Thought for the Month

"We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace." (Jer. 30.5)
Words that speak of a great obstacle to Christian progress! Fear is an evil spirit that dances threateningly in front of every Christian who finds it hard to believe that his mistakes will be used in the Divine economy for the good of himself or fellow believers in due course. To be an alert and zealous disciple demands full assurance of faith and confidence in the overruling power of God in our affairs. "He opened my eyes and I have seen the Holy One. His angel has touched my lips and with the live coal from the altar; and I have heard his voice saying 'Whom shall we send, and who will go for us?'" If in our later days we can summon to our side the same devoted spirit which at the first prompted us to say "Here am I, send me", then the spirit of fear will find no lodgement. In these days, when the lamp is burning low in the Temple of God, there is need not only for clarity of vision and depth of spiritual insight, but also for purpose and determination. That is the antidote to apathy and lethargy that often settles upon those who have begun to lose the freshness and zeal of earlier days. Such times of depression come to all. The toils of the way, strife and schism among brethren, apparent failure of fond and long cherished hopes, cause us like Hezekiah to want to go softly all our years. Would that we could be equally appreciative, as was that good king, when a term of years is added to our time. Let us go forward with face upraised, remembering that we are now and for all time His witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and to the uttermost parts of the earth.

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