May 22, 2008   BACK TO  ARCHIVES >>

Then Shalt Thou Understand

"My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God. For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly. He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints. Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path."   (Proverbs 2:1-9)

Job had asked, long before this, Where shall wisdom be found? Whence cometh wisdom? (Job_28:12, Job_28:20) and he had given this general answer (v. 23), God knoweth the place of it; but Solomon here goes further, and tells us both where we may find it and how we may get it. We are here told,

I. What means we must use that we may obtain wisdom.

1. We must closely attend to the word of God, for that is the word of wisdom, which is able to make us wise unto salvation, Pro_2:1, Pro_2:2.

    (1.) We must be convinced that the words of God are the fountain and standard of wisdom and understanding, and that we need not desire to be wiser than they will make us. We must incline our ear and apply our hearts to them, as to wisdom or understanding itself. Many wise things may be found in human compositions, but divine revelation, and true religion built upon it, are all wisdom.

    (2.) We must, accordingly, receive the word of God with all readiness of mind, and bid it welcome, even the commandments as well as the promises, without murmuring or disputing. Speak, Lord, for thy servant hears.

    (3.) We must hide them with us, as we do our treasures, which we are afraid of being robbed of. We must not only receive, but retain, the word of God, and lodge it in our hearts, that it may be always ready to us.

    (4.) We must incline our ear to them; we must lay hold on all opportunities of hearing the word of God, and listen to it with attention and seriousness, as those that are afraid of letting it slip.

    (5.) We must apply our hearts to them, else inclining the ear to them will stand us in no stead.

2. We must be much in prayer, Pro_2:3. We must cry after knowledge, as one that is ready to perish for hunger begs hard for bread. Faint desires will not prevail; we must be importunate, as those that know the worth of knowledge and our own want of it. We must cry, as new-born babes, after the sincere milk of the word. 1Pe_2:2. We must lift our voice for understanding lift it up to heaven; thence these good and perfect gifts must be expected, Jam_1:17; Job_38:34. We must give our voice to understanding (so the word is), speak for it, vote for it, submit the tongue to the command of wisdom. We must consecrate our voice to it; having applied our heart to it, we must employ our voice in seeking for it. Solomon could write probatum est - a tried remedy, upon this method; he prayed for wisdom and so obtained it.

3. We must be willing to take pains (Pro_2:4); we must seek it as silver, preferring it far before all the wealth of this world, and labouring in search of it as those who dig in the mines, who undergo great toil and run great hazards, with indefatigable industry and invincible constancy and resolution, in pursuit of the ore; or as those who will be rich rise up early, and sit up late, and turn every stone to get money and fill their treasures. Thus diligent must we be in the use of the means of knowledge, following on to know the Lord.

Continued >>

Also by
Andrew Murray

Daily Fellowship with God
By Andrew Murray

1.   The first and chief need of our Christian life is, Fellowship with God. The Divine life within us comes from God, and is entirely dependent upon Him. As I need every moment afresh the air to breathe, as the s sun every moment afresh sends down its light, so it is only in direct living communication with God that my soul can be strong. The manna of one day was corrupt when the next day came. I must every day have fresh grace from heaven, and I obtain it only in direct waiting upon God Himself. Begin each day by tarrying before God, and letting Him touch you. Take time to meet God.

2.   To this end, let your first act in your devotion be a setting yourself still before God. In prayer, or worship, everything depends upon God taking the chief place. I must bow quietly before Him in humble faith and adoration, speaking thus within my heart: God is. God is near. God is love, longing to communicate Himself to me. God the Almighty One, Who worketh all in all, is even now waiting to work in me, and make Himself known. Take time, till you know God is very near.

3.   When you have given God His place of honor, glory, and power, take your place of deepest lowliness, and seek to be filled with the Spirit of humility. As a creature it is your blessedness to be nothing, that God may be all in you. As a sinner you are not worthy to look up to God; bow in self abasement. As a saint, let God's love overwhelm you, and bow you still lower down. Sink down before Him in humility, meekness, patience, and surrender to His goodness and mercy. He will exalt you. Oh! take time, to get very low before God.

