THE BORDER LAND

 

THE BORDER LAND

"...the time of my departure is at hand.  2 Timothy 4:6

Aged Christian, thy day is far spent, thy journey is nearly ended.

The greatest part of the wilderness is behind thee.

Thou hast traveled many a weary mile, and hast spent many a sorrowful day.

But thou hast not much farther to go.

 Thou hast not many more days to spend here.

Thou art just on the edge of the wilderness, on the borders of the promised land.

 Soon, very soon, thy Lord will send his messenger, to call thee home.

The year of release is just at hand.

Do not, therefore, give way to fear.

Do not hang down your head like a bulrush, but look up, for thy redemption draweth nigh.

 

 Let us talk together a little of the past, the present, and the future; and let us try and comfort one another with God's own precious words.

 

We have not much time left, let us not waste it!

We have not far to go, let us not loiter.

 We are in the border country, let us expect visits from "THE BETTER LAND." 

We are hastening from danger and a country that is doomed; let us not look back!

Every step now brings us sensibly nearer home.

Every hour tells, and the last hour will soon be here.

 

Let us attend to the Apostle's admonition,

"This I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none; And they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not; And they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away. But I would have you without carefulness.”

Anxiety about temporal things does not befit us now.

The world is to us like an inn, where we lodge tonight, but shall leave it tomorrow!

"The world passes away; but he who does the will of God abides forever." 

JAMES SMITH 1869

Still Waters Devotional

 

PEACE WITH GOD

 
January 3.
 
The Lord of peace himself give you peace 

   always by all means.
                            II Thessalonians 3:16
 

By thy passion on the tree,

Let my grief and trouble cease;

O remember Calvary,

And give me holy peace.

 
Peace with God is an invaluable blessing;
  it flows from the atonement,
  and is the antidote for human misery.
 
James Smith

SEARCH O LORD

 

January 2.

Search me, O God, and know my heart:
  try me, and know my thoughts.  Psalms 139 23
 

Search, O Lord, and cleanse, and save us;

Heal us by thy power divine;

Burst the bonds that here enslaves us,

That we may be wholly thine.

 
An honest heart will expose itself to God's all searching eye,
 and desire to be examined as well as cleansed and comforted.
 
James Smith

 

JANUARY 1.
 
LORD, let it alone this year also. Luke 13:8
 

Lord, melt our hearts to mourn the past,

   And let us henceforth faithful be ;

And if this year should be our last,

  O may our souls repose with thee.

 
The intercession of Jesus brings down innumerable blessings upon us; and it is employed for us tonight; let us, therefore, look up to an interceding Savour, and expect blessings from his hands.

THERE HATH NOT FAILED ONE WORD OF ALL HIS GOOD PROMISE.

 

 
There hath not failed one word of all his good promise.
I Kings 8:56
 
THIS is the day of review;
  let us look back.
 
This is the day to compare God's conduct with God's promises.
 
He has kept his promise in his eye every day of this year,
  though we have often lost sight of it.
 
We have been unbelieving,
  but he has been faithful.
 
We have backslidden,
  but he has kept his covenant with us.
 
We have ten thousand times deserved his wrath,
  but here we are, the monuments of his mercy.
 
What forbearance he has shown,
  what patient he has exercise,
  what sympathy he has manifested;
    how true to his character,
    how faithful to his word,
    how tender to our souls, he has been.
 
We have failed in almost every point;
  but he has not failed in one;
  we have broken our word a thousand times;
  but he has never broken his once.
 
Not one thing hath failed of all that he had promised.
 
In temporals, our bread has been given us,
  and our water has been sure.
 
In spirituals, he has pardoned our sins,
  revived our graces,
  corrected our follies,
  restored our souls,
  born are manners, and
    manifested a Father’s love.
 
Beloved, is not God true?
 
Has he not been faithful?
 
Ought we not to trust him?

 

Let suns or stars forget to rise,

Or quit their stations in the skies;

Let heaven and earth both pass away,

Eternal truth shall ne’er decay.

 

James Smith 1849

HE STAGGERED NOT AT THE PROMISE OF GOD

 
 
DECEMBER 30.
 
He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief.
Romans 4:20
 
IF Abraham did not, we have:
  yet we have far less reason than he had.
 
The promises are given to us of free grace.
 
They are supported by the holiness and immutability of God.
 
They demand our credit and confidence.
 
But, through unbelief, we often object, or dispute;
  they are too great, or too good for us.
 
They are for eminent persons,
  not for such poor, sinful, unworthy creatures as we are.
 
It is not probable that they will ever be fulfilled in our experience.
 
This is unbelief.
 
This is staggering.
 
Now we are all unsteady; and
  this affects our hope,
  our prayers, and
  our obedience;
  for steady faith is the root of lively hope,
   fervent prayer, and evangelical obedience.
 
Unbelief draws all its arguments from sense,
  reason, appearances, circumstances, or delays.
 
But faith should take God's promises
  as the gift of God's grace,
  hold it fast, because God is faithful; and
  expects its fulfillment, because God is true.
 
Let us watch against unbelief,
  which dishonours God, and distresses us.
 
Let us seek faith from God,
  that we may exercise faith in God; and
  let a set Abraham before us as our example.

 

Faith has for its foundation broad

A stable rock, on which I stand,

The truth and faithfulness of God;

All other ground is sinking sand.

 
James Smith 1849