The Ripening Self

But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.—1 Peter 5:10

Charles Simeon, the 19^th century English preacher, in his early years of ministry, was a harsh and self-assertive man. One day he was visiting a friend, Henry Venn, who was pastor in a nearby village. When he left to go home, Venn's daughters complained to their father about his manner.

Venn took the girls to the backyard and said, “Pick me one of those peaches, he said. It was early summer, and the peaches were green. The girls asked why he wanted green, unripe fruit. Venn replied, "Well, my dears, it is green now, and we must wait; but a little more sun, and a few more showers, and the peach will be ripe and sweet. So it is with Mr. Simeon.”

Simeon, in due time, came to know himself and his arrogance. The warmth of God’s love and the “showers” of opposition, misunderstanding, misrepresentation, disappointment, and frustration that he experienced became the means by which he “grew downward in humility and upward in adoration” as he put it. He became a gentle, humble man.

So the God of all grace works his enchantment on all his children, humbling the proud and exalting the humble, to make them ripe and sweet. Our task is to take hold of God’s grace to endure our afflictions with patience and tranquility, meeting our troubles without growing weary or running away.

In time he will “perfect, establish, strengthen and settle you.” us. “Take courage, and wait for the Lord” (Ps. 26:14).

David Roper

Water from the Flint

Who turned the rock into a pool of water, 

The flint into a fountain of waters—Psalm 114:8

This song is set against the backdrop of Israel’s wandering in the wilderness and an occasion on which God drew water from a rock (Numbers 20:1-11; Deuteronomy 8:15). Here, the poet underscores the fact that the rock was a massive piece of flint.

Flint is a hard, non-porous quartz, a highly improbable source of water, yet “(God) opened the rock, and water gushed out; it flowed through the desert like a river” (Psalm 105:41).

God delights in serendipity! He can turn the least promising situation into a source of deep satisfaction and joy. 

We face hard stuff every day: stubborn people, unyielding circumstances, intractable physical challenges—whatever. These can be provocations to useless complaining, or opportunities for God to reveal His love.

God’s love doesn't mean that He necessarily takes our difficulties away; it does mean that He gives grace to make our way through them. He gives us all the help we need. All we have to do is ask.  “Speak to the rock.” God said.

Paul saw the rock as a “spiritual” rock, an allegory: “(Israel) drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and the Rock was Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:4). His point? Hard stuff is always with us...but so is Jesus.

Facing a hard task today? Help is at hand. Ask for it. “There is no rock like our God” (1 Samuel 2:2).

I will pour water on him that is thirsty,

I will pour floods upon the dry ground;

Open your hearts for the gifts I am bringing;

While you are seeking Me, I will be found. —Lucy Meyer

David Roper

5/7/17

The Last Laugh

“Unextinguished laughter shakes the skies.”—Homer

1.   When the Lord brought back the captivity of Zion,

We were like those who dream.

2.   Then our mouth was filled with laughter,

And our tongue with shots of joy.

3.   Bring back our captivity (Do it again!), O Lord,

As the streams in the South.

4.   Those who sow in tears

Shall reap in joy.

5.   He who continually goes out weeping,

Bearing seed for sowing,

6.   Shall doubtless come in with shouts of laughter,

Bringing his sheaves with him. —Psalm 126:1-6

In the first stanza of this psalm (1,2) the poet looks back to an historic, unnamed deliverance from famine, plague, or siege. God “brought back” His people from captivity, a deliverance that prompted “shouts of joy.” Tears and sorrow were turned into laughter.

Memories of past joy engender a call for deliverance from present sorrow so that the psalmist and his people may laugh again (3,4). Can it be that occasions of mirth and laughter here on earth are a preamble to that great guffaw when we finally “come in”?

Life is hard; we “go out” weeping, bearing our burdens of sorrow and disappointment (5,6). But one day we shall come in, and then we will see what God has "prepared for all those who love Him" (1 Corinthians 2:9).

Then our sides will split with laughter!

David Roper

5.4.17