4.   Then accept and value your place in Christ Jesus. God delights in nothing but His beloved Son, and can be satisfied with nothing else in those who draw nigh to Him. Enter deep into God's holy presence in the boldness which the blood gives, and in the assurance that in Christ you are most well-pleasing. In Christ you are within the veil. You have access into the very heart and love of the Father. This is the great object of fellowship with God, that I may have more of God in my life, and that God may see Christ formed in me. Be silent before God and let Him bless you.

5.   This Christ is a living Person. He loves you with a personal love, and He looks every day for the personal response of your love. Look into His face with trust, till His love really shines into your heart. Make His heart glad by telling Him that you do love Him. He offers Himself to you as a personal Saviour and Keeper from the power of sin. Do not ask, can I be kept from sinning, if I keep close to Him but ask, can I be kept from sinning, if He always keeps close to me and you see at once how safe it is to trust Him.

6.   We have not only Christ's life in us as a power, and His presence with us as a person, but we have His likeness to be wrought into us. He is to be formed in us, so that His form or figure, His likeness, can be seen in us. Bow before God until you get some sense of the greatness and blessedness of the work to be carried on by God in you this day. Say to God, Father, here am I for Thee to give as much in me of Christ's likeness as I can receive. And wait to hear Him say, My child, I give thee as much of Christ as thy heart is open to receive. The God who revealed Jesus in the flesh and perfected Him, will reveal Him in thee and perfect thee in Him. The Father loves the Son, and delights to work out His image and likeness in thee. Count upon it that this blessed work will be done in thee as thou waitest on thy God, and holdest fellowship with Him.

7.   The likeness to Christ consists chiefly in two things-the likeness of His death and resurrection, (Rom_6:5). The death of Christ was the consummation of His humility and obedience, the entire giving up of His life to God. In Him we are dead to sin. As we sink down in humility and dependence and entire surrender to God, the power of His death works in us, and we are made conformable to His death. And so we know Him in the power of His resurrection, in the victory over sin, and all the joy and power of the risen life. Therefore every morning, present yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead. He will maintain the life He gave, and bestow the grace to live as risen ones.

8.   All this can only be in the power of the Holy Spirit, who dwells in you. Count upon Him to glorify Christ in you. Count upon Christ to increase in you the inflowing of His Spirit. As you wait before God to realize His presence, remember that the Spirit is in you to reveal the things of God. Seek in God's presence to have the anointing of the Spirit of Christ so truly that your whole life may every moment be spiritual.

9.   As you meditate on this wondrous salvation and seek full fellowship with the great and holy God, and wait on Him to reveal Christ in you, you will feel how needful the giving up of all is to receive Him. Seek grace to know what it means to live as wholly for God as Christ did. Only the Holy Spirit Himself can teach you what an entire yielding of the whole life to God can mean. Wait on God to show you in this what you do not know. Let every approach to God, and every request for fellowship with Him be accompanied by a new, very definite, and entire surrender to Him to work in you.

10.   By faith must here, as through all Scripture, and all the spiritual life, be the keynote. As you tarry before God, let it be in a deep quiet faith in Him, the Invisible One, who is so near, so holy, so mighty, so loving. In a deep, restful faith too, that all the blessings and powers of the heavenly life are around you, and in you. Just yield yourself in the faith of a perfect trust to the Ever Blessed Holy Trinity to work out all God's purpose in you. Begin each day thus in fellowship with God, and God will be all in all to you.

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Messages

Read about the Puritan's >>

Reading and Searching the Scriptures
By Thomas Boston

1. Follow a regular plan in reading the Scriptures, so that you may become acquainted with the entire Bible; and make this reading a part of your private devotions. Do not always confine yourselves only to read according to your set plan, so as never to read by choice, however, having a plan leads to the most edification. Some parts of the Bible are more difficult, some may seem very dry for an ordinary reader; but if you would look on all of it as being the very Words of God, never to be disregarded, but read with faith and reverence, then without a doubt you will find great gain.

2. Be sure to mark those passages you read, the ones which you find most fitting to your situation, condition, or temptations; or those that you have found which touches your heart more than other passages. It will be most profitable for you to often review these marked passages.

