Chapter 46: Containing Seven Directions on how a Believer may find Rest in Christ during Spiritual D
In 1 Kings 4:31, Heman is described as being second only to Solomon in wisdom, yet he was overwhelmed by the terrors of God upon his spirit. So, let none of you say that your condition is worse than anyone else's when God withdraws Himself and afflicts you. When such thoughts arise, remember Psalm 88. When you are burdened with great grief, sorrow, and trouble, and you think that your suffering is greater than that of others, go and read Psalm 88.
As Martin Luther would say, when in trouble, sing the 46th Psalm.
Similarly, when you are in sorrow and grief, say, "Let us go and read Psalm 88," and remember that it was penned by Heman, a godly man, who endured deep affliction. In doing so, you will see that your condition is not as sorrowful as his was.
Chapter 46 Containing Seven Directions on how a Believer may find Rest in Christ during Spiritual Desertions.
First, look upon Christ as once in the same condition.
Secondly, look to Christ as full of grace and goodness.
Thirdly, look to Christ as an advocate at the right hand of God.
Fourthly, look to Christ for fulfilling the promise of sending the Comforter.
Fifthly, go to Christ as you did at first in your conversion.
Sixthly, keep good thoughts of God.
Seventhly, resolve never to seek rest in anything else but Christ.
Well, though your condition may be as bad as his, there is still rest in Christ for you, and Christ calls you to come to Him so that He may give you rest. I need not spend time explaining what this rest is in Christ in this particular case, as it is contained in what has been said before—deliverance from the guilt of sin, the burden of the Law, the remainder of corruption, and the like. These things, if they were made good to the soul, might give rest. But now, all I intend to show is what course the burdened sinner must take in this case to find rest in Christ. The soul is delivered from the guilt of sin and the wrath of God, even though it cannot perceive the love of God and the pardon of the guilt of sin, yet it has it already.
Now, to help such a deserted soul in this condition, so that it may begin to benefit from the good that is to be found in Christ, I offer these directions for gaining ease in such a grievous condition.
First, labour to exercise your faith upon Christ, as one who was once in the same condition, in some degree and measure, as you yourself are. This is a good approach for one experiencing spiritual desertions. I say, look upon Christ as one who, for the present, was in this affliction, for Christ was deserted, and this brings a great deal of rest to the soul in outward afflictions. If one who is in poverty exercises faith upon Christ, who was poor—as I told you before, "The foxes have holes and the birds have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head"—to exercise faith upon Christ as poor helps to give ease and rest to the soul under the burden of the affliction of poverty. So, when a soul feels the burden and trouble of spiritual desertions, the soul should look up to Christ as one who was under such desertion. When He was in the garden, He professed that His soul was heavy to the point of death, and He began to be amazed at the apprehension of the wrath of God.
Now, when you are in combat and strife in your spirit with temptation, know that Christ was in such combat and strife. He sweat drops of blood. It may be that the soul is in combat and trouble and turns to prayer, and the soul is in a sweat. Remember what sweat
Christ was in when God withdrew Himself from Him, and especially when He was upon the cross. There He tells you plainly that He was forsaken: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" You may think that God has withdrawn Himself from you, but He will not withdraw Himself from you so much as from His Son in one regard, for you do not have such a dreadful apprehension of God's withdrawal as Christ had, for Christ would never have cried out otherwise, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
This was a real thing. Christ did not speak uncertainly; He felt a withdrawal of the influence, sweetness, and comfort of the Lord.
Though He still had union with Him by nature, and He was His Father as before, the human nature did not feel the influence of the grace, sweetness, and shine of God's favour as at other times.
Therefore, He cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Exercise your faith upon Christ as one who was in spiritual desertions. It is true that Christ perhaps did not determine that He was utterly forsaken, as you may do, but Christ was apprehensive of God's withdrawal, and therefore this may bring ease and rest to your soul. And even more so, because His being forsaken was to sanctify your being forsaken, it was to take away the curse of those desertions that you experience. Such desertions, in any afflictions materially, are a curse; they are things which, in their own nature, are a curse.
