MEDITATE ON GOD'S FAITHFULNESS
"To them that have their mind fettered to the body as a thief's foot is to a pair of stocks, it is hard to die."
Be careful, Christian, to practice this duty of meditation. Do not just chat with the promise in passing; but like Abraham with the angels, invite it to stay in your tent door so you can enjoy it fully. This is how saints through the centuries have caused their faith to triumph over the most tragic troubles. "My beloved," said the women, "shall lie all night betwixt my breasts" (Song of Solomon 1:13). In other words, when sorrows press in to cause fear she will spend the night meditating on the love and loneliness of Jesus, on His beauty and tenderness toward her. When you have learned to do this you will not feel the severity of affliction any more than you feel the bitter cold of a north wind as you wait by a glowing fireplace.
Julius Palmer, an English martyr, shared how he lifted his thoughts above suffering by heavenly meditation on God's "great and precious promises": "To them that have their mind fettered to the body as a thief's foot is to a pair of stocks, it is hard to die. But if any be able to separate his soul from his body, then by the help of God's Spirit, it is no more mastery for such a one than to drink this cup." A soul in heaven feels none of the struggles we have here on earth. Here, Christian, is the most glorious picture to be seen this side of heaven!
When a Christian can stand upon this
Pisgah of
meditation and look with the eye of
faith across the
panorama of the great and precious
things which the
faithful God has prepared for him, it is
easy to turn
from the world's love and rejection
alike. But it is
hard for some of us to get up there
because we get
tired after only a few steps of climbing
towards
God's mount. That is when we must call
out, "Lead me
to the rock that is higher than I." Who
will lift us
up to this holy hill of meditation,
higher than the
surging waves that dash upon us from
beneath? God's
Spirit will pick us up in His
everlasting arms and
take us there.
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