Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Thou Wilt Revive Me

"Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me" (Ps. 138:7).

The Hebrew rendering of the above is "go on in the center of trouble." What descriptive words! We have called on God in the day of trouble; we have pleaded His promise of deliverance but no deliverance has been given; the enemy has continued oppressing until we were in the very thick of the fight, in the center of trouble. Why then trouble the Master any further?
When Martha said, "Lord, if thou hadst been here my brother had not died," our Lord met her lack of hope with His further promise, "Thy brother shall rise again." And when we walk "in the center of trouble" and are tempted to think like Martha that the time of deliverance is past, He meets us too with a promise from His Word. "Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me."

Though His answer has so long delayed, though we may still continue to "go on" in the midst of trouble, "the center of trouble" is the place where He revives, not the place where He fails us.

When in the hopeless place, the continued hopeless place, is the very time when He will stretch forth His hand against the wrath of our enemies and perfect that which concerneth us, the very time when He will make the attack to cease and fail and come to an end. What occasion is there then for fainting? --Aphra White

THE EYE OF THE STORM

"Fear not that the whirlwind shall carry thee hence,
Nor wait for its onslaught in breathless suspense,
Nor shrink from the whips of the terrible hail,
But pass through the edge to the heart of the gale,
For there is a shelter, sunlighted and warm,
And Faith sees her God through the eye of the storm.
"The passionate tempest with rush and wild roar
And threatenings of evil may beat on the shore,
The waves may be mountains, the fields battle plains,
And the earth be immersed in a deluge of rains,
Yet, the soul, stayed on God, may sing bravely its psalm,
For the heart of the storm is the center of calm.
"Let hope be not quenched in the blackness of night,
Though the cyclone awhile may have blotted the light,
For behind the great darkness the stars ever shine,
And the light of God's heavens, His love shall make thine,
Let no gloom dim thine eyes, but uplif t them on high
To the face of thy God and the blue of His sky.
"The storm is thy shelter from danger and sin,
And God Himself takes thee for safety within;
The tempest with Him passeth into deep calm,
And the roar of the winds is the sound of a psalm.
Be glad and serene when the tempest clouds form;
God smiles on His child in the eye of the Storm”.

Compiled by Mrs. Charles Cowman taken from "Streams in the Desert"

Bible Reading:

Beginning to End: Genesis 38-40
Old and New Testaments Together: Genesis 31-32 & Matthew 9:18-38
Historical: Genesis 38-40
Chronological: Job 35-37
Blended: Genesis 31-32 & Romans 11:1-18

The Bible reading guides will be taken from Back to the Bible

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

That's funny, I loved that scene too, but a different part stood out to me there! I loved how Lucy said she had seen Aslan, but she was afraid to follow him because no one else would go with her. That's pretty powerful and true to us ... most of the time we want to follow God, but we don't because we are too afraid to go at it alone. Great movie all around!!