{"id":5860,"date":"2020-11-01T22:24:50","date_gmt":"2020-11-01T22:24:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=5860"},"modified":"2020-11-01T22:24:50","modified_gmt":"2020-11-01T22:24:50","slug":"bulletin-edition-november-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=5860","title":{"rendered":"Bulletin Edition November 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

GLORIOUS ATTRIBUTES AND WAYS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

John MacDuff<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This is the resting place, let the weary rest; and this is\nthe place of repose”\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens, Your\nfaithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,\nYour justice like the great deep. How priceless is Your unfailing love! Both\nhigh and low among men find refuge in the shadow of Your wings. For with You is\nthe fountain of life; in Your light we see light.” Psalm 36:5, 6, 7, 9)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These verses sound like the rustling of many palm-leaves around\nthe wells of the desert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The King of Israel, himself a prince among pilgrims, when he\nwrote this psalm, was probably in the wilderness, not of Sinai, but of\nJudah\u2014near the Dead Sea, from the margin of whose waters wild cliffs rose to\nthe height of 1500 feet. As he gazes up to the heavens, he sees written on\ntheir blue vault, “God is mercy,” “God is love.” He looks\nto the clouds as they gather, gradually dimming and darkening the azure; but he\nsees them spanned with the rainbow of “faithfulness.” He looks to the\nmountains, their tops resting amid these clouds and rainbow-tints; and beholds\nthem radiant with “justice”\u2014stable, immutable uprightness. He gazes\ndown into the depths of the lake, sleeping at their base, and reflecting their\nforms in its calm mirror. He sinks his plummet-line, but in vain! It is too\ndeep to be measured. “Your judgments (Your providential dealings) are\n“a great mystery.” Jehovah’s righteousness, like the great mountains,\nis visible; plain to see. But His judgments are often like the lake beneath.\nTheir unsounded mysteries lie beyond mortal understanding, far down below!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next (ver. 7), as a saint of God, he flees for refuge\n“under the shadow of the Almighty’s wings”\u2014a beautiful emblem of\nsecurity; one used by the Savior Himself, many centuries later, on the occasion\nof His weeping over Jerusalem\u2014”How excellent is Your loving-kindness, O\nGod, therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your\nwings.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, he adds, “You shall make them drink of the river of\nYour pleasures; For with You is the fountain of life.” Another figure\nstill, perhaps, also suggested by a well-known spring which survives to this\nday in that desolate waste, amid the rocks of the wild goats, bursting from a\nshelf or cleft in the mountain\u2014”For with You,” as it has been\nrendered, is the “spring of immortality”\u2014”in Your light we shall\nsee light.” He here speaks not of his present blessings, but of his future\nprospects. He looks forward, anticipating the time when all the past\nirregularities in God’s moral government shall be explained. “We shall see\nlight!” we shall behold Him, not in a glass, darkly; not as now,\n“through the lattice;” but “face to face”\u2014knowing experimentally\nthe reality of His own divine beatitude, “Blessed are the pure in heart,\nfor they shall see God.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The psalm begins with a minor note\u2014”The sinfulness of the\nwicked” (ver. 1). It describes the pang with which the upright believer\nwitnesses the unblushing sin and godlessness around him\u2014speculative infidelity,\npractical atheism\u2014the iniquity, the deceit, the “devising of\nevil”\u2014hatching schemes of ambition and sin in their very beds\u2014the world’s\ncrooked policy, tortuous ways, and unprincipled ends. All this may well fill\nthe righteous with painful care and sadness. But he looks from man, to God. He\nlooks from this surging sea, troubled and restless by waves of human passion\nand discord, to the giant mountains of the Divine faithfulness towering grandly\noverhead. Dominating all, he sees the Divine mercy “in the heavens.”\nJehovah’s mercy in Christ, as a Covenant God, is high above the great flood,\nand the great mountains and the great clouds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this sublime contemplation he rests. He knows\u2014though at times\n“deep may call to deep;” though these hilltops be muffled in angry\ntempests, those heavens darkened with murky vapors\u2014yet the day is\ncoming\u2014”the morning without clouds,” when all shall be made bright\nlike “the clear shining after the rain.” “Righteousness and justice\nare the foundation of His throne.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The impersonation of justice, in the Greek and Roman mythology,\nwith bandaged eyes and equally-balanced scales, was the faint image of a\ngrander truth. “He judges righteous judgment.” “Commit your way\nto the Lord, trust also in Him, and He will do this: He will make your\nrighteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday\nsun!” “By faith,” says one who is now experiencing the sublime\nreality, “you are enabled to say ‘All is well!’ and if a voice could reach\nyou from the Everlasting, would it not re-echo back, ‘All is well’?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

