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From Samuel Rutherford's Letters:
Build your nest upon no tree here; for ye see God hath sold the forest to death; and every tree whereupon we would rest is ready to be cut down, to the end we may fly and mount up, and build upon the Rock, and dwell in the holes of the Rock.
What ye love besides Jesus, your husband, is an adulterous lover. Now it is God's special blessing to Judah, that He will not let her find her paths in following her strange lovers. 'Therefore, behold I will hedge up thy way with thorns and make a wall that she shall not find her paths. And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them' (Hos. 2.6-7). O thrice happy Judas, when God buildeth a double stone wall betwixt her and the fire of hell!
The world, and the things of the world, Madam, is the lover ye naturally affect beside your own husband Christ. The hedge of thorns and the wall which God buildeth in your way, to hinder you from this lover, is the thorny hedge of daily grief, loss of children, weakness of body, iniquity of the time, uncertainty of estate, lack of worldly comfort, fear of God's anger for old unrepented-of sins.
What lose ye, if God twist and plait the hedge daily thicker? God be blessed, the Lord will not let you find your paths. Return to your first husband. Do not weary, neither think that death walketh towards you with a slow pace. Ye must be riper ere ye be shaken. Your days are no longer than Job's, that were 'swifter than a post, and passed away as the ships of desire, and as the eagle that hasteth for the prey'.
There is less sand in your glass now than there was yesternight. This span-length of ever-posting time will soon be ended. But the greater is the mercy of God, the more years ye get to advise, upon what terms, and upon what conditions, ye cast your soul in the huge gulf of never-ending eternity.
The Lord hath told you what ye should be doing till He come; 'wait and hasten (saith Peter,) for the coming of the Lord'; all is night that is here, in respect of ignorance and daily ensuing troubles, one always making way to another, as the ninth wave of the sea to the tenth; therefore sigh and long for the dawning of that morning, and the breaking of that day of the coming of the Son of man, when the shadows shall flee away.
Persuade yourself the King is coming; read His letter sent before Him, 'Behold, I come quickly.' Wait with the wearied night-watch for the breaking of the eastern sky, and think that you have not a morrow. I am loath to weary you; show yourself a Christian, by suffering without murmuring; -- in patience possess your soul: they lose nothing who gain Christ. I commend you to the mercy and grace of our Lord Jesus.
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3 comments:
I've been coming back to read this every day. I'm one who can easily get lost in the details on the bark of the trees and miss my way out of the woods. The bark on the tree that stumped me was God selling the forrest to death. I feel like a little kid wanting to say, "Don't you say that about my Daddy! He wouldn't do that! He wouldn't sell anything or anybody to death! You stop it right now!!!" And then I'd want to point to Adam with my lip quivering and say, "He did it!"
I know, I know, I missed the whole point. It's one of those little defective parts in me that needs to either be replaced or tuned to the right position. Lord Jesus, help me!!!
"The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away...blessed be the name of the Lord." What a challenge it is to see loss, grief, and suffering as blessings. Makes me really think about my "Bless me, Lord." prayers...!
Thank you, Trinka. I knew I was supposed to visit your blog, soon.
Glory
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