3. Compare one Scripture with another, the more obscure verses with those which are more clear. This is an excellent means to find out the sense of the Scriptures; and this is the best use of the notes found in the margins of most Bibles. And always keep Christ in view, for He is revealed in the Scriptures of the Old Testament (in its genealogies, types, and sacrifices), as well as in the passages of the New Testament.

4. Read the Bible with a holy attention, always remembering the majesty of God, and the reverence that is due Him. This must be done with attention, first, to the words; second, to the sense; and, third, to the divine authority of the Scripture, and the obligation it lays on the conscience for obedience. The Apostle Paul said, "We thank God continually because, when you received the Word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the Word of God, which is at work in you who believe." (1 Thessalonians 2:13)

5. Let your main purpose in reading the Scriptures be for application to your life, and not just to gain knowledge, James said, "Do not merely listen to the Word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." (James 1:22) Read the Bible that you may learn and do, without any limitation. Whatever you see that God requires, you must study to put into practice.

6. Beg God and ask Him for the help of His Holy Spirit. For it is the Holy Spirit that inspired the Word, and it is the Holy Spirit who will give us the understanding of it. Paul said, "Who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God." (1 Corinthians 2:11) Therefore before you read the Bible, it is very important that you ask for a blessing on what you are about to read.

7. Beware of a worldly, fleshly mind: for fleshly sins blind the mind from the things of God. In an eclipse of the moon, the earth comes between the sun and the moon, and so keeps the light of the sun from it. In the same way, the world in the heart, comes between you and the light of the Word, keeping its divine light from you.

8. Labor to be disciplined toward godliness, and to perceive your spiritual circumstances. For a disciplined attitude greatly helps us to understand the Bible. Such a Christian will find his circumstances in the Word, and the Word will give light to his circumstances, and his circumstances will give light into the Word.

9. Whatever you learn from the Word, labor to put it into practice. For to him that has, more will be given. Those people who make no effort to put into practice, what they already know about God's Word, will get very little insight into the Bible. But while the stream runs through a holy life, the fountain will always be more refreshing.

More from
John Newton

Spiritual Food
By John Newton

"O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day" Psalms 119:97

To read the Scripture, not as an attorney may read a will, merely to know the sense; but as the heir reads it, as a description and proof of his interest: to hear the Gospel, as the voice of our Beloved, so as to have little leisure either for admiring the abilities, or censuring the defects of the preacher; and, in prayer, to feel a liberty of pouring out our hearts before the Lord, to behold some glances of his goodness passing before us, and to breathe forth before him the tempers of a child, the spirit of adoption: and thus, by beholding his glory, to be conformed more and more to his image, and to renew our strength by drawing water out of the wells of salvation-herein is blessedness.

They who have tasted it can say: "It is good for me to draw nigh to God." The soul thus refreshed by the water of life, is preserved from thirsting after the vanities of the world; thus instructed in the sanctuary, comes down from the mount filled with heavenly wisdom, anointed with a holy unction, and thereby qualified to judge, speak, and act in character, in all the relations and occasions of secular life. In this way, besides the pleasure, a spiritual taste is acquired, something analogous to the meaning of the word taste when applied to music or good breeding, by which discords and improprieties are observed and avoided, as it were by instinct, and what is right is felt and followed, not so much by the force of rules, as by a habit insensibly acquired, and in which the substance of all necessary rules are, if I may so say, digested. O that I knew more of this blessedness, and more of its effects!

Previous Manna >>

John W. McGarvey   (1829-1911)

The following biographical sketch of J. W. McGarvey was written by J. H. Garrison in 1891, before McGarvey's death in 1911.

JOHN W. MCGARVEY was born in Hopkinsville, Ky., March 1, 1829. His father was a native of Ireland, and did not move to this country until he was grown. He located in Hopkinsville, Ky., where he was married to a Miss Thompson, who was born and reared near Georgetown, Ky. When J. W. McGarvey was four years old, his father died, and his mother afterwards married Dr. G. F. Saltonstall. In 1839 the family removed to Tremont, Tazewell county, Ill., where our future teacher, preacher and author was trained to habits of industry, and thoroughly instructed in the primary and academic branches by Mr. James K. Kellogg, a successful educator of the place.

In April, 1847, in his eighteenth year, he entered Bethany College, and graduated with honors in the year 1850, delivering the Greek speech. While at Bethany he confessed faith in Christ, and was baptized by Prof. W. K. Pendleton. Immediately upon his conversion, his mind turned toward the ministry, and it was not long before he gave good evidence of fitness for the work. In the meantime his family had removed to Fayette, Mo., at which place, soon after leaving college, he taught a male school for ten months. His step-father died of cholera in June, 1851, while on his way to attend Commencement at Bethany College, of which he was a warm friend, leaving it a child's part in his estate, besides having given $2,500 while he was living.

At the call of the church in Fayette, Bro. McGarvey gave up the school there, and in September, 18,31, was ordained to the work of the ministry, and continued his labors for the church there and in neighboring county churches until February, 1853, when he removed to Dover, LaFayette county, In March, 1853, he was married to Ottie F. Hix, of Fayette. He resided at Dover nine years, dividing his time with the home church and preaching extensively over the State of Missouri. He also held five religious discussions with representatives of various religious parties during this period, and collected money to erect a boarding school in his village, which he conducted two years.

Biography Continued >>

The Imitation of Christ
By Thomas À Kempis

The Value of Adversity
By Thomas À Kempis

IT IS good for us to have trials and troubles at times, for they often remind us that we are on probation and ought not to hope in any worldly thing. It is good for us sometimes to suffer contradiction, to be misjudged by men even though we do well and mean well.

These things help us to be humble and shield us from vainglory. When to all outward appearances men give us no credit, when they do not think well of us, then we are more inclined to seek God Who sees our hearts. Therefore, a man ought to root himself so firmly in God that he will not need the consolations of men.

When a man of good will is afflicted, tempted, and tormented by evil thoughts, he realizes clearly that his greatest need is God, without Whom he can do no good. Saddened by his miseries and sufferings, he laments and prays. He wearies of living longer and wishes for death that he might be dissolved and be with Christ. Then he understands fully that perfect security and complete peace cannot be found on earth.

Read the whole Book >>

Previous Martyrs

An Account of the Life of John Wesley

John Wesley was born on the seventeenth of June, 1703, in Epworth rectory, England, the fifteenth of nineteen children of Charles and Suzanna Wesley. The father of Wesley was a preacher, and Wesley's mother was a remarkable woman in wisdom and intelligence. She was a woman of deep piety and brought her little ones into close contact with the Bible stories, telling them from the tiles about the nursery fireplace. She also used to dress the children in their best on the days when they were to have the privilege of learning their alphabet as an introduction to the reading of the Holy Scriptures.

Young Wesley was a happy and manly youth, fond of games and particularly of dancing. At Oxford he was a leader, and during the latter part of his course there, was one of the founders of the "Holy Club," an organization of serious-minded students. His religious nature deepened through study and experience, but it was not until several years after he left the university and came under the influence of Luther's writings that he felt that he had entered into the full riches of the Gospel.

He and his brother Charles were sent by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel to Georgia, where both of them developed their powers as preachers.

Upon their passage they fell into the company of several Moravian brethren, members of the association recently renewed by the labors of Count Zinzendorf. It was noted by John Wesley in his diary that, in a great tempest, when the English people on board lost all self-possession, these Germans impressed him by their composure and entire resignation to God. He also marked their humility under shameful treatment.

It was on his return to England that he entered into those deeper experiences and developed those marvelous powers as a popular preacher which made him a national leader. He was associated at this time also with George Whitefield, the tradition of whose marvelous eloquence has never died.

What he accomplished borders upon the incredible. Upon entering his eighty-fifth year he thanked God that he was still almost as vigorous as ever. He ascribed it, under God, to the fact that he had always slept soundly, had risen for sixty years at four o'clock in the morning, and for fifty years had preached every morning at five. Seldom in all his life did he feel any pain, care, or anxiety. He preached twice each day, and often thrice or four times. It has been estimated that he traveled every year forty-five hundred English miles, mostly upon horseback.