May this lofty psalm, of which these are the keynotes, be sung\nby us, not in the Church of earth alone, but in the Church of the firstborn:\nwhen its beautiful and magnificent imagery will come to be truly\nfulfilled\u2014resting under the shadow of the Heavenly Palm, the shelter and\nsanctuary of Jehovah’s wings; ‘feasting on the abundance of His house,’ and\n‘drinking of the river of His pleasures;’ taking up, through all eternity, the\njoyous strain these opening words suggest\u2014”O give thanks to the Lord for\nHe is good, for His Mercy endures forever!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Blessed day, which hastens fast,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

End of conflict and of sin;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Death itself shall die at last,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heaven’s eternal joys begin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then eternity shall prove,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God is Light, and God is Love!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Continue Your love to those who know You, Your\nrighteousness to the upright in heart.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our refuge!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Joseph Philpot, “An Immutable God<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 and a Strong Consolation” 1866)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 salvation, my stronghold.” Psalm 18:2<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On every side are hosts of enemies ever<\/p>\n\n\n\n

invading our souls, trampling down every<\/p>\n\n\n\n

good thing in our hearts, accompanied by<\/p>\n\n\n\n

a flying troop of temptations, doubts, fears,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

guilt and bondage sweeping over our soul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And we, as regards our own strength, are<\/p>\n\n\n\n

helpless against them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there is a refuge set before us in the<\/p>\n\n\n\n

gospel of the grace of God. The Lord Jesus<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christ, as King in Zion, is there held up<\/p>\n\n\n\n

before our eyes as . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  the Rock of our refuge,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  our strong Tower,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  our impregnable Fortress;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and we are encouraged by every precious promise<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and every gospel invitation when we are overrun<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and distressed by these wandering, ravaging,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

plundering tribes to flee unto and find a safe<\/p>\n\n\n\n

refuge in Him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Keep me safe, O God, for in You I take refuge.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Psalm 16:1<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“O Lord my God, I take refuge in You; save<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 and deliver me from all who pursue me.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Psalm 7:1<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God is our abode, our home!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Charles Spurgeon)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The eternal God is your refuge.” Deuteronomy 33:27<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The word “refuge” may be translated “abiding\nplace”\u2014which gives the thought that God is our abode, our home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a fullness and sweetness in the metaphor, for our home\nis dear to our hearts\u2014although it may be the humblest cottage or the scantiest\ngarret. But dearer far is our blessed God, who is our eternal refuge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is at home that we are safe\u2014here we shut the world out and\ndwell in quiet security. Just so, God is our shelter and retreat\u2014our abiding\nrefuge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is at home that we take our rest\u2014it is there that we find\nrepose after the fatigue and toil of the day. In the same way, our hearts find\nrest in God when, wearied with life’s conflict, we turn to Him, and our soul\ndwells at ease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At home, also, we let our hearts loose\u2014we are not afraid of\nbeing misunderstood nor of our words being misconstrued. Just so, when we are\nwith God\u2014we can commune freely with Him, laying open all our hidden desires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Home, too, is the place of our truest and purest happiness. In\nthe same way, it is in God that our hearts find their deepest delight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“God is our refuge and strength\u2014a very present help in\ntimes of trouble!” Psalm 46:1<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He drank the whole cup!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Letters of John Newton)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in\ntimes of trouble! Therefore we will not be afraid, though the earth trembles\nand the mountains topple into the depths of the seas!” Psalm 46:1-2<\/p>\n\n\n\n

