Category Archives: Forgiveness

Languish no more

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For a week or two now, a cold has been dampening my spirits (especially in the mornings). Yet, thankfully, in this morning’s devotional reading I was reminded how the redeeming work of the Lord is a great source of inner joy for His people, regardless of external circumstances. And so it is! My heart warms at the remembrance of what the Lord has done for me! Joy comes again!

Look with me at Jeremiah 31 (emphasis added) — 

10 “Hear the word of the Lord, O nations, and declare it in the coastlands far away; say, ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him, and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.’ 11 For the Lord has ransomed Jacob and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him. 12 They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion, and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the Lord, over the grain, the wine, and the oil, and over the young of the flock and the herd; their life shall be like a watered garden, and they shall languish no more. 13 Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry. I will turn their mourning into joy; I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow. 14 I will feast the soul of the priests with abundance, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, declares the Lord.” (esv)

Do you know this joy of redemption? Has the Lord drawn you to Himself in a saving way? Then a response of praise should flow from your heart at the thought of all He has done for you!

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“Peace in believing”

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“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing…”
(Romans 15:13a, ESV)

Peace is readily available to those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. A fantastic analogy is given in an eloquent sermon by the great Thomas Chalmers —

Should a powerful and offended neighbor, under the threats of whose resentment I had I had been living for months in fearful insecurity; should he send to my door an offer of reconciliation, it is not difficult to understand how, at the moment of my reliance upon the truth and honesty of this offer, I would be at rest. Nor would it at all disturb the peacefulness of my heart, that I were given to know that the proposed friendship was only yet mine in offer, and not mine in possssion, till I had perform certain conditions which I knew to be easily practicable. It would not, for example, abate the joy of the announcement, that I was told of an intended call on the part of my relenting adversary, and that I must give him a courteous reception, and stretch out my hand as the token of my having accepted his overture; and that then what was now mine in offer, would be come mine in possession also.

If I consented to all this, and felt not merely the possibility, but the perfect ease of it, I would not postpone my gladness till the hour of the expected visit. On my faith in the reality and integrity of the offer, I would consider my before formidable enemy to be now my placid and my attached friend. An instantaneous peace would arise in my bosom nor would I wait the coming formalities of reconciliation ere I threw aside the burden of my disquietude.

Thomas Chalmers, “Peace in Believing”
in Precious Seed: Discourses by Scottish Worthies

Read this again, slowly, and find profit for your own faith, and in believing find much joy!

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