Historical Record Continued >>

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Great Hymns

"Discernment is not a matter of simply telling the difference between what is right and wrong; rather, it is the difference between right and almost right." — Charles Spurgeon

• When you don't understand the Ways of God, then trust in the Character of God.
• Go and preach the Gospel, and if you have to, use words!   St. Francis Assissi
• The difference between involvement and commitment is like ham and eggs. The chicken is involved; the pig is committed. How is your relationship with Christ, are you involved with Him, or committed to Him?

More from
Charles Spurgeon

Interesting Facts About Spurgeon's Ministry and Life

• One woman was converted through reading a single page of one of Spurgeon's sermons wrapped around some butter she had bought.
• Spurgeon read The Pilgrim's Progress at age 6 and went on to read it over 100 times.
• The New Park Street Pulpit and The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit-the collected sermons of Spurgeon during his ministry with that congregation-fill 63 volumes. The sermons' 20-25 million words are equivalent to the 27 volumes of the ninth edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica. The series stands as the largest set of books by a single author in the history of Christianity.
• Spurgeon's mother had 17 children, nine of whom died in infancy.
• When Charles Spurgeon was only 10 years old, a visiting missionary, Richard Knill, said that the young Spurgeon would one day preach the gospel to thousands and would preach in Rowland Hill's chapel, the largest Dissenting church in London. His words were fulfilled.
• Spurgeon missed being admitted to college because a servant girl inadvertently showed him into a different room than that of the principal who was waiting to interview him. (Later, he determined not to reapply for admission when he believed God spoke to him, "Seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not!")
• Spurgeon's personal library contained 12,000 volumes-1,000 printed before 1700. (The library, 5,103 volumes at the time of its auction, is now housed at William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri.)
• Before he was 20, Spurgeon had preached over 600 times.
• Spurgeon drew to his services Prime Minister W. E. Gladstone, members of the royal family, Members of Parliament, as well as author John Ruskin, Florence Nightingale, and General James Garfield, later president of the United States.
• The New Part Street Church invited Spurgeon to come for a 6-month trial period, but Spurgeon asked to come for only 3 months because "the congregation might not want me, and I do not wish to be a hindrance."
• When Spurgeon arrived at The New Park Street Church, in 1854, the congregation had 232 members. By the end of his pastorate, 38 years later, that number had increased to 5,311. (Altogether, 14,460 people were added to the church during Spurgeon's tenure.) The church was the largest independent congregation in the world.
• Spurgeon typically read 6 books per week and could remember what he had read-and where-even years later.
• Spurgeon once addressed an audience of 23,654-without a microphone or any mechanical amplification.
• Spurgeon began a pastors' college that trained nearly 900 students during his lifetime-and it continues today.
• In 1865, Spurgeon's sermons sold 25,000 copies every week. They were translated into more than 20 languages.
• At least 3 of Spurgeon's works (including the multi-volume Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit series) have sold more than 1,000,000 copies. One of these, All of Grace, was the first book ever published by Moody Press (formerly the Bible Institute Colportage Association) and is still its all-time bestseller.
• During his lifetime, Spurgeon is estimated to have preached to 10,000,000 people.
• Spurgeon once said he counted 8 sets of thoughts that passed through his mind at the same time while he was preaching.
• Testing the acoustics in the vast Agricultural Hall, Spurgeon shouted, "Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world." A worker high in the rafters of the building heard this and became converted to Christ as a result.
• Susannah Thompson, Spurgeon's wife, became an invalid at age 33 and could seldom attend her husband's services after that.
• Spurgeon spent 20 years studying the Book of Psalms and writing his commentary on them, The Treasury of David.
• Spurgeon insisted that his congregation's new building, The Metropolitan Tabernacle, employ Greek architecture because the New Testament was written in Greek. This one decision has greatly influenced subsequent church architecture throughout the world.
• The theme for Spurgeon's Sunday morning sermon was usually not chosen until Saturday night.
• For an average sermon, Spurgeon took no more than one page of notes into the pulpit, yet he spoke at a rate of 140 words per minute for 40 minutes.
• The only time that Spurgeon wore clerical garb was when he visited Geneva and preached in Calvin's pulpit.
• By accepting some of his many invitations to speak, Spurgeon often preached 10 times in a week.
• Spurgeon