{"id":780,"date":"2011-07-15T03:21:36","date_gmt":"2011-07-15T03:21:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=780"},"modified":"2011-07-15T03:21:36","modified_gmt":"2011-07-15T03:21:36","slug":"the-abiding-friend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=780","title":{"rendered":"THE ABIDING FRIEND"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/strong>\u201cI will never leave you, nor forsake you.\u201d\u00a0Hebrews 13:5<\/a>
\nNo human friend can say so. The closest and dearest of earthly links may be broken, yes! have been broken. Distance may part, time estrange, and the grave separate. Loving earthly looks may only greet you now in mute smiles from the portrait on the wall. But here is an unfainting, unvarying, unfailing Friend. Sorrowing one! amid the wreck of earthly joys which you may be even bewailing, here is a message sent from your God, \u201cI will never leave you, nor forsake you!\u201d Your gourd has withered, but He who gave it you remains! Surrender yourself to His disposal. He wishes to show you His present sufficiency for your happiness. As often your heart in silence and sadness weaves its plaintive lament, \u201cJoseph is not, and Simeon is not!\u201d think of Him who has promised to set \u201cthe solitary in families\u201d (Psalm 68:6<\/a>) and to \u201cgive unto them a name and a place better than of sons or of daughters!\u201d Alone! you are not alone! Turn in self-oblivion to Jesus. It is not, it cannot be \u201cnight,\u201d if He, \u201cthe Sun of your soul,\u201d be ever near! In the morning, He comes with the earliest beam that visits your chamber. When the curtains of night close around you, He, to whom \u201cthe darkness and the light are both alike,\u201d is at your side! In the stillness of night, when in your wakeful moments, the visions of the departed flit before you like shadows on the wall, He, the sleepless Shepherd of Israel, is tending your couch, and whispering in your ear, \u201cFear not, for I am with you!\u201d
\nYour experience may be that of Paul, \u201cAll forsook me!\u201d But, like him, also, you will doubtless, be able to add in the extremity of your sorrow, \u201cNevertheless, The Lord stood with me, and strengthened me!\u201d He can compensate by His own loving presence, for every earthly loss. Without the consciousness of His friendship and love, the smallest trial will crush you. With Him in your trial, supporting and sustaining you under it, (yes, coming in the place of those you mourn), you will have an infinite and inexhaustible portion, in the place of a finite and mutable one. Many a cloud is there without a Rainbow in Nature; but never in Grace. Every sorrow has its corresponding and counterpart Comfort. \u201cIn the multitude of the sorrows that I had in my heart, your comforts have refreshed my soul\u201d (Psalm 94:19<\/a>). If in the midnight of your grief your earthly sun appears to have set forever, an inner, but not less real sunshine, lights up your stricken heart. The stream of life may have been poisoned at its source, but blessed be His name if it has driven you to say, \u201cAll my springs are in YOU!\u201d \u201cThe Lord is my portion, says my soul, therefore will I hope in Him!\u201d<\/p>\n

John MacDuff 1849<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI will never leave you, nor forsake you.\u201d\u00a0Hebrews 13:5 No human friend can say so. The closest and dearest of earthly links may be broken, yes! have been broken. Distance may part, time estrange, and the grave separate. Loving earthly looks may only greet you now in mute smiles from the portrait on the wall. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54,61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-author-john-macduff","category-believers-assurance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780","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=780"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":782,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780\/revisions\/782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}