0541. The Cursing Turned to Blessing

The Cursing Turned to Blessing

"He turneth the wilderness into a standing water; and dry ground into watersprings" (Psa_107:35).

Have you ever experienced the joy, and ever marked the change of some great deliverance? Have you ever, riding on some swiftly moving train, passed through a long tunnel? It was dark, indescribably dark; and then, suddenly, out into the blazing glory of the noonday, you rushed along. Oh what a change! That is just what God has done for us.

We were in a wilderness, without water. He turned it into a land of rivers and fountains. He made it to bloom and blossom as a rose.

We were in the desert, a barren waste. He made our desert a fruitful field, with standing water, and with springs. How blessed it is that God maketh the hungry to dwell in this land of water! The blessings of God are upon His people. "He blesseth them also, so that they are multiplied greatly." "Yet setteth He the poor on high from affliction, and maketh him families like a flock."

He Who diminisheth, can give increase. He Who bringeth low, through oppression, affliction and sorrow, can lift up and exalt. He Who poureth contempt upon princes, and causeth them to wander in the wilderness, where there is no way, can also lead us into a land enriched with blessings, a land of milk and honey.

There is a little song which we have often sung, "O what a change!" The song relates to the coming of our Lord. It speaks of the time when the dead shall arise and the living shall be caught up together with Him. It tells of their being changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, of their meeting the Lord, and being forever with the Lord. This is the change–"O what a change!"

Many changes have come to us along the way.

First, There was the change from death to life, from darkness to light; from the power of satan to God. That was a change which marked the day of our salvation. O what a change!

Second, There was a change in our manner of living. The old things passed away and all things became new. The old affections were supplanted by new affections. We put off the old man, which was corrupt according to deceitful lusts; and we put on the new man, which after God, was created in righteousness and true holiness. O what a change!

Third, There is a change in our conception of things. Once we lived for the world; we loved its treasures, we counted its favor. Our minds followed the trend of thought which is fashioned by the world. Then Christ came into our lives. He taught us His way and gave us His thought. Immediately we experienced a new way of thinking and a new motive in living–A conception as distant from our old conception as the heavens, are high above the earth, and as the east is far from the west. O what a change!

Fourth, There is the change which awaits us. The change expressed by the song, the change which lifts us out of this world of suffering and sorrow and sin and gives us possession of our blessed inheritance in Him.

This change will be realized by the Church in its rapture.

This change will be realized by Israel in her restoration and restitution.

This change will be realized by the physical earth in its renewal, when He turns its wilderness into a standing water and its dry ground into water springs. O what a change!

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR