“Many a time they have afflicted me
from my youth;
Yet they have not prevailed against
me.
The plowers plowed on my back;
They made their furrows long.”
Psalm 129:2-3
The farmers here have begun making long furrows.
Lord, help us trust our deep afflicted places to you, that You may plant good in them. And here’s a simple poem . . .
It intrigues me as I think of how much we need each other. For most of my life, it seems the opposite was true. I thought I needed my independence, to be entirely self-reliant and to be bolder and more assertive.
But much of my struggle, through health and mental crisis’, through the death of a child, really has broken a strong back of this resolve. The question I hear now from the Lord; isn’t how strong are you– but rather, how weak are you?
“The Sovereign Lord has given me his words of wisdom, so that I know how to comfort the weary. Morning by morning he wakens me and opens my understanding to his will. 5 The Sovereign Lord has spoken to me, and I have listened. I have not rebelled or turned away.”
Isaiah 50:4-5, NLT
“The Lord God has given Me the tongue of disciples” is the NASB translation of verse 4. It is a serious mistake if we see ‘discipleship’ as a solitary endeavor. Instead, it is like the connective tissue that surrounds our muscles. The body needs to unite efforts, activities, ideas, and purposes through our combined discipleship.
Isaiah 50 advances this idea. The simple picture is of a person sleeping who is suddenly awake. Lying in bed, they start to listen. It’s not the birds singing. It is God speaking. And not only is there a gentle voice, but accompanying it is wisdom and grace to unleash what has been said. And that is an art that we must learn.
“The weary” are everywhere, but typically you share with just two or three. But the right words, at the right time, with a perfect wisdom can really rock. Lives can be turned with just a word.
“Dost thou know, O saint, how much the Holy Spirit loves thee?”
“Me? I can’t imagine why. I’m the chief of sinners. I’m rotten to the core. I can bring nothing at all to Him.”
“Canst thou measure the love of the Spirit? Dost thou know how great is the affection of his soul towards thee?”
“So you say. But I really can’t see why He would. I want to believe, I really do. I can only be a liability. My sin is heavy.”
“Go measure heaven with thy span; go weigh the mountains in the scales; go take the ocean’s water, and tell each drop; go count the sand upon the sea’s wide shore; and when thou hast accomplished this, thou canst tell how much he loveth thee.”
“If this is true, then perhaps maybe I am worth something, I suppose. But frankly, my imagination staggers just trying to grasp this.”
“He has loved thee long, he has loved thee well, he loved thee ever, and he still shall love thee; surely he is the person to comfort thee, because he loves.”
“This kind of love is fantastically amazing, isn’t it. I must try to tell others what has happened to me.”
*
From the Daily Help Devotional, and my imagination.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-92) was England’s best-known preacher for most of the second half of the nineteenth century. In 1854, just four years after his conversion, Spurgeon, then only 20, became pastor of London’s famed New Park Street Church (formerly pastored by the famous Baptist theologian John Gill). The congregation quickly outgrew their building, moved to Exeter Hall, then to Surrey Music Hall. In these venues Spurgeon frequently preached to audiences numbering more than 10,000—all in the days before electronic amplification. In 1861 the congregation moved permanently to the newly constructed Metropolitan Tabernacle.
Spurgeon’s printed works are voluminous, and those provided here are only a sampling of his best-known works, including his magnum opus, The Treasury of David. Nearly all of Spurgeon’s printed works are still in print and available from Pilgrim Publications, PO Box 66, Pasadena, TX USA 77501.
The healing of the paralyzed man is loaded with lessons for us. He lies motionless on his pallet, unable to move. His incredible and loyal friends have dedicated themselves to getting him into Jesus’ presence. But the house is full; its beyond standing room only, they can’t get close. They are desperate. Jesus is so near, they can hear Him teach, and yet so far away.
One of them has a wild idea. They will lower him down into the room from the roof! Energized by this thought they put the plan into action. I can just see them, working feverishly. When the hole is big enough, they carefully lower the paralyzed man down slowly. We read that, “Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the man, “Young man, your sins are forgiven.” (Luke 5:20).
Example of 3D without glasses
God can see faith. It is invisible to us, and takes a special work of grace for us to do so. It is not an easy thing to see faith. If you go downtown to watch a movie in 3-D the attendant will issue you special glasses. With them everything is enhanced.
The Lord sees faith, and responds in kind. His powers of perception and discernment are advanced far beyond our puny human efforts. But God is pleased when we show our faith by our works. They fascinate Him and He delights when His children prove a living faith by actions. Our faith can only be seen by what we do.
The faith of the paralyzed man, and the faith of his friends makes them fluorescent in a black & white world. It jumps out to Jesus, and it is hard to see anything else. Faith stands out, and it cannot be hid.
There is so much here in Luke 5, so many lessons and so much wisdom. Much of it lies at the surface, and can be picked up like gold nuggets. I think that I could preach six months on this chapter alone. It is that good.
Spurgeon’s printed works are voluminous, and those provided here are only a sampling of his best-known works, including his magnum opus, 
Broken Believers 