The Way of Help\u20142Ch_14:11<\/p>\n
O Lord, Thou art our God, let not man prevail against Thee!\u201d These were the words with which king Asa, full of faith, marched against the Cushite host. Great words they are, and deserve to be well considered. Observe the root of the idea from which they spring. At the first view it might seem more obvious and natural to say, \u201cLet not man prevail against us;\u201d but he says, \u201cLet not man prevail against Thee.\u201d This is a bold word. It assumes that the Lord\u2019s cause and theirs was so much identified, his honor so much involved in theirs in this matter, that man\u2019s triumph over them would be triumph over him\u2014would compromise the glory of his great name even more than it would compromise theirs. If this notion rested not on strong foundations, it were egregious presumption; but if it were well founded, it was faith. On what, then, was it founded? We are left at no loss in this matter, for Asa himself declares the grounds of this strong, we may almost say daring, claim upon the Lord\u2019s assistance.<\/p>\n
It was the conviction of his utter helplessness, and therefore of the absolute necessity of the Lord\u2019s deliverance, and that all the glory must therefore be his. \u201cLord, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power. Help us, O Lord our God.\u201d This is something. This goes a great way. It is indispensable that we should feel our own helplessness, in order to estimate at its true value the help that maybe given to us. The claim to help is not with him who thinketh that he has need of nothing, or only of a little help just to make out the \u201cpossible insufficiency of his own resources; but with him who feels that he has need of everything\u2014that in himself he has no resources whatever\u2014no works, no worthiness, no strength that may, so to speak, somewhat help the Lord to help him\u2014that old delusion, that old snare, which has in all time kept so many souls from the help they might else have had from God. See that man drowning in the waters, and see that other coming forth from the shore with a strong stroke to save him. See the vain efforts of the first to help himself. He kicks, he struggles, be beats the waters, he rears aloft his arms, he will not be still. He thinks he is helping himself; but all the while he is only doing his utmost to aid his own submersion. If he would be but quiet, in the conviction of the utter impotency of all such attempts to save himself, he might float quietly upon the water until the deliverer came near. Note: A fact, that if a man lie still with his arms below the water, he may float any length of time with his face above the water. Men are drowned by their blind struggles in the effort to save themselves. He is near\u2014he grasps the sufferer by the hair, he holds his head above the wave, and propels him gently on towards the shore. Let not the thought of helping his helper cross his mind, or he is again undone. Let him lie still in the hands of his preserver\u2014let him have faith in his power to save, and that strong arm shall bear him triumphantly through; but if he yet struggles to help himself, and lifts himself up to catch convulsively at every floating straw, there is no help for him\u2014down he goes.<\/p>\n
Asa knew he was in himself helpless, and he knew where to seek an all-sufficient Helper, and he desired to know no more. In this he rested\u2014\u201cWe rest on Thee.\u201d This resting on God was both a cause and an effect. That he was enabled so to rest with undisturbed mind on God, was one of the grounds on which he expected help\u2014\u201cfor we rest on Thee;\u201d and so far it was a cause. But the capacity of enjoying this rest, in leaning so entirely upon the Lord, was an inevitable effect of the previous convictions which he had reached of his own helplessness, and of the boundless sufficiency of his Helper. These things belong to the life of faith, and are essentially the same, whether they have regard to our defence against the innumerable adversaries who disturb or threaten our bodily repose\u2014or the spiritual enemies, within us and without us, that bring danger to our souls. In either case, perfect love to God, and perfect trust in Him, which trust is essential to love, gives rest\u2014casts out all fear and doubt. \u201cHe that feareth is not made perfect in love;\u201d and therefore he has not yet attained to perfect rest. To enjoy this rest, which is the result of perfect love and perfect faith, is a state of inconceivable blessedness, infinitely greater than that of those whom the multitude look up to with envy and admiration. It is the state of the man who can say, in the quaint language of an old poet\u2014<\/p>\n
\u201cThe God that made my heart is He alone<\/p>\n
That of himself both can and will<\/p>\n
Give rest unto my thoughts, and fill<\/p>\n
Them full of all content and quietness;<\/p>\n
That so I may possess<\/p>\n
My soul in patience,<\/p>\n
Until He find it time to call me hence.<\/p>\n
In Thee, as in my centre, shall<\/p>\n
The lines of all my longings fall,<\/p>\n
To Thee, as to mine anchor, surely tied,<\/p>\n
My strip shall safely ride.<\/p>\n
On Thee, as on my bed<\/p>\n
Of soft repose, I\u2019ll rest my weary head.<\/p>\n
Thou, Thou alone, shall be my whole desire<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll nothing else require<\/p>\n
But Thee, or for thy sake. <\/p>\n
In Thee I\u2019ll sleep secure; and, when I wake,<\/p>\n
Thy glorious face shall satisfy<\/p>\n
The longing of my looking eye.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll roll myself on Thee, as on my rock,<\/p>\n
When threatening dangers mock.\u201d\u2014School of the Heart.<\/p>\n
A man who has realized these convictions, and who has attained that state of rest, of reliance, of perfect freedom from all anxiety and care, who is fully clad in the armor of God\u2014his hands are fit for war and his fingers for fight\u2014he goes forth conquering and to conquer all the enemies of his peace, as well those who lurk in the corners of the soul\u2019s dark cottage, as those that beset him round in his open walk, and prowl, and grin, and gibber about his path. He is fearless. Nothing can harm him; for he has that peace with him which all the world\u2019s armies could not wrest from him, which the world\u2019s terrors cannot disturb, which its foul breath cannot sully, and which the raging of its utmost storms can as little ruffle, as it can the \u201csea of glass\u201d before the throne of God.<\/p>\n
It is because that Asa had attained to the state of \u201crest on God,\u201d by which all these privileges became his\u2014that he could say, \u201cIn thy name we go against this multitude.\u201d This was his might. In this might he went, and he overcame. And it was because, feeling his own weakness, knowing where help was to be found, relying, resting upon that help and in that reliance, and in no other, going forth to oppose the Cushean host, that he was entitled and authorized to regard the cause as the Lord\u2019s own, and to say\u2014\u201cO Lord, Thou art our God, let not man prevail against Thee.\u201d<\/p>\n
Autor: JOHN KITTO<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Way of Help\u20142Ch_14:11 O Lord, Thou art our God, let not man prevail against Thee!\u201d These were the words with which king Asa, full of faith, marched against the Cushite host. Great words they are, and deserve to be well considered. Observe the root of the idea from which they spring. At the first … Continue reading ““358. THE WAY OF HELP\u20142 CHRONICLES 14:11””<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16710"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16710\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}