Books For Christian - God's Gift To You

Publisher: Whitaker House
ISBN: 0883685086
Pages: 207
Book Type: Paperback
Size: 0.57 x 8.30 x 5.23 inches
Released Date: Nov 1997

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Table Of Contents

Description:
God gives His children many gifts, including mercy, comfort, healing, encouragement, rest, hope, and increased faith. Discover how you can receive fresh resources for each new day. Out of His never ending supply of goodness, He will meet your every need.

1. The Newness of Divine Mercy 7
2. The Tenderness of God's Comfort 26
3. Comfort for Despondency 43
4. Christ Frees Us from Infirmities 65
5. Mercy for the Least of the Flock 85
6. Encouragement for Secret Disciples 104
7. Blessings Traced to Their Source 124
8. The Places Where God Blesses 141
9. Christ Seen As God's Salvation 155
10. The Hope That Purifies 170
11. Increasing Your Faith 191

Chapter 1 The Newness of Divine Mercy

His compassions are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:22-23

Jeremiah's book of Lamentations is very heartbreaking. When you look at lonely animals in the desert, you have a fitting picture of his mournful state. His heart was ready to burst with sorrow and grief.
However, the prophet's whole tone changed when he called to mind the mercy of God. No sooner did he think of the compassion of the Most High than he at once took heart and began to sing as beautifully as David, the sweet singer of Israel. Truly, if we would only reflect on our mercies instead of focusing on our troubles, we would also exchange our mournful tunes for songs of joy.
It is true that God's people are a tried people, but it is equally true that their grace is equal to their trials. "Through much tribulation [they] enter into the kingdom" (Acts 14:22), but they do enter, and the thought of the coming kingdom sustains them in their present tribulation. They wade through the waters of woe, often chest high, but the waves do not, and will not, drown them. They are still able to sing, even in the midst of the storm.
I would suggest to any who are in the habit of complainin, a very bad habit, to any who have become chronic murmurers, that this state of mind is sinful. On the other hand, remembering God's mercy and gratefully talking about it is a virtuous habit, one that honors God, as well as strengthens and profits our own souls. Imitate Jeremiah, then; if you can find no comfort in your present outward circumstances, meditate on the unfailing mercies of God.
What a blessed word the prophet used "compassions"! The psalmist David used the word pity more frequently than the word compassion, but he meant the same thing. Pity is a humbling word, though extremely comforting. I have often felt very deeply chastened in my own soul by that text, "Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him" (Ps. 103:13). What! Is this the Lord's attitude toward the strongest and the best of saints? Does God only pity them? Yes, it is true. Those who do heroic deeds, those who lead God's army in the day of battle, those whom we look up to with respect and admiration, God looks upon with infinite love, but that love still takes the form of pity. He can see their weaknesses where we see their strengths. He can discover their defects where we admire the work of the Holy Spirit in them, and He regards them with pity. Yet, it is a father's pity, a father who smiles at the weakness of the child, knowing that the feeble attempt the child is making will educate him for something better. The pitying father foresees that the child will ultimately outgrow his weakness and be able to do greater things.
God has compassion on His people, but it is compassion prompted by love. It is not the pity that is akin to scorn, but the pity that melts from love, just as honey drips from the honeycomb. Dear reader, if you are tried and troubled, think of the infinite pity of God toward you. He has struck you, but still not as hard as He might have done; out of pity He has held back His hand. He has spoken sharply in your conscience, but if He had spoken as loudly as your sins deserve, there would have been thunderclaps instead of admonitions.
Perhaps, as with Jonah, God has withered your gourd (Jonah 4:6-11). However, if He had done what justice might have demanded, it would not have been the gourd that withered, but you yourself! Admire the compassion of God! If one of your children is sick, at least they are not all sick. If He has taken away one of your friends by death, at least He has not taken away all your friends. If you have had heavy financial losses, at least you are not bankrupt. If you are sick, at least you have not been attacked by the diseases that have attacked some others; at least your pain is bearable. If the weather is dull and heavy to your spirit, at least it is not quite the blackness of the valley of the shadow of death. Take heart, even in the midst of trials, for the compassion of God is still to be seen.
Moved by such thoughts as these, the prophet penned the remarkable words before us: "His compassions"are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
I have been admiring the first part of the text, which suggests to me the newness of divine mercy. As you read this chapter, I want you to wake up your recollections, to turn over a few pages in your old journal, and to remember what God has done for you since you have known His name.

God's mercies are "new every morning." Water that is in a pitcher may last for a long time, but it will not remain fresh. It might have been fresh the first morning that I filled the pitcher, but it will not be fresh the next day. The longer it lasts, the more stagnant it becomes. But the water from a wellspring is always new. I can drink of it when I am a boy, go to it in the prime of manhood, and stoop to drink of it when my hair turns gray. It is always new and sparkling.
God is not the pitcher, but the fountain. Our treasures that we lay up on earth are stagnant pools, but the treasure that God providentially and graciously gives us from heaven is the crystal fountain that wells up from the eternal deeps and is always fresh and new. There are no gray hairs on the angel of mercy, no wrinkles on his brow. I may say of him what the sweet writer said of the spouse: "His locks are bushy, and black as a raven" (Song 5:11). Mercy is of old and is forever God's beloved attribute, yet it is always bright, fair, clear, and young. Mercy is not a tree that yields its fruit only once a year, making it necessary to store the fruit through the depths of winter and to preserve it until, perhaps, it becomes rotten. On the contrary, mercy is the Tree of Life, which bears its fruit every month (Rev. 22:2). At all times and at all seasons we may receive the compassion of God, and we will find that it is "new every morning."
The thought that God's mercy is always new is a pleasing one, but that it is "new every morning" is very wonderful. If you had to preach, you would find it difficult to have something new to say every Sunday, but God has something new for us every morning. I suppose the columnists in our newspapers often have to search their brains to give us something new, but God, with the greatest of ease, sends to His millions of people something "new every morning." He does not need to repeat Himself. If He sends the same mercy, there is still something new about it that makes it fresh. God never gives us old mercy that is worn out; His mercy always comes fresh from the mint, with all the gloss and all the brightness of new coins. " 'His compassions' are new every morning" not some mornings, but every morning, from the first of January to the last of December. God never has to pause to think of something fresh, but His mercies come to us freely, spontaneously "new every morning." Let us explore this subject further.

In the first place, every morning brings a new mercy because every morning ends the night. The night is the hour of danger and dismay. Why do we ask concerning the sick, "Did he make it through the night?" We do not ask, "Did he make it through the day?" Is it not because, somehow or other, we have connected the night with the idea of insecurity and danger? We wear the image of death when we sleep; how slight the difference is between how a sleeping man looks and how a dead man looks.
Every morning we may say, "What a mercy that my bed did not become my tomb! What a mercy that, in the night, I was not alarmed by a fire! What a mercy that my bed was not burned up with me on it! What a mercy that my house was not broken into by burglars! What a mercy that no tornado or earthquake terrified me! What a mercy that no cry of anguish, like the shrieks that woke up every parent in Egypt, was heard in my house because my child was dying!" Such cries have been heard by some of us, and we have had dreadful nights that we will never forget for as long as we live. But every morning in which we wake, whether such terrors have just occurred or whether we have had a sweet, quiet night, we have a new mercy. Every morning we may at once look to the text and say, "Another night is gone, and Your mercies are 'new every morning.'"

Every morning also brings a new mercy because every morning ushers in another day. That is a new call to praise, for we have no right to an hour, much less a day.
To the sinner, it is a great mercy to have another day of grace, another opportunity for repentance, a little more time in which to escape from hell and fly to heaven, a new reprieve from death. Ah, soul, suppose that you had never seen the light of another rising sun, but had heard instead the dreadful sentence, "Depart, cursed one, into the darkness that will never be pierced by a ray of light!" What a mercy that you have been spared!
The Christian may thank God that he has another day in which he may walk with God as Enoch did; another day in which he may trust God as Abraham did; another day in which he may work for Christ as Paul did. He has another day in which he may reap the gospel harvest; in which he may gather pearls for Emmanuel's crown; in which he may ripen for glory; in which he may commune with the Lord; in which he may make advances in the divine pilgrimage toward the heavenly city. God gives us our days; may He teach us their value, for they are priceless pearls. Then, when the morning breaks, we may truly say, "Your mercies are fresh every morning, for the morning has brought us another day."

Furthermore, a new mercy comes to most of us in that each morning brings supplies for the day. I have often thought to myself, "What a mercy to know that when I wake there will be breakfast for me!" There are many, sad to say, who do not know where the first meal in the day will come from. That is a sorrowful thing, and a very heavy discipline, but it is certainly not the case with most of us. There is enough in the cupboard for the next day. When we rise in the morning, we are not quite like the sparrows, who have to seek their food. However, even though they have no food yet, they sing as soon as they wake. There is nothing in their barn, so to speak, but they sing. Martin Luther heard them and wrote,

After singing, the sparrows set to work to find their daily bread, and find it they do, for God feeds the birds of heaven.
Now, your day's provision is waiting for you. As with the Israelites, there is the manna outside the camp for you, and you know where to gather it. As you bless the name of the Lord, remember His mercy.
But you do not have all that you wish, you say, and so you are not happy. Ah, remember the apostle Paul's words: "Having food and raiment let us be therewith content" (1 Tim. 6:8). Learn the apostle Paul's lesson:

I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.(Phil. 4:11-12)

I am afraid that some of my readers, especially those who have abundance, do not keep in mind that they are daily dependent on God's providence. Let me remind you that you receive your daily bread from God as much as if the ravens were to bring it, as they did for Elijah (1 Kings 17:4-6). You obtain all that you receive from the hand of God as certainly as if it were to drop from the clouds, or as certainly as if the winds were to bring you quails (Num. 11:31). Be thankful, then, that as each day brings your household its need for daily bread and clothing and shelter, God is pleased to meet your needs by giving you His mercies every morning.

In spiritual things, my fellow believer, how richly the text may be illustrated. God's "compassions are new every morning" because every morning I commit new sins. Strange creature that I am, I can scarcely open my eyes to the light before my soul begins to display its darkness! Miserable human that I am by nature, I can scarcely breathe without offending God by the thoughts and imaginations of my heart. Even though I may guard my eyes, mind my tongue, and keep the members of my body pure, still my heart wanders and my tongue speaks idle words before long! But, fortunately, new pardon always comes. God's "compassions are new every morning," and so we wash once again and are clean. We go to the Fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Emmanuel's veins.

When we go to our jobs, and strain and strive, we are prone to wander from God. Yet we may think of our Master, who wrapped a towel around Himself, took a basin, washed His disciples' feet, and then said that they were completely clean. Our daily pollutions need a daily cleansing. We have been washed once in the blood, making us clean before God. But we need to be purged daily from our defilements, and every morning brings us this grace.

We scarcely leave our bedroom, no, we do not even leave it, before the morning brings new temptations. Some mornings bring us temptations that we have never experienced before. Suggestions gain entrance into our own minds that never perplexed us until that moment. We scarcely know what to do with them, and young Christians, especially, are staggered when these diabolical arrows are shot toward them. Then, when we leave our homes, who knows how long it will be before we will be sorely tempted to sin? Ah, if we only knew when the thief were coming, we could watch out for him. Satan and sin come unexpectedly like a thief in the night.
The time when the child of God is most likely to sin is when he is in the holiest frame of mind. You may think that is an odd remark, but I make it from experience. I have often found that when I have been nearest to God in prayer, or when I have most enjoyed a service, I have then been met by somebody who has said something cross, wicked, or unkind. I have been tempted to answer, and perhaps have answered, in an ungodly way. After having your mind lifted up, you are not exactly prepared for these contrary people. Just when you are in a moment of the highest joy, something may trip you up.
Well, now, it is such a mercy to think that when I begin the morning, though I cannot know what temptations may come, I can know that God's mercies are "new every morning."
Therefore, there will be fresh grace to sustain me through the fresh temptations. We see this in 1 Corinthians:

There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape. (1 Cor. 10:13)

Put on the gospel armor. Then let the arrows fall where they may, for they will not wound you. Even if a wound is received between the joints of the armor, there is a tree whose leaves are "for the healing of the nations" (Rev. 22:2). A heavenly hand will deliver these leaves so that the wounds may be healed. Let us be glad, then, that there is daily grace for daily conflict.

My fellow believer, we do not know completely when we wake what the particular tasks of the day will be. Each new morning brings new duties. Even if we did know completely what was appointed for the day, it would be a sad thing to wake up to new responsibilities and new duties if we did not also have new strength. Every day brings a new duty, or it may be an old duty in another shape and cast in another mold. All that I did yesterday cannot exonerate me if I am idle today, and all the service that I did for my Master a year ago will be no excuse if I waste this year. I must take each hour of time as it flies by and seek all the wealth that can be found in it.
Beloved, there will be daily strength given to you for the daily duty to which God calls you. You can be sure that if God has us work for Him, He will not have us go to war at our own expense, but He will provide His soldiers with weapons. He will provide the worker in the vineyard with tools. There is daily grace, then, for new duties.
I might go on to mention that each day will bring its trials. Each day will bring its anxieties and necessities, but each morning brings us the promise, "As thy days, so shall thy strength be" (Deut. 33:25). Note that the word days is plural. Many say, "As thy day," but the verse reads, "As thy days." As long as days last, until days are all swallowed up in time and time is swallowed up in eternity, God's compassions will be "new every morning." His new compassions will meet our new needs, our new relationships, our new responsibilities, our new temptations, and our new sins.
I will try to illustrate this subject in another light, for this text is very much like a kaleidoscope. You may turn it as many times as you want, and there is constantly a fresh form of beauty to be seen.
Some Mercies Are New in Themselves

Sometimes the mercies we receive are actually new in themselves. I am sure that you have had times in life when a new mercy has been bestowed upon you. Perhaps you have set up a monument in your mind, as Jacob set up a pillar at Bethel, to commemorate some particular favor that has made a certain day memorable. Such mercies as these have been particularly new.
Sometimes the mercy is new in substance'you receive what you never received before. At other times the mercy is not so much new in substance as it is new in the way that it comes. Yesterday, after having prayed for the last two or three months that God would remember the various works I am involved in, I received a thousand pounds for the Stockwell Orphanage from an unknown donor. I certainly felt that this was a new mercy. Money has been sent for the work at different times, but it has always been sent in a different way or a different form. Each time it has nearly overwhelmed me.
When I heard about the anonymous donation yesterday, I was sitting with a dear brother who had just been saying to me, "My dear friend, there are some people who say, 'Our friend Spurgeon does not know where to stop; he is always going on from one good thing to another. If he should fail, it would be a very dreadful thing.' Now, don't you think it would be a great catastrophe? What a great deal of money is required for the college, for instance." Then he went on to mention other financial needs. "Suppose the needed funds should fail to come in!" he said, to which I replied, "I never suppose any such thing. I have no purpose to serve and no end to gain, and no motive but God's glory. I was forced into these works against my will, and God cannot leave me. He must carry on the work, and I am persuaded that He will. My motto is 'Jehovah Jireh.'"
At that moment the mail came, and I opened the letter that contained the thousand pounds. My friend just said, "My dear brother, let us kneel down and pray," and so we did. With many tears we thanked God earnestly from the heart. I then knew how foolish we were to talk about things failing that are undertaken for God, because God is sure to help us. My friend said that the donation was a blessed means of grace to him. He said he would remember that day as one of the best days of his life because God had shown him that He will help those who undertake work in His name for the poor and needy and who try to aid His cause. Well now, was that not new? It was not a new thing for us to receive help, but it came in a new way. God's mercies are "new every morning."
Sometimes, when you do not get the mercy in exactly a new way, it seems new to you because you are in a new condition. You have more knowledge and can better comprehend the value of the mercy. You have more experience and can better understand your own need of the mercy.
I am sure that the light in which an aged man regards a mercy, is a different light, in some respects, than that in which a young man regards it. The babe in grace is very grateful and sees that the mercy is precious, but the man in Christ Jesus has a gratitude of a richer kind. The mercy is new because we see it in a new light, and it finds us in another state.
The mercy that comes to a young man of twenty has a brightness about it; the mercy that comes to the same man at seventy may not have as much sparkle, but if the man is a mature Christian, I think that he will have a deeper and more solemn sense of obligation. As we grow in life, the glitter of our thoughts may depart, but the solid gold of them will increase and multiply if we really mature in spirit as well as age in years. Unfortunately, growth in grace is not always synonymous with growth in years. May the Lord grant that we grow in Him!

First, I call upon you for new praise. I ask, in the name of Jesus Christ, whose new mercies you and I are always receiving, that our hearts praise Him hour by hour. Weave new crowns for Christ! Sing new songs in honor of His blessed person and in honor of the mercy that flows to us from Him.
No, I do not ask merely for words of praise, but also for acts of praise, which will speak louder than words. Do not be content with what you have done. Out of gratitude, do something new, if possible. As the soldier who marches forward, let us do something more advanced. Let us be even like the eagle that soars to the skies, circling higher and higher, or like the wind that gathers its strength and blows stronger and stronger. May God grant that we do not rely on our past accomplishments, saying, " We did this when we were young," or, "We gave that yesterday." But, as the new mercy comes, let there be on our part new acts of service.

And I ask not only for these new actions, but also for new faith. Let every mercy confirm our confidence in the God of mercy. All these compassions of our covenant God are ready witnesses against our unbelief. All these loving kindnesses are reliable evidences to confirm our confidence in God. "At what time," God may say to us, "have I been false to you? Have I been a wilderness to the church? Have I received you for a season and then cast you away? Have I been slack in blessing you? Have I been sparing with My mercy? Have I withheld My loving-kindness?" You do not dare to say that God has been stingy toward you. His mercies have been "new every morning."
Since God has given so bountifully to us, we should give back to Him. Surely you do not want God to have to say to you,

Thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money, neither hast thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices: but thou hast made me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities. (Isa. 43:24)

Oh, may He not need to scold us in this way, but let our reasoning be, "What can I give to the Lord for all His blessings to me?" (Ps. 116:12). Let us give Him new praise, new thanksgiving, and new acts of gratitude.

I ask, then, for new confidence in God. Perhaps you cannot mount as high as this. At any rate, I ask every reader who has known the faithfulness of God to offer Him new prayers. If your prayers have already been answered, pray again. The beggar in the street says, "Help me this time, and I'll never ask again." Oh, you who beg at mercy's door, do not say that. Rather,
From His mercy draw a plea,
And ask Him still for more.

