WITH the mind at rest regarding the past, and the heart reveling in the consciousness of being at peace with God, you may have entertained the thought that all dangers are over, and that you will have no more problems as you journey to the Better Land. But that is not so. Scripture and human biography alike testify to the fact that old age has ITS PERILS.
Noah, after long years of faithful walking with God, failed ignominiously (Gen. 6:9; 9:20-219These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. (Genesis 6:9)
20And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: 21And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. (Genesis 9:20‑21)). Moses, the meekest man in all the earth, at near the close of his career, lost his temper, and spoke unadvisedly with his lips, and, as a consequence, saw, but was not allowed to enter, the Promised Land (Num. 12:33(Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.) (Numbers 12:3); Psalm 106:32-3332They angered him also at the waters of strife, so that it went ill with Moses for their sakes: 33Because they provoked his spirit, so that he spake unadvisedly with his lips. (Psalm 106:32‑33)). Samuel, the man of prayer and the prophet of God, put family interests before loyalty to God and His people (1 Sam. 8:1-51And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel. 2Now the name of his firstborn was Joel; and the name of his second, Abiah: they were judges in Beer-sheba. 3And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment. 4Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah, 5And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. (1 Samuel 8:1‑5)). Solomon, began his reign magnificently but ended disastrously. Uzziah, after a glorious reign, lifted up his heart to his own destruction, and deliberately transgressed the ordinance of God, in consequence finishing his days as a leper (2 Chron. 26:16-2116But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for he transgressed against the Lord his God, and went into the temple of the Lord to burn incense upon the altar of incense. 17And Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him fourscore priests of the Lord, that were valiant men: 18And they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto him, It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the Lord, but to the priests the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense: go out of the sanctuary; for thou hast trespassed; neither shall it be for thine honor from the Lord God. 19Then Uzziah was wroth, and had a censer in his hand to burn incense: and while he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy even rose up in his forehead before the priests in the house of the Lord, from beside the incense altar. 20And Azariah the chief priest, and all the priests, looked upon him, and, behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and they thrust him out from thence; yea, himself hasted also to go out, because the Lord had smitten him. 21And Uzziah the king was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a several house, being a leper; for he was cut off from the house of the Lord: and Jotham his son was over the king's house, judging the people of the land. (2 Chronicles 26:16‑21)).
The records of all these good men, temporarily drawn aside from the path of fellowship with God, give point and urgency to the apostle's warning: “Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall " (I Cor. 10:12). The fact is that youth, manhood, age—each period of life—has its own temptations and hazards.
The all-inclusive safeguard against these perils is found in Jude 2020But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, (Jude 20), 21 " But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life."
The epistle of Jude deals with days of declension, apostasy, and peril. The writer of it points out the dangers that would characterize the times in which we are now living; and in the verses before us he indicates the path of safety amid these dangers.
Careful examination of the sacred words shows that they are in four clauses. One of these holds a stirring exhortation, which is the central thing in the passage: “Keep yourselves in the love of God." The other three clauses show how the exhortation may be obeyed: “Building up yourselves on your most holy faith; praying in the Holy Ghost; looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life." The whole passage is thus summed up in four verbs: Building, Praying, Keeping, Looking.
The Exhortation
“Keep yourselves in the love of God." It is very important to notice that this counsel does not mean that we keep ourselves loving God, but rather that we keep ourselves within the atmosphere and range of God's love to us. Let me illustrate just what I mean by that.
To an invalid friend, who was a trembling, doubting believer, and who bemoaned the feebleness of his love to God, a wise minister of the Gospel once said: " When I leave you I shall go to my own residence, and when there, the first thing that I expect to do is to call for a baby that is in the house. I expect to place her on my knee, and look down into her sweet eyes, and listen to her charming prattle; and, tired as I am, her presence will rest me; for I love that child with unutterable tenderness.
“But the fact is that she does not love me; or to say the most for her, she loves me but very little. If my heart were breaking under a burden of crushing sorrow it would not disturb her sleep. If my body were racked with pain it would not interrupt her play with her toys. If I were dead she would be amused in watching my pale face and closed eyes. Besides this, she has never brought me in a penny, but has been a constant expense on my hands ever since she was born. Yet, although I am not rich in this world's possessions, there is not money enough in this world to buy my baby. How is it? Does she love me or do I love her? Do I withhold my love until I know she loves me? Am I waiting for her to do something worthy of my love before extending it to her? "
“Oh, I see it," said the sick man, while the tears streamed down his cheeks; “I see it clearly. It is not my love to God, but God's love to me that I ought to be thinking about, and I do love Him, blessed be His name."