Christ being so forsaken by the Father takes away the curse that is in spiritual desertions. There is no better way for the soul that is in spiritual desertions than to look up to Christ and to consider that Christ was forsaken for your sake, that Christ was forsaken for you, so that you might not be eternally forsaken.
Thus, there are these three things in looking up to Christ as forsaken.
First, you see that the Lord, the beloved Son of God, was forsaken by God. Secondly, you may see the merit of this, that it was to sanctify your forsaking, so that your forsaking might not be a curse to you.
Thirdly, it was so that you might not be eternally forsaken by God, so that by exercising your faith upon Him, you may find a great deal of rest and ease to your soul. A carnal heart, when it finds this terror of spirit, runs to company, music, good cheer, and the business of the world. But a gracious heart runs to Christ and goes to Him who was thus forsaken by the Lord for him.
Secondly, if you are under the burden of spiritual desertions, then look up to Christ as being such a Mediator who is full of grace and goodness. There is such a fullness of the grace of God in Him as makes Him a sufficient object for the faith of adherence, even when
He cannot be, for me, an object of the faith of evidence. I say, we are to exercise faith upon Christ when we are under this burden of spiritual desertions. We are to look upon Christ as being the fullness of the Godhead, full of all the treasures of grace and goodness. He has so much of the grace and mercy of God in Him as to make Him a fit object of the faith of adherence, though He is not now, for me, an object of the faith of evidence.
Question: You might ask, "What is the meaning of that?"
By the Faith of Evidence, I mean that I am able to say Christ is mine, and I have an argument to persuade my conscience that He is mine.
That is the Faith of Evidence. Yet, there is enough in Christ to draw forth the soul to rest upon Him from the Faith of Adherence. This is how: Though I cannot draw arguments to rely upon Christ as mine, yet I will cleave to Him and adhere to Him. I know there is no help but here, and therefore here I will cleave and cling. This is the Faith
of Adherence. Now, because there is so much grace in Him, Christ may be a great object of your Faith of Adherence, even when He cannot be an object of the Faith of Evidence. This is a way to help the soul in times of spiritual desertion. Many poor souls, when under spiritual afflictions and desertions, think they can only rest upon Christ by the Faith of Evidence. When they have evidence in their souls that Christ is theirs, from the fruits of grace in them, then they rely upon Him. But learn now that there is such a thing as the Faith of Adherence. Christ may appear to a soul as a fit object for the Faith of Adherence, even when He cannot be for it an object of the Faith of Evidence.
Thirdly, another help for the soul under spiritual desertions is this: the soul, in this case, should exercise faith upon Christ as an advocate who is at the right hand of the Father, pleading the cause of His people. That Scripture you have often heard, from 1 John 2:1, says, If anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father. Christ is at the right hand of the Father as an advocate for you, as we showed when we spoke of the rest of the soul from the guilt of sin. So now, when you do not sense the love of God towards you, exercise your faith upon Christ, knowing that He is at the right hand of the Father, pleading for poor sinners. In Jeremiah 50:34, the text says, Their
Redeemer is strong; the Lord of Hosts is His name. He will thoroughly plead their cause so that He may give rest to the land. It is true that this refers literally to the outward rest of God's people, delivering them from the captivity of Babylon, and here is a promise: their Redeemer is strong, and the Lord of Hosts shall thoroughly plead their cause. They were carried into Babylon, and they were scorned, contemned, and despised. They said, "Where is their Lord of Hosts?" Now here is the promise: their Redeemer will come and thoroughly plead their cause, give them rest in their land, and trouble the inhabitants of Babylon.
This promise applies to our outward troubles today, in regard to our adversaries. Even though the Lord may allow them to prevail sometimes, yet He has shown Himself at hand to plead His cause, and there is no doubt that He has thoroughly pleaded the cause of His people. When the adversaries began to lift up their hands against them, when they insulted because of the recent defeat that God gave us, the Lord has already begun to strike them back, and I hope we shall hear further of it. But what is true literally is also true spiritually: the Lord will redeem from spiritual captivity, and this
Redeemer is the Lord of Hosts. He will give them rest. He is at the right hand of the Father, thoroughly pleading the cause of His poor servants. When accusation comes before the Father against the soul, the Lord Christ stands at the right hand of the Father and thoroughly pleads their cause.
