[Ohio-Communities-of-Faith] FW: [CWWC] A Lord's Day Snippet (Good one)

Sun Feb 13 19:05:00 UTC 2022

From: committed-walk-with-Christ at groups.io [mailto:committed-walk-with-Christ at groups.io] On Behalf Of Penny Golden via groups.io
Sent: Sunday, February 13, 2022 9:01 AM
To: committed-walk-with-Christ at groups.io
Subject: EXT: [CWWC] A Lord's Day Snippet (Good one)

A Lord’s Day Snippet!

Biblical And Southern Studies

H. Rondel Rumburg, ThM, DMin

299

Incarnate God! the soul that knows

Thy name’s mysterious power

Shall dwell in undisturbed repose,

Nor fear the trying hour.

Thy wisdom, faithfulness and love,

To feeble helpless worms;

A buckler and a refuge prove,

>From enemies and storms.

In vain the fowler spreads his net,

To draw them from thy care;

Thy timely call instructs their feet,

To shun the artful snare.

When like a baneful pestilence,

Sin mows its thousands down

On every side, without defence,

Thy grace secures thine own.

No midnight terrors haunt their bed,

No arrow wounds by day;

Unhurt on serpents they shall tread,

If found in duty’s way.

Angels, unseen, attend the saints,

And bear them in their arms;

To cheer the spirit when it faints,

And guard the life from harms.

The angels’ Lord, himself is nigh,

To them that love his name;

Ready to save them when they cry,

And put their foes to shame.

Crosses and changes are their lot,

Long as they sojourn here;

But since their Savior changes not,

What have the saints to fear?

John Newton (1725-1807)

Thou Shalt Not Be Afraid

“Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; 

nor for the arrow that flieth by day; 

Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; 

nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.”

Psalm 91:5-6

There is a beautiful display of pictorial language used in Psalm 91 by the Psalmist through the Holy Spirit’s guidance. Obviously, the LORD does not want His children afraid of their shadows when He would have them dwelling in the secret place of Him the most High and abiding under His Almighty  shadow (v. 1). Those who truly trust in the Lord and rely upon Him shall know His protection. In this passage our God stipulates that we are not to be afraid of the extremes of nocturnal assaults or attacks in broad daylight. Then there is the personification: Pestilence is creeping about in the dark and Destruction is bringing on violence at noonday. We need to contemplate this! Why? “Fear hath torment” (1 John 4:18) which means fear is a torturous thing for it anticipates pain. Fear will rob you of your humanity. No, “the LORD … is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in Him will I trust” (v. 2).

Our great God who is the most High and the Almighty covers us with His feathers, so that under His wings we may trust; He reveals to us His truth which is to also be our shield and buckler (v. 4). Spurgeon noted that it would be sacrilege if a man came up with such an expression. Our God presents this picture of Himself as a hen covering her chicks; this portrays the Lord’s protection of His own. These wings as it were hide His children safety from dangers and thus provide protection. Yes, under His wings four blessings are conferred upon us: there we are concealed from the notice of the enemy lion going about seeking to devour; there we are protected from the attack of the spiritual birds of prey, for they are the power of the air; there we find a healthful shade which refreshes us from the overpowering heat of the spiritual conflict; there also we are nourished with spiritual benefits only He can provide.

How can the Lord’s children not be afraid for the terror by night or the arrow that flies by day? David Dickson, the Puritan, penned, “The true remedy against tormenting fear is faith in God; for many terrible things may befall men when they are most secure, like unto those which befall men in the night: but for any harm which may befall the believer this way, the Lord here wills him to be nothing afraid.” The question is, “Am I under the shadow of the Almighty?” Also, “Am I trusting myself under the shadow of His wings?” Then “thou shalt not be afraid!”

“Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night, nor for the arrow that flieth by day.” John Knox, the minister of the gospel so greatly used by God in Scotland during the Reformation there, was the object of the evil intentions of many enemies. He had many surprising escapes from the murderous designs of false religionists. He was accustomed to sit at the head of the table in his own home, with his back to the window. On one specific evening, however, he providentially was compelled to not sit in that place, nor would he allow anyone else to sit there. That very night a bullet was shot through the window purposely to kill him; it grazed the chair in which he usually sat and made a hole in the foot of the candlestick.

Charles H. Spurgeon related a personal account of his trust in the Lord, he wrote, “In the year 1854, when I had scarcely been in London twelve months, the neighborhood in which I laboured was visited by Asiatic cholera, and my congregation suffered from its inroads. Family after family summoned me to the bedside of the smitten, and almost every day I was called to visit the grave. I gave myself up with youthful ardor to the visitation of the sick, and was sent for from all corners of the district by persons of all ranks and religions. I became weary in body and sick at heart. My friends seemed falling one by one, and I felt or fancied that I was sickening like those around me. A little more work and weeping would have laid me low among the rest; I felt that my burden was heavier than I could bear, and I was ready to sink under it. As God would have it, I was returning mournfully home from a funeral, when my curiosity led me to read a paper which was … in a shoemaker's window in the Dover Road. It did not look like a trade announcement, nor was it, for it bore in a good bold handwriting these words: - “Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling” (Ps. 91:9-10). The effect upon my heart was immediate. Faith appropriated the passage as her own. I felt secure, refreshed, girt with immortality. I went on with my visitation of the dying in a calm and peaceful spirit; I felt no fear of evil, and I suffered no harm. The providence which moved the tradesman to place those verses in his window I gratefully acknowledge, and in the remembrance of its marvelous power I adore the Lord my God.” Yes, Spurgeon realized anew that all things good, bad, or indifferent work together for good to those who love God. Oh, that we should have the same realization!

_._,_._,_

  _____  

Groups.io Links: 

You receive all messages sent to this group. 

View/Reply Online (#10026) <https://groups.io/g/committed-walk-with-Christ/message/10026>  | Reply To Group <mailto:committed-walk-with-Christ at groups.io?subject=Re:%20%5BCWWC%5D%20A%20Lord%27s%20Day%20Snippet%20%28Good%20one%29>  | Reply To Sender <mailto:pengold2 at gmail.com?subject=Private:%20Re:%20%5BCWWC%5D%20A%20Lord%27s%20Day%20Snippet%20%28Good%20one%29>  | Mute This Topic <https://groups.io/mt/89113330/21951>  | New Topic <https://groups.io/g/committed-walk-with-Christ/post> 

  _____  

Questions, concerns, suggestions? Contact us
Group owner
Email: committed-walk-with-Christ+owner at groups.io 

  _____  

Your Subscription <https://groups.io/g/committed-walk-with-Christ/editsub/21951>  | Contact Group Owner <mailto:committed-walk-with-Christ+owner at groups.io>  | Unsubscribe <https://groups.io/g/committed-walk-with-Christ/leave/9118772/21951/542639078/xyzzy>  [mmoore11 at kent.edu]

_._,_._,_

CAUTION: EXTERNAL SENDER Do not click any links, open any attachments, or REPLY to the message unless you trust the sender and know the content is safe. 

-- 
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/ohio-communities-of-faith_nfbnet.org/attachments/20220213/c3840ea6/attachment.html>