Carefully note this, my friends, that although John loved the Lord Jesus intensely, he never speaks of himself as “the disciple who loved Jesus". But five times in his gospel is he spoken of as “the disciple whom Jesus loved “(chapter 13:23; 19:26; 20:2; 21:7; 21:20). It is quite true that we love Him because He first loved us; but our love to Him is like the light of a farthing candle, while His love to us is like the light of the meridian sun.
Now, the exhortation which we are considering—" keep yourselves in the love of God "—is really an echo of the Savior's words in John 15:99As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. (John 15:9): " As the Father hath loved Me, so have I loved you: continue ye in My love." It is as if a mother said to her sickly little boy, as she sends him outside: “Now, keep yourself in the sunshine; don't go into the shadows." Nature and Life are full of similar illustrations.
When Archbishop Ussher, the celebrated chronologist, was an old man he felt the cold intensely, and his attendant endeavored to keep him constantly in the sunshine. In the morning his chair would be wheeled to an eastern window; at noon, to a southerly window; and in the afternoon, to a westerly window. A little London girl won a prize at a flower show. Her prize flower was grown in an old cracked teapot, in the rear window of the attic in a wretched tenement house. When asked how she managed to grow so perfect a flower in such surroundings, she said she always moved it around to wherever there was a sunbeam. In cold countries birds are fond of catching the last evening rays of the winter sun, and are always found where these rays can reach them. They ascend from crag to crag as the sun keeps lowering, until, finally, they are all gathered on the last ridge on which the sun shines. They keep themselves in the sun. These all illustrate the exhortation which we have been considering: “The Father Himself loveth you "; keep yourselves ever in the enjoyment of it.
Now comes the question: “How best can we do this?” The answer is threefold.
(a) We must be lovers of the Bible.
“Building up yourselves on your most holy faith." Since the great doctrines of our faith are enshrined in the written Word of God, we must keep growing in the knowledge of that Word. For faith is the response in the heart of man to a revelation from the Unseen; it cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. “Building " suggests patient industry and graduated progress.
And there must be growing obedience to what we learn. The Word is the quarry from which we take the blocks wherewith we build; obedience fits these blocks into the structure of the life; and thus we shall keep ourselves in His love. " If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love; even as I have kept My Father's commandments, and abide in His love " (John 15:1010If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. (John 15:10)).
How to use the Bible:
The Psalmist says: " Thy Word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee " (Psa. 119: 2); and, when we speak on that verse to the little people, we tell them that there you have the right word -Thy Word; in the right place—my heart; for the right purpose—that I may not sin against God. We older folk are the children of eternity; we, too, need to hide our Father's Word in our hearts; and so I pass on a few suggestions that may enable you rightly to divide the Word of truth.
When you are in sorrow, read John 14.
When men fail you, read Psa. 27.
When you have sinned, read Psa. 51.
When you are worried, read Matt. 6.
When God seems far away, read Psa. 139.
When you are discouraged, read Isaiah 40.
If you want to be fruitful, read John 15.
To recount your blessings, read Psa. 103.
When your faith is weak, read Hebrews 2.
When you want courage, read Joshua 1.
When feeling down and out, read Rom. 8.
When loved ones pass on, read Psalm go.
When inclined to be critical, read 1 Corinth. 13.
Before undertaking a journey, read Psa. 121.
Before going to church, read Psa. 84.
(b) We must maintain habits of prayer.
"Praying in the Holy Ghost." "Prayer being, in the divine appointment, essential to our spiritual health," says the Friends' Book of Discipline, "we would earnestly press upon all to seek for opportunities in the course of each day, for private retirement and waiting upon the Lord; and tenderly to cherish those precious, but often gentle and easily-resisted motions of the Lord's Spirit, which would humble our hearts and draw them forth in fervent petitions."
Experience shows that the best time for prayer is the early morning. The day-break blessing is the day-long gain. George Muller, who knew more about prayer than most, says: “The morning is the gate of the day and should be well guarded by prayer. It is one end of the thread on which the day's actions are strung, and should be well knotted with devotion. If we felt more the majesty of life, we should be more careful of its mornings. He who rushes from his bed to his business and waiteth not to worship, is as unwise as he who dashes into battle without armor. Be it ours to bathe in the softly flowing river of communion with God, before the heat of the wilderness and the burden of the way begin to oppress."