November 2, 1761<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My dear sister,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let us not be greatly discouraged at the many tribulations,\ndifficulties and disappointments which lie in the path which leads to glory.\nOur Lord has plainly told us, that “in this world, you will have many\ntrials and sorrows.” Yet He has also made a suitable provision for every\ncase we can meet with; and is Himself always near to those who call upon Him\u2014as\na sure refuge, an almighty strength, a never-failing, ever-present help in\nevery time of trouble!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus Himself was a man of sorrow, and acquainted with grief for\nour sakes. He drank the whole cup of unmixed wrath for us! Shall we then refuse\nto taste a sip of the cup of affliction at His appointment; especially when His\nwisdom and His love prepare it for us\u2014and He proportions every circumstance to\nour strength; when He puts it into our hands, not in anger\u2014but in tender\nmercy\u2014to do us good, to bring us near to Himself; and when He sweetens every\nbitter sip with those comforts which none but He can give?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All former believers were once as we are now\u2014they had their\nafflictions and their fears, their enemies and temptations; they were exercised\nwith a wicked heart, and a wicked world! Now they are all before the eternal\nthrone of God and the Lamb! While we are sighing\u2014they are singing! While we are\nfighting\u2014they are triumphing!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The time is short\u2014and the world is passing away! All its\ntroubles and all its vanities will soon be at an end! In a little while,\n“we shall see Him as He is!” Every veil will be taken away, every\nseeming frown will be removed from His face\u2014and every tear wiped away from\nours! We shall also be like Him! Even now, when we contemplate His glory as\nshining in the looking-glass of the Gospel\u2014we feel ourselves, in some measure,\ntransformed into His image! What a sudden, wonderful, and abiding change we\nshall then experience\u2014when He shall shine directly, immediately, and eternally\nupon our souls, without one interposing cloud between!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with\nthem. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their\nGod. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or\nmourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”\nRevelation 21:3<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE RECOMPENSE OF TRUST<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

John MacDuff<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This is the resting place, let the weary rest; and this is\nthe place of repose”\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“No one will be condemned who takes refuge in Him.”\nPsalm 34:22<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Judaea Capta,” are the words engraved on the\nwell-known Roman coin, upon which impersonated captive Judah is sitting under\nthe fronds of a desolate palm-tree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beneath the shadow of the Divine Heavenly Palm, the afflicted\nChristian can mingle his pensive sadness with the joyous strain, “He that\ndwells in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the\nAlmighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in\nHim will I trust” (Ps. 91:1, 2).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Trust God.” It is easy for us to do so in sunshine.\nIt is easy to follow our Leader, as Israel did the pillar-cloud, when a\nglorious pathway was opened up for them through the midst of the Red Sea; or\nwhen at Elim they pitched under tapering palm and by gushing spring; or when\nheaven rained down bread on the hungry camp. But it is not so easy to follow\nwhen earthly palms wither and fountains fail, and the pillar ceases to guide,\nand all outward and visible supports are withdrawn. Then, however, is the time\nfor faith to soar! When the world is loud with its atheist sneer\u2014What of\nreligious supports now? THEN is the time to manifest a simple childlike\nconfidence; and, amid baffling dispensations and frowning providences to\nexclaim, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Child of Sickness! bound down for years on a lonely pillow\u2014the\nnight-lamp your companion\u2014disease wasting your cheeks and furrowing your brow,\nweary days and nights appointed you; tell me, where is the God in whom you\ntrust? He is here, is the reply. His presence takes loneliness from my chamber,\nand sadness from my countenance. His promises are a pillow for my aching head,\nthey point me onwards to that better land where the inhabitant shall no more\nsay, “I am sick!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Child of Poverty! where is the God whom you trust? Can He visit\nthis crude dwelling? Can His promises be hung on these broken rafters? Can the\nlight of His Word illumine that cheerless hearth and sustain that bent figure,\nshivering over the smouldering ashes? Yes! He is here. The lips of truth that\nuttered the beatitude, “Blessed are the poor,” have not spoken in\nvain. Bound down by chill poverty, forsaken and forgotten in old age, no\nfootstep of mercy heard on my threshold, no lip of man to drop the kindly word,\nno hand of support to replenish the empty cupboard; that God above has not\ndeserted me. He has led me to seek and lay up my treasure in a home where\npoverty cannot enter, and where the beggar’s hovel is transformed into the\nkingly mansion!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bereaved One! where is the God whom you trust? Where is the Arm\nof Omnipotence you used to lean upon? Has He forgotten to be gracious? Has He\nmocked your prayers by trampling in the dust your dearest and best, and left\nyou to pine and agonize in the bitterness of your desolate heart and home? No,\nHe is here! He has swept down my fond idols, but it was in order that He\nHimself might occupy the vacant place. I know Him too well to question the\nfaithfulness of His word and the fidelity of His dealings. I have never known\nwhat a God He was, until this hour of bitter trial overtook me! There was a\n“need be” in every tear, every deathbed, every grave!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dying One! the closing moments are at hand; the world is\nreceding, the dreaded symptoms of the approaching end are gathering fast round\nyour pillow, the soul is pluming its wings for the immortal flight! Before\nmemory begins to fade and the mind becomes a waste; before the names of friends\nwhen mentioned will only be answered by a dull vacant look, and then the hush\nof awful silence; tell me, before the last lingering ray of consciousness and\nthought has vanished, where is the God whom you trust? He is here! I feel the\neverlasting arms underneath and round about me. Heart and flesh are failing.\nThe mists of death are dimming my eyes to the things below, but they are opening\non the magnificent vistas of eternity. He who has for long been the object of\nfaith’s reliance, will soon be revealed in full vision and fruition.\n“Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Still let me be with Thee, Father,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and ever be Thou with me:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the clouds and tempests gather,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

oh, then, let me trust in Thee:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let me hide in Thy quiet shadow,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

let me dwell in Thy secret shrine,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The home of the souls that love Thee,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the souls that Thou callest Thine!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if any who trace these pages feel themselves still strangers\nto such simple confiding trust; their inward disquieting thought, ‘How can we\npossibly live out these desert privations: that hot desert wind by day, these\ndrenching dews by night? Where can we get food in these dreary leagues of dry\nsand, or find palm-shade and brook among these barren rocks and waterless\nchannels?’ The message to all such is that addressed of old to the desponding\nProphet, who had deserted the palm-tree of Israel and Israel’s God for the\njuniper tree of the desert, “Arise!” God will provide strength for\nthe journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Why are you crying out to Me?” said the Divine voice\nto Moses, when he crouched a skeptic at God’s feet, pointing to the barrier\nmountains behind and the raging sea in front\u2014”Tell the Israelites to move\non!”\u2014’Up, do My bidding; and you shall see how I can make My way in the\nsea, and My path in the mighty waters.’ “Forward!” said the rebuked\nhero, clasping the rod of faith which had been lying forgotten at his side, and\nrising in the might of Jehovah. Forward they did go; and what was their\nconfession and anthem on the opposite shore?\u2014”Your right hand, O Lord, was\nmajestic in power; Your right hand, O Lord, shattered the enemy.” “At\nYour rebuke, O God of Jacob, both horse and chariot lie still.” “O\nLord God of hosts, who is a strong God like You? You rule over the surging sea:\nwhen its waves mount up, You still them!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“If you could trust, poor soul,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Him who rules the whole,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You would find peace and rest;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wisdom and sight are well, but trust is best.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the\nglory of God?”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

GLORIOUS ATTRIBUTES AND WAYS John MacDuff “This is the resting place, let the weary rest; and this is the place of repose”\u2014 “Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens, Your faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, Your justice like the great deep. How priceless is Your unfailing love! Both […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bulletin-editions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5860"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5860\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5861,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5860\/revisions\/5861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}