“Reckon on God’s Faithfulness”
Chapter 7
“Reckon on God’s Faithfulness”
“And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them” (Mark 11:22-24).
Years ago, Hudson Taylor called my attention to these words of our Lord, and told me of the immense blessing they had been to him in the early days of the China Inland Mission. He said that on his return from his first visit to China, he was deeply impressed with the need to plant missionaries in inland China. Up to that time, they were principally located on the coast.
It seemed as though the Saviour said to him: “Hudson Taylor, I am going to evangelize inland China; if you will walk with ME, I will do it through you.” The challenge and promise were gladly accepted, and before that faithful servant of Christ passed home, one thousand missionaries had commenced the work of inland evangelization.
The secret which he had discerned in these verses was to reckon on God’s faithfulness, and to believe that what was true of Abraham would be equally true of himself. “He believed in the Lord and it was counted to him for righteousness.”
In 1 Samuel 1:18 we read of Samuel’s mother, that after she had poured out her soul to God, asking that a son might be given her, she went her way, and took her place at the sacrificial feast with a happy composure on her face. “The woman was no more sad.” If we knew all, I expect that we should discover that she felt no need to repeat her prayer, so sure was she that it had been granted and that a child would be given. She reckoned on God’s faithfulness.
In John 4:50, the nobleman, who came up from the bedside of his dying boy to seek the Saviour’s help, was so satisfied that in answer to his request his son was living, that he turned back home, immediately on having received the Saviour’s assurance, “Thy son liveth.” “The man believed the word that Jesus spake to him and went his way.” He was so sure that his petition was granted that he actually – as “yesterday” suggests – slept on his way back to Capernaum, so confident was he that there was no further need of anxiety. He reckoned absolutely on the Lord’s assurance and knew that what He said must be so. He was not therefore, at all surprised to learn from his servants on the following morning, that the lad was recovered. He reckoned on the Lord’s assurance, and was at peace.
In Acts 27:25 and 34, the apostle, resting on God’s assurance that He had given him the lives of all his fellow-passengers, was able to inspire such confidence in his fellow-passengers that all of them took their last meal together before casting the cargo of grain into the sea, and this, even before the day-light revealed the creek into which they could run the vessel. When once God had given him the sure word of promise, he felt that there was nothing more to do or fear. In other words, he reckoned on God’s faithfulness.
In the beautiful story of Ruth, we have an illustration in human life of similar reckoning on the assurance of a trusted man. Late one afternoon, Naomi and Ruth, after a toilsome journey, reached Bethlehem. Probably the old home, vacated ten years before, had remained untenanted, and there they sheltered, depending for their food on Ruth’s gleaning in the neighboring fields. She met with good success, but the permanent improvement of their position could only come through some arrangement for her future. According to Hebrew precedent she had a claim on a leading citizen, a near kinsman, who was universally respected, and whose presence in the village council was the guarantee of order and righteousness. Naomi’s thought was constantly turning towards him and she was rejoiced to learn that he was prepared to do all in his power to help them. The only difficulty lay in the attitude of a yet closer kinsman, who might assert his prior claim.
The solution of the matter had to be decided by the village council. Hour after hour passed in their leisurely formalities. In the meanwhile, the two women awaited the verdict. The elder woman had faith in the care of God’s providence and felt sure that all would be well. Ruth, who was sitting with her in their tent, found it hard to be patient. She kept rising to her feet, going to the door, looking up and down the street, feverish with excitement and unable to contain herself amid the lights and shadows that chased each other across her heart. Finally Naomi could bear it no longer, and said, “Sit still, my daughter, sit still. We have put the matter into our kinsman’s hands. We can certainly trust him. The man will not be in rest, till he has finished the matter today. Sit still! Sit still!” So it befell. Presently there was a step along the street, and Boaz entered to say that all was settled. The next kinsman had withdrawn his claims and the way was clear for him to adjust the property and the field, and to take Ruth in marriage. After the night of weeping came the morning of joy; and Ruth understood what her future husband had meant when he spoke of her resting beneath the wings of the Shechinah. So these two women were able to sit quietly waiting, because they trusted on the faithfulness of man. When we have placed our cause and need in the hands of Christ, let us sit still, assured that He will not forsake nor fail. Sit still, my soul. Sit still. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him.
These three illustrations of the rest and peace, which enter the heart that has learned to trust divine or human faithfulness, if carefully pondered, will point the way that we must tread, when we are troubled as to the issues and results of our prayers. Hand your burdens over to God by an act of childlike faith. Then trust in Him, and dare to believe that He has assumed entire responsibility. Make known your requests. Leave them with God. Trust His faithful care, do all that needs to be done. Go your way in peace.
Reckon on God for forgiveness. Years ago, I met an aged man who said that each night, before he went to sleep, he confessed all the sins he could remember, in order, that if he should die in his sleep, he would be sure of going to God. “But,” I said, “is that not a terrible slur on God’s faithfulness?”
Did He not say “I will remember their sins no more.” Surely on our confession of sins, He blots them out forever. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive them, and to cleanse them away forever. If we continue pleading for forgiveness of the same sins, day after day, year after year, are we not imputing infidelity to our heavenly Father? When God once forgives, He forgets. He casts all our sins into the depths of the sea. They will never be cast up upon the beach.
If my grandchildren break a valuable vase, during their holiday visit to my home, and come at once to confess their sorrow, I will, of course, gladly forgive, and treat them as though the accident had never taken place. But, if, day after day, they come to confess the same accident and ask for forgiveness, would it not cut me to the quick? Should I not feel that they mistrusted my attitude and my word? And how deeply must it grieve God, our heavenly Father, if, after all His assurances, we still ask Him to forgive the same sins. We may be sorry that we ever transgressed. Such contrition is perfectly consistent with the consciousness of forgiveness. Obviously, we must constantly examine ourselves when we come to prayer, as to the manner in which we have been thinking, speaking, and acting in the interval, in case there is need for confession of some recent sin. We are constantly needing to have our feet washed, i.e., recent contact with men and things; but, as our Lord said, “He that has once been washed, needs only to wash his feet, but is clean every whit.” This, then, is our first lesson. Reckon on God’s absolute forgiveness of confessed sin. And, at the same time, be equally careful to forgive other who may have sinned against you. Remember, also, the following verses: Mark 11:25, 26.
Reckon on God for answers to prayer. When, once, thoughtfully, deliberately, and believingly, you have handed the matter over to God, you must dare to believe that He has taken it in hand and that, though He may keep you waiting, He will not be at rest until He has finished it. “The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me: His mercy endureth forever: He will not forsake the work of His own hands.”
Prayer is the co-operation of the human spirit with the divine. As a slight noise will sometimes dislodge an avalanche, so the prayer of faith sets in motion the power of the ascended Christ. Believing prayer supplies the fulcrum on which God rests the lever of His omnipotence. In prayer there is union between the divine and the human, so that, as the human body of our Lord provided the channels along which the divine life-power was able to reach us, so the prayer of faith opens a wide channel by which God’s grace and providence may come to man.
True prayer has two characteristics. First: we must allow the Holy Spirit to winnow away what is inconsistent with God’s will to grant. We cannot impose our will on God, but must wait for the solution of our life problems, which He will most certainly grant, sometimes by a flash, at other times by the slow unfolding of His will. When we cannot solve our problem in our own way, we must trust Him to deal with it in a better way; and He cannot fail. Second: we must cease to worry. However long the interval, however strong the combination of adverse circumstances, we may still our hearts, in the patience of unwavering faith, sure that our Lord will not rest until He has finished the matter in hand, which we have entrusted to Him. Never forget to reckon on God’s faithfulness. That anchorage will never fail to hold.
Reckon on God’s guidance. There is an immense realm within us known as the sub-conscious self. It has been suggested that much of this is concealed from our own knowledge as seven-eighths of an ice-berg are concealed beneath the surface of the ocean. By our surrender to Christ, we give to Him the right of access to these hidden depths; and we become presently aware that such and such a course is the direction which we are to take. Our action in this respect will be presently corroborated by circumstances and by the gift of needed faculty.
Let us recapitulate the instances we have already quoted. Paul, kneeling in the Temple, becomes aware that his life work henceforth must lie among the Gentiles. Philip discovers that he must leave the revival, which has just broken out in Samaria, and wait on a wilderness track for a certain purpose to be hereafter disclosed. Paul arrives in Ephesus just after Apollos has left it. Catherine of Siena writes: “Henceforth, my daughter, do courageously and without hesitation those things, which, by the ordering of Providence, are put into thy hands; for, being armed by faith, thou wilt happily overcome all thine adversaries.” Mary Fisher traverses land and sea to give her message to the Sultan, which he receives with much attention and gravity. Stephen Grellet preaches a sermon, in the heart of the forest apparently to nobody, which leads to hundreds being brought to the Saviour. Carey is impressed to go to India, Judson to Burma, John Williams to Erromanga, Mary Slessor to western Africa.
Tens of thousands, whose biographies have never been committed to the public press, have felt and obeyed the urge of the Spirit, to their everlasting joy.
Our one act must be to wait on God further for guidance. We must keep our souls before Him, as a still lake. We must cast on Him the responsibility of opening the way, providing the funds, and inclining our friends to acquiesce. The route, the companionships, the minding of things we are called to leave, the preparation of those that lie before, must be absolutely committed to His loving care and guidance. Everything will then be deftly and abundantly arranged. “Roll thy way upon the Lord; trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass” (Psalm 37:5).
From the experience of a long life, I urge that the best confident and adviser is Christ Himself. The wisest course is to place the whole case in His hands, asking Him to advise and control. He is “the Wonderful Counsellor,” says the prophet. “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not to thine own understanding,” says the Proverb. “In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.” He may suddenly put in your way a sagacious and experienced friend. You may overhear a conversation, or come on a paragraph in the newspaper, containing the very information required. The extraordinary series of events, which Samuel predicted as way-marks to Saul, will have their counterpart in your experience (1 Samuel 10). “Lo, all these things doth God work twice, yea thrice, with a man, to bring back his soul from the pit and that He may be enlightened with the light of life.” Outward incidents combine with the inner life, as the lighthouse gleams with the readings of the chart in the captain’s room.
Don’t worry. Don’t anticipate. Don’t fear. Don’t, like Saul, offer the sacrifice precipitately before Samuel arrives. Sit still, my soul, sit still. Jesus, whom thou hast trusted, will not fail thee. He will not rest nor fail till He has finished that which thou hast committed to His care. Reckon on the faithfulness of thy faithful Creator and Saviour. He cannot fail thee.
“The soul, that to Jesus has fled for repose,
He will not, He will not, desert to its foes
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
He’ll never, no never, no never forsake.”
Fellowship with Christ in Service
“Lord Jesus, Thou hast said, ‘Take my yoke.’ I believe that Thou art willing to tread, beside me, the hard soil of this earth. May I share Thy ploughing and sowing here, that I may participate, hereafter, in Thy golden harvest.”