OF late I’ve been making note of and enjoying what I call “little providences,” small providential events some might call an interesting coincidence, which I believe ought not to go unnoted for what they truly are. We like it when we can survey the hand of providence on the stage of large scale important events, but I like noting little whispers in the wind that remind me that all the affairs of life “don’t just happen,” even the seemly insignificant.
FOR example, I recall a particular Lord’s Day when I was teaching a Sunday school class on Holiness and at the end of my lesson notes was a comment, “We have met the enemy, and he is us.” I didn’t utter that comment, instead running out of class time I ended the class in prayer and we all headed off to the worship service.
LATER, during the morning worship service, mid-message our pastor said, I don’t recall who said it but his words fit here, “We have met the enemy, and he is us!” At that point I wanted to bolt from my seat and shout “Walt Kelly’s character Pogo!” I didn’t of course, but this is not the first time that I or one on my fellow elders have had something said or commented on during a Sunday school or bible class repeated and reinforced later in the Pastor’s message, or a later devotion or conversation.
I COULD give other examples, but I bring this to the fore for two reasons: 1) to challenge you to start looking for, noting and recording your own, “little providential events” – you might be quite amazed and blessed in the process. And 2) “We have met the enemy, and he is us” brings me back to my line of thought from last comment regarding Isa. 30:15c: “But you would not.”
RETURNING to our look at Isa 30:15, again this is a precious promise and proposition with an abrupt rebuke.
“In returning and rest you shall be saved;
In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.”
But you would not,
As I have previously noted, the verse does not end with a period but a comma. There is more to be told, and what is told is a coming to an end of self into the gracious, patient God, waiting to bless:
Therefore the Lord will wait, that He may be gracious to you;
And therefore He will be exalted, that He may have mercy on you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
Blessed are all those who wait for Him. Isa 30:18
WE are a stubborn lot. Indeed, Walt Kelly’s Pago is right, “We have met the enemy, and he is us.” But we serve a Redeemer King, and the promise stands: “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength.” – “Blessed are all those who wait for Him.”
WITH that, I close here with another reading from None But the Hungary Heart 1.7 – Christ Confidence.
In the inexorable riches of Christ,
Joe
Neh. 8:10; Isa 30:15; Job 2:10; Jas. 1:2; Prov. 21:30
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1-27. Christ – Confidence
“For we worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh” (Phil. 3:3).
Contrary to general opinion, there is no place for self-confidence in the Christian life. Confidence is essential, but not from the source of self. The awakened believer is so keenly aware of the sinful self-life that, for him, self- confidence is out of the question. In time, his “O wretched man” complex is replaced by “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 7:24, 25). Christ-confidence is the basis for the healthy Christian’s walk. Sinful self-confidence is the basis for the sickly Christian’s defeat.
“Our Father takes all things from under our feet until we have nothing left but Him. God has always the highest goal in view, namely, to lead us into the denial of self. Everything is directed toward teaching us to entrust ourselves to Him. Therefore we must often suffer defeat. You fight with all your might against sin and find yourself surrounded by failure. You pray fervently and sincerely: ‘O God, help me and stay by me.’ But it seems that He does not hear. You cry yet more earnestly for help, but He seems to have no concern for you. Is He then really merciless? No! Just because He is merciful, He cannot help you. If He did, you would not be free from your self-confidence; you would not learn to fight the good fight of faith and thus obtain the victory which the Master has won; you would not learn to say ‘the Lord Jesus only,’ but you would still continue to say ‘Jesus and I.’”
“For the Lord shall be thy confidence” (Prov. 3.26).