Fourthly, in your spiritual desertion, you must look up to Christ to seek the fulfilment of His promise that He made to His disciples, to send them the Comforter. When Christ was about to leave His disciples, He said, "Be of good cheer; I will send the Comforter to you." And so, be of good cheer. Christ comforts His disciples in His absence. He was about to leave them in terms of His bodily presence.
Christ was so careful of His poor servants that when He was about to leave them bodily, He assured them that He would send the Comforter to them. That is, the Holy Ghost would come even more fully and manifest Christ to them. Now plead this promise of the Lord Christ in times of spiritual desertion, saying, "Oh, blessed
Redeemer, were you careful of your disciples when you were about to leave them bodily, that you would send the Holy Ghost to testify of you and reveal you to them and bring things to their remembrance?
Oh, much more will you have compassion on a poor soul, from whom you are absent in a spiritual way. It is a greater affliction to lack you,
O blessed Redeemer, in a spiritual way than to lack your bodily
presence. Therefore, there is a much greater need for the Comforter to come now, to supply the lack of your spiritual presence than of your bodily presence."
Fifthly, in the time of spiritual desertion, if you cannot find any evidence at all, nothing to satisfy your soul, then go to Christ in the very same way that you went to Him at first. It is better to do this than to lie grovelling and sinking under your burden. If you think that you still have nothing, that all is lost, and the like, then go again to Christ in the same way as you did at the beginning. You are not in a worse condition now than you were then, when you were an enemy, and you found ease and rest in Him at first. Now, renew the work that was in your soul at the very beginning.
There are many people, in times of spiritual afflictions and desertions, who spend so much time looking for old evidences, whereas the truth is, they could gain new ones sooner than they could find the old. Sometimes, a person may spend far more time searching for an old key to a box than it would take to make a new one. He might make a new key with much less trouble, and it would not be so much of a disadvantage to him to have a new key made as to look for the old one. He may search up and down and waste a great deal of time that could be better spent making a new key. So it is with the soul in times of trouble and spiritual desertion. It searches for its old evidence, and for this or that work of grace, but cannot find them, and continues fretting until it can find those former signs and marks it once had. I say, such a person may sooner gain new evidences than recover the old ones. If a man has written documents and cannot find one, he may find it cheaper to have new ones written than to search for the old ones. So, if you lack the evidences of your grace and cannot find them, I say, renew your grace upon Christ once
more, and you may get your evidence written afresh with less effort than it would take to look for the old ones.
Sixthly, be sure in the time of desertion to keep good thoughts of God. Even though you find no comfort in them at the present, yet believe that there is comfort in Christ. Whatever becomes of you, acknowledge Christ to be faithful. Christ is to be your Lord and King, so let your heart love Him and strive, at the very least, to do so. It is true, the sense of His love will inflame love again, yet, at that time when you cannot feel the sense of His love, still resolve to love Him and love His ways.
You know Christ, when God seemed to forsake Him, yet at that time, when He was on the cross, when His human nature could not but feel the need for God's presence, He cried out, "My God, my God." And so it is in Psalm 88, with the example of Heman: O God of my salvation. He speaks well of God even then and still calls Him the God of his salvation: O God of my salvation. So, keep good thoughts of God. And similarly, in the Song of Songs, when Christ had withdrawn Himself from the Church, yet she still called Him her beloved and went about asking for Him: Where is my beloved? So, let the soul in times of desertion keep good thoughts of God.
Seventhly, and lastly, if you cannot find rest in Christ, resolve that you will never find rest in anything else, that your heart shall remain restless until you find rest in Christ. Perhaps in the time of desertion, someone will come to you and say, "Christ has forsaken you. Go and find comfort elsewhere; look for it elsewhere." Or perhaps the tempter will come to a poor deserted soul, just as he did to Christ in Matthew 4. When Christ was hungry, the tempter came to Him and said, Command these stones to be made bread. It was as if the tempter were saying, "Do you not see how your Father has forsaken