SIR JAMES BARRIE'S MOTHER
In one of the loveliest little monographs in English literature, Sir James Barrie gives an intimate picture of his mother, revealing her faith in God, and her daily practice of reading the Scriptures and praying for her loved ones.
“She began the day by the fireside, with the New Testament in her hands, an old volume with its loose pages beautifully refixed, and its covers sewn and re-sewn by her, so that you would say it can never fall to pieces. It is mine now, and to me the black threads with which she stitched it are as part of the contents. Other books she read in the ordinary manner, but this one differently, her lips moving with each word as if she were reading aloud, and her face was solemn. The Testament lies open on her lap long after she has ceased to read, and the expression on her face has not changed."
“Then, at the close of the day," he says,” she brings out the Testament again; it was always lying within reach. And when she has read for a long time she ' gives me a look ' as we say in the North, and I go out, to leave her alone with God. She had been but a child when her mother died, and so she fell early into the way of saying her prayers with no earthly listener. Often and often I have found her on her knees, but I always went softly away, closing the door. I never heard her pray, but I know very well how she prayed, and that, when the door was shut, there was not a day, in God's sight, between the worn woman and the little child."
Sir James says further that, when the aged pilgrim was nearing the end, his father put her New Testament in her hands, and that it fell open—as it always did—at the 14th chapter of John. She made an effort to read but could not. Suddenly she stooped and kissed the page. “Will that do instead?" she asked.
(c) We must keep looking for our Lord's return.
“Looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life." The reference here is without any doubt to that advent of our Savior for which we are bidden to look. The New Testament is full of teaching about this blessed hope, and we lose much if we fail to cherish it in our hearts. Over 300 times is it spoken of in the later portion of the inspired Word, and the place which it occupies there, indicates the place which it should hold in our thinking.
The central ordinance of the Church—the remembrance of the Lord's death—is described in 1 Cor. 11:23-2623For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: 24And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. 25After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. 26For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come. (1 Corinthians 11:23‑26). That great passage is both commemorative and anticipative; it directs us historically to the night of His betrayal, and prophetically to the day of His return. The last six words of 1 Cor. 11:2626For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come. (1 Corinthians 11:26)—" the Lord's death till He come "—tell the whole story. The first three of these words point us back to His cross; the last three point us on to His coming. Taken together, the six words are like a beautiful rainbow, the one end of which dips in the sufferings of Christ, and the other, in the glory that is to follow.
“And thus that dark betrayal-night,
With His next advent we unite,
By one blest chain of loving rite,
Until He come."
This blessed hope is used by the Holy Spirit as the incentive to the exemplification of practically every grace or virtue named in the New Testament; and the apprehension of it in living power will do much to enable us to keep ourselves in the love of God.
In central Africa, when an early start has to be made the following morning, the native carriers, after their evening meal round the camp fire in the forest, repeat to one another the word "Lutanda" and then fall asleep. This African word means “the morning star ", and the repetition of it is the reminder that they would have to be up with the early star next morning, pack their loads, and resume their march. With spiritual understanding of what will take place when the true Morning Star appears, what profound meanings we can read into “Lutanda". When that glad hour arrives we shall enter the city, of which it is said that " there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light; and they shall reign forever and ever " (Rev. 22:88And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which showed me these things. (Revelation 22:8)). In the words of Dr. Macduff, therefore, we exultingly exclaim:
“With that blessed hope before us,
Let no harp remain unstrung,
Let the mighty advent chorus
Onward roll from tongue to tongue:
Christ is coming!
Come, Lord Jesus, quickly come."
We learn, then, that while He is able to keep us from falling, we are to co-operate with Him in that keeping. It is those who are preserved in Jesus Christ, and who will ultimately be presented before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, that are asked to keep themselves in the love of God (Jude, ver. 24 and 21).
And, fulfilling that injunction, we shall face the perils ahead of us with unflinching courage, and we shall be able to say to these hearts of ours:
“Why those fears? Behold 'tis Jesus holds the helm and guides the ship;
Spread the sails and catch the breezes sent to waft us through the deep,
To the regions where the mourners cease to weep.
“Though the shore we hope to land on, only by report is known,
Yet we freely all abandon, led by that report alone,
And, with Jesus, through the trackless deep move on.
“Rendered safe by His protection, we shall pass the watery waste,
Trusting to His wise direction we shall gain the port at last,
And, with wonder, think on toils and dangers past.
“Oh, what pleasures there await us; there the tempests cease to roar;
There it is that they who hate us, can molest our peace no more.
Trouble ceases on that tranquil, happy shore."
“Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness."