When Feeling Spiritually Barren

"Sing, O barren."—Isaiah 54:1.

HOUGH we have brought forth some fruit unto Christ, and have a joyful hope that we are "plants of His own right hand planting," yet there are times when we feel very barren. Prayer is lifeless, love is cold, faith is weak, each grace in the garden of our heart languishes and droops. We are like flowers in the hot sun, requiring the refreshing shower. In such a condition what are we to do? The text is addressed to us in just such a state. "Sing, O barren, break forth and cry aloud." But what can I sing about? I cannot talk about the present, and even the past looks full of barrenness.

 Ah! I can sing of Jesus Christ. I can talk of visits which the Redeemer has aforetimes paid to me; or if not of these, I can magnify the great love wherewith He loved His people when He came from the heights of heaven for their redemption. I will go to the cross again. Come, my soul, heavy laden thou wast once, and thou didst lose thy burden there. Go to Calvary again. Perhaps that very cross which gave thee life may give thee fruitfulness. What is my barrenness? It is the platform for His fruit-creating power. What is my desolation? It is the black setting for the sapphire of His everlasting love. I will go in poverty, I will go in helplessness, I will go in all my shame and backsliding, I will tell Him that I am still His child, and in confidence in His faithful heart, even I, the barren one, will sing and cry aloud.

Sing, believer, for it will cheer thine own heart, and the hearts of other desolate ones. Sing on, for now that thou art really ashamed of being barren, thou wilt be fruitful soon; now that God makes thee loath to be without fruit He will soon cover thee with clusters. The experience of our barrenness is painful, but the Lord's visitations are delightful. A sense of our own poverty drives us to Christ, and that is where we need to be, for in Him is our fruit found. 

-C. H. Spurgeon

On Being Content: Thoughts from Sunday's Sermon

 But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at last you have revived your concern for me; indeed, you were concerned before, but you lacked opportunity.  Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.  I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.  I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. (Phil 4:10-13 NASB)

THE SECRET OF CONTENTMENT

We find our satisfaction in Christ’s sufficiency.

1. We rejoice in the love of other Christians. (v.10)

2. We learn His sufficiency by experience. (v.11)

3. We are initiated into the secrets of Christ. (v.12)

4. We face life in the power of Christ. (v.13)

We CAN be content no matter what our situation is because our joy and sufficiency comes from Christ. Therefore our contentment is not dependent on our circumstance but on our relationship with Him.

Night of Weeping; Joyous Day

For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favor is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. (Psalm 30:5)

A moment under our Father's anger seems very long, and yet it is but a moment after all. If we grieve His Spirit, we cannot look for His smile; but He is a God ready to pardon, and He soon puts aside all remembrance of our faults. When we faint and are ready to die because of His frown, His favor puts new life into us.

This verse has another note of the semi-quaver kind. Our weeping night soon turns into joyous day. Brevity is the mark of mercy in the hour of the chastisement of believers. The Lord loves not to use the rod on His chosen; He gives a blow or two, and all is over; yea, and the life and the joy, which follow the anger and the weeping, more than make amends for the salutary sorrow.

Come, my heart, begin thy hallelujahs! Weep not all through the night, but wipe thine eyes in anticipation of the morning. These tears are dews which mean us as much good as the sunbeams of the morrow. Tears clear the eyes for the sight of God in His grace and make the vision of His favor more precious. A night of sorrow supplies those shades of the pictures by which the highlights are brought out with distinctness. All is well.

-C. H. Spurgeon

Thoughts from Sunday's Sermon

WHAT DO WE THINK ABOUT?

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. (Phil 4:8-9 NASB)

God promises His peace to guard our minds.

1. A disciplined mind enjoys the peace of God’s protection. (v.8)

2. A disciplined lifestyle enjoys the peace of God’s presence. (v.9)

How we feel comes from how we think and what we do.

Galatians 5:9 says, A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough. (NASB). A little sin leavens the whole person's walk with the Lord. Think on the things that are honorable and right and  "the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (Phil 4:7 ESV)

On the heart and sin....

"And I will give you an heart of flesh."—Ezekiel 36:26.

heart of flesh is known by its tenderness concerning sin. To have indulged a foul imagination, or to have allowed a wild desire to tarry even for a moment, is quite enough to make a heart of flesh grieve before the Lord. The heart of stone calls a great iniquity nothing, but not so the heart of flesh.

"If to the right or left I stray,
That moment, Lord, reprove;
And let me weep my life away,
For having grieved thy love"
The heart of flesh is tender of God's will. My Lord Will-be-will is a great blusterer, and it is hard to subject him to God's will; but when the heart of flesh is given, the will quivers like an aspen leaf in every breath of heaven, and bows like an osier in every breeze of God's Spirit. The natural will is cold, hard iron, which is not to be hammered into form, but the renewed will, like molten metal, is soon moulded by the hand of grace. In the fleshy heart there is a tenderness of the affections. The hard heart does not love the Redeemer, but the renewed heart burns with affection towards Him. The hard heart is selfish and coldly demands, "Why should I weep for sin? Why should I love the Lord?" But the heart of flesh says; "Lord, Thou knowest that I love Thee; help me to love Thee more!" Many are the privileges of this renewed heart; "'Tis here the Spirit dwells, 'tis here that Jesus rests." It is fitted to receive every spiritual blessing, and every blessing comes to it. It is prepared to yield every heavenly fruit to the honour and praise of God, and therefore the Lord delights in it. A tender heart is the best defence against sin, and the best preparation for heaven. A renewed heart stands on its watchtower looking for the coming of the Lord Jesus. Have you this heart of flesh? -

-C. H. Spurgeon

"If there is a God.....?"

It is often asked: "If there is a God, why is the earth (and its society) is in the shape it is in?"

We know that God created the earth perfectly and Adam and Eve dwelt in a perfect garden. There was no sin until they chose to disobey God's command and eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God then cursed the earth:

Cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; 
Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; (Gen 3:17b-18)

This is one answer to our "why's".
All people are descended from Adam and are by nature sinful and sinners.

Isaiah pens:  The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth. ( Isa 24:5-6)

When we trust in Christ, we can look forward to a day that all is restored!

      And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. 

And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: (Rev 21:3-4, Rev 22:3)

If you have not put your trust in Christ, you don't have to wait another minute. 

      If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. (Rom 10:9-10 NASB)

       Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?”  Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” (Acts 2:37-39 NASB)

      To learn more about salvation and the gospel of Jesus Christ, click here. 

On Sin and One Footed Snakes

The first thing God cursed about the serpent after he deceived Eve was to make him crawl on his belly - implying that the snake used to have legs. (Genesis 3:13-15)

Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”  The Lord God said to the serpent,

“Because you have done this,

Cursed are you more than all cattle,
And more than every beast of the field;
On your belly you will go,
And dust you will eat
All the days of your life; And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her seed;
He shall bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise him on the heel.” - Genesis 3:13-15 NASB

This picture caught my eye:

After researching, this looks like an authentic report. What we don't know is whether the leg was just a mutation. 

What we DO know is that Scripture demonstrates to us again and again that there are consequences of sin. Genesis 3 records the consequence for the serpent.

Romans 3 tells us the wages of sin is death. Sin causes spiritual death. In a Christian's life it can cause death of fellowship, a ministry, a relationship, or a testimony. 

No wonder David penned: 

Also keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins;

Let them not rule over me;
Then I will be blameless,
And I shall be acquitted of great transgression. - Psalm 19:13 NASB

Paul wrote:  What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? - Romans 6:1-2 NASB

Let us walk to please the Lord!

Amen.

The Upright Love Thee

 -C. H. Spurgeon

The upright love Thee"—Song of Solomon 1:4.

ELIEVERS love Jesus with a deeper affection then they dare to give to any other being. They would sooner lose father and mother then part with Christ. They hold all earthly comforts with a loose hand, but they carry Him fast locked in their bosoms. They voluntarily deny themselves for His sake, but they are not to be driven to deny Him. It is scant love which the fire of persecution can dry up; the true believer's love is a deeper stream than this. Men have laboured to divide the faithful from their Master, but their attempts have been fruitless in every age.

Neither crowns of honour, now frowns of anger, have untied this more than Gordian knot. This is no every-day attachment which the world's power may at length dissolve. Neither man nor devil have found a key which opens this lock. Never has the craft of Satan been more at fault than when he has exercised it in seeking to rend in sunder this union of two divinely welded hearts. It is written, and nothing can blot out the sentence, "The upright love Thee." The intensity of the love of the upright, however, is not so much to be judged by what it appears as by what the upright long for. It is our daily lament that we cannot love enough.

Would that our hearts were capable of holding more, and reaching further. Like Samuel Rutherford, we sigh and cry, "Oh, for as much love as would go round about the earth, and over heaven—yea, the heaven of heavens, and ten thousand worlds—that I might let all out upon fair, fair, only fair Christ." Alas! our longest reach is but a span of love, and our affection is but as a drop of a bucket compared with His deserts. Measure our love by our intentions, and it is high indeed; 'tis thus, we trust, our Lord doth judge of it. Oh, that we could give all the love in all hearts in one great mass, a gathering together of all loves to Him who is altogether lovely!

Opinions, opinions...everywhere!

Sometimes it is easy to cower at the opinions of others. Today we are not speaking about when others correct us of sin - or when we try to hide sin - but simply when we are not being ourselves to try to please someone else. The root of this is wanting the approval of man, and the flip side is fear of the disapproval of man. It happens when we take our focus off of solely seeking the approval of God.

Thankfully, once again, Scripture addresses this!

 For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ. (Galatians 1:10 NASB)

But just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who examines our hearts. (1 Thessalonians 2:4 NASB)

For they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God. (John 12:43 NASB)

If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small. Prov 24:10 (KJV)

“Listen to Me, you who know righteousness,

A people in whose heart is My law;

Do not fear the reproach of man,

Nor be dismayed at their revilings. 

-(Isa 51:7 NASB)