God's faithfulness is so great that there has never been an exception to it. He has never at any time acted toward any one of His people other than according to truth and righteousness. It is a marvelous thing when a man is very honest and very upright. Yet, if he runs an extensive business, it will be very difficult for him to be free from charges of wrongdoing. He may be completely innocent, but still it will be very difficult for him to remain free from accusations, especially if he has many employees. But our God has had millions of people to deal with throughout all ages, yet there is not a single soul on earth who can say that God has ever failed to deal with him in faithfulness.
But, more than that, God has never failed to keep all His promises. At a ripe old age, Joshua said, 'Not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the LORD your God spake concerning you' (Josh. 23:14). If a person makes many promises, it is difficult for him to keep them all. Even if he has the ability to keep them, he will not always be able to remember them. But God remembers every promise that He ever made, and He is careful to honor each of those promises in the experiences of those who believe in Him. Those who trust in God will find Him to be good not only in great things, but also in little things. He keeps the oath of His covenant forever. His faintest word will abide, and the least truth that He has ever declared will never grow dim. He is a tree whose leaves will not wither; He brings forth His fruit in His season (Ps. 1:3).
The glory of God's faithfulness is that no sin of man has ever made Him unfaithful. Unbelief is a most damning thing, yet, 'if we believe not "he abideth faithful" (2 Tim. 2:13). When His children rebel against His law and wander far from His statutes, He will discipline them, yet He says, "My lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail" (Ps. 89:33). God's saints may provoke the Most High, yet He will have compassion on them and turn to them and say, "I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins" (Isa. 43:25). No sin of man can make God unfaithful.
In addition, no emergency that can possibly arise can ever compel God to be unfaithful to His people. If the whole world should lie in ruins, He will still bear up the pillars of His people's hope. When His saints can no longer be safe under heaven, He will take them up to heaven. When He commands the tongues of fire to consume this world, when the elements are dissolved with intense heat, if we "are alive and remain" at the coming of the Son of Man, we will be "caught up together to meet the Lord in the air" (1 Thess. 4:17).
God always provides an ark for Noah before He sends the flood. He always has a mountain ready for Lot before He destroys Sodom. If David must be driven from the king's court, he will be housed in Engedi. If the Philistines come against the land, God will be sure to raise up His servant to deliver His people from the enemy. In each crisis, God will be there. You can be sure that He has not forgotten you. When the clock strikes and the bell tolls the hour, God will arise for the defense of His people and will show Himself strong on behalf of all those who trust in Him.
Settle it in your minds, beloved, that He cannot lie. Believe every man to be a liar, if you will, but never believe that God can fail you. Perhaps, deep down inside, you are saying something like this: "Sometimes I see the wicked prosper while I am in tribulation and distress, and my spirit says, 'Has God forgotten? Will He give all the good things to those who curse Him? Will He cause His people to be chastened forever?'"
If you are saying that, say it softly, and then add, "Although this is the way things seem, I know that 'God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart' (Ps. 73:1). 'Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him' (Job 13:15). 'The LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD' (Job 1:21). 'It is the LORD: let him do what seemeth him good' (1 Sam. 3:18). 'In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength' (Isa. 30:15). 'Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed' (Ps. 37:3)." Hold on to your faith as the Grecian warrior held on to his shield. Your safety depends on it. "Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward" (Heb. 10:35). When you cannot rejoice in the light of His countenance, trust in the shadow of His wings. Like David, you will learn to rejoice even there.
Fellow Christian, I hope that you will meditate on this subject in times to come, and I ask God to awaken in you a life of holy joy and confidence.
If you are a nonChristian, how I wish that you knew something about the experiences of God's people! You who have a worldly mindset and have no faith in God know little about the joys of Christians. Although I have written extensively about the sorrows of God's people, the joys of faith are unspeakable. One drop of God's love would sweeten a sea of bitterness. I will even go so far as to say that even the pangs of hell would lose their bitterness if one drop of Christ's love could flow there and be tasted by those who are lost.
But if you are a Christian, you already know what it means to find roses among thorns. You have found your pains and sufferings to be soulenriching things, messengers sent by the King to take you to His banquet and to lead you to discover hidden treasures. You know this. Tell it to the ungodly, and perhaps their mouths will start watering for the good things on Christ's table. Once they long for them, they will have them, for Christ never refuses a hungry one. And if there is such a one reading this book, a poor, empty, destitute soul, remember, mercy's door always stands open, and Christ, the owner of the Gospel Inn, always stands ready to receive every soul who comes. He has written this over the door of the inn: "Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37).