation. As we flee for refuge, laying hold upon the hope which is set before us and the pardon in Christ’s intercession for us.
Psalm 142:1 I cried unto the LORD with my voice; with my voice unto the LORD did I make my supplication. 2 I poured out my complaint before him; I showed before him my trouble. 3 When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou knewest my path. In the way wherein I walked have they privily laid a snare for me. 4 I looked on [my] right hand, and beheld, but [there was] no man that would know me: refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul. 5 I cried unto thee, O LORD: I said, Thou [art] my refuge [and] my portion in the land of the living.
Do you remember that Jesus said my God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me? His refuge failed Him. Refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul.
In Isaiah 63 it also talks about the fact that Jesus felt alone. When you feel alone there is something that happens. There are two ways, you can go down the path and you will try to remove that loneliness by indulging in sin and anything that would make you forget; or you will do what Jesus did, you will remember before He gave up the ghost He said, into Thy hands I commend my spirit. Thou art my refuge, my portion, in the land of the living.
Jesus had no refuge, but yet He found the refuge by faith. We read of His experience.
We can study a whole heap of things in Seventh Day Adventism. But if we are not really studying the experience of Jesus, at some point in time we falter, because we don’t have that exchange experience, that experience of atonement.
One brother once said to me someone who is trying to do away with his skin problems by powder, it’s like trying to be a Seventh Day Adventist without the atonement. You can’t do away skin problems with powder, it doesn’t work. And you can’t wait for the Lord and His coming and engage in His requirements if I am not engaging in the atonement every day.
Psalm 69:14 Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink: let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters.
For Jesus it was outside, inside, everywhere. It was overwhelming.
Psalm 69:15 Let not the waterflood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me. 16 Hear me, O LORD; for thy lovingkindness [is] good: turn unto me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies. 17 And hide not thy face from thy servant; for I am in trouble: hear me speedily.
Jesus was remembering the mercies of God. He just broke through. Can you even begin to picture Jesus’ experience? You mind cannot even begin to grasp the terrible agony of the earth pressing down and down. If you have this personal experience as a Christian, it’s overwhelming, but if you compare your experience with Jesus’ experience, your experience is like nothing in comparison. It’s like you can be joyful because Jesus took the load of it. Yours is just a tiny little fragment. When you do let that sink in, everything else is like every enjoyment of the world. It just sinks until it disappears completely. Jesus is exalted and you don’t have to make yourself talk about the cross of Christ, the cross of Christ is your experience. You don’t have to force it.
“If happiness is drawn from outside sources and not from the Divine Fount, it will be as changeable as varying circumstances can make it; but the peace of Christ is a constant and abiding peace. It does not depend on any circumstance in life, on the amount of worldly goods, or the number of earthly friends. Christ is the fountain of living waters, and happiness and peace drawn from Him will never fail, for He is a well-spring of life.
If you just take that statement on its own, what does that mean? If you look at it in the light of His sacrifice for you personally, now you can begin to understand how He can be to you a constant and abiding peace. How He can be to us a fountain of living waters because every single moment is illumined by the fact that something big is going on here. My soul has been bought. I still have to engage, but that sacrifice is there for me to appropriate.
“Those who trust in Him can say: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High” FW 88.2
A river. Jesus the fountain of living waters. I let my imagination, as we have pondered in previous Divine Services, let my imagination picture Jesus in His sufferings and it makes me glad. If I do that everything lights up again. This is actually what Simeon did. He wasn’t in the Christian dispensation, but Simeon was seeing something.
We know the story, he was in the temple and Jesus parents came with Jesus as he was very young, a babe.
Luke 2:27 And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law, 28 Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, 29 Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: 30 For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, 31 Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; 32 A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.
It was only a babe, but Simeon was seeing something behind what his eyes could see. He was looking by faith on his salvation. It was if he didn’t believe, he could not say that, but because he believed what seemed like just a child doing like every parent does when a child comes to age and has to do after the custom of the law, but he said let me go because now I have seen thy salvation. I have seen God being brought into the flesh and being given of God as a sacrifice for my sins.
“When Martin Luther received discouraging news, he would often say, ‘Come, let us sing the forty-sixth psalm.’ This psalm commences with the words: ‘God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.’ Instead of mourning, weeping, and despairing, when troubles gather about us like a flood and threaten to overwhelm us, if we would not only pray for help from God, but would praise Him for so many blessings left,–praise Him that He is able to help us,–our course would be more pleasing to Him, and we would see more of His salvation.” LS 258.1
How can I have Simeon’s experience? How can I have this saving faith, a heart full of praise to God? We know how to pray, we have the words; we can just say the words over again. My experience is on stand-still. But Simeon’s experience was such that he could say let me go, I am ready. When you think about it, that’s important because for an old man to say that he is ready to go, that means that his work of transformation of character is complete. He saw God’s salvation not because there was a child and it was a wonderful story, but because he was actually seeing the typified sacrifice. We also need now to look back, but really look inwardly, and look upward, and look at the word and what it says about what Jesus has done for me.
If we would not only pray for help from God, but would praise Him for so many blessings left – praise Him that He is able to help us, – our course would be more pleasing to Him, and we would see more of His salvation. Not only pray for help, but praise Him. It is the simple principle of believing that you receive. That is saving faith.
If I just ask and ask, I’m just heaping up a whole lot of prayers, but it’s not benefiting me. If I want to see more of God’s salvation I want to praise God for so many blessings left – praise Him that He is able to help me personally in my situation where I find myself, whatever it may be.
Sometimes we feel like there’s no help. I don’t see the Lord coming into solve my personal problem, but if I want to see His salvation which really means that if I want to see Him working on my heart and transforming my character, I need to believe that it’s happening according to His word. I can see it, but not if I am waiting to see it with these eyes. I must see it with the eyes of faith like Simeon did. He was looking way beyond he child, way beyond. It’s not about the child. It’s about what this means. This is deep!
Here Ellen White speaks about the death of her husband. So if you think about an experience that is really a problem and makes you feel like this will prevent me from being saved because it will just influence me in a negative way, then we want to see how the prophet of the Lord dealt with her situation.
“I shall give way to no outbursts of grief, if my heart breaks. I serve God, not impulsively, but intelligently. I have a Saviour who will be to me a very present help in time of trouble. I am a Christian. I know in whom I have believed. He expects from me implicit unwavering submission. Undue grief is displeasing to God. I take up my appointed cross and will follow the Lord fully. I will not give myself to abandonment of grief. I will not yield to a morbid and melancholy state of feeling. I will not complain or murmur at the providence of God. Jesus is my Saviour. He lives. He will never leave me nor forsake me.” PaM 217.3
Jesus is a very present help in time of trouble. Next time you read that Scripture in Psalm 46, don’t read it as the Christian world reads it, read it as the gospel truth. It is very personal and to me it’s like beautiful, it’s wonderful, it’s heart breaking and heart lifting at the same time. You understand that if you experience that. If you don’t experience that you cannot understand that. If you will do the will of God you will know of the doctrine.
Jesus will be a very present help in the trouble of my sinful heart and in the trouble of trying circumstances. He had trying circumstances and He was made to be sin for me. He had the experience that I have. Problems outside and problems inside. Sometimes problems inside are a bit more difficult to deal with than problems outside, but anyway you want to look at it, it’s always a burden. Jesus will be my Saviour because He lives and He will never leave me nor forsake me.
He will always be there for me as long as I humble myself under the mighty hand of God. I will say I will not yield to a morbid and melancholy state of feeling. This is always what we feel like doing. This is natural. This is the natural response to the sinful heart. Melancholy and morbid state of feeling. But the faith of Simeon and actually the faith of Jesus, He could have given up Himself to a morbid and melancholy state of feeling because the sin of the whole world was on His mind. But no, He also said what Sister White said, but He was looking up to the Father. We are looking to Jesus. We now say with the same faith that He had, I will not complain or murmur at the providence of God. God is just, I have sinned against Thee, and Thee only. Jesus is my Saviour. He lives.
As we do that then we can say with the heart, not with the mouth, we can now say with the heart, what is written in Galatians. It is a hiding experience. Come my people into thy chambers, shut thy doors about thee.
Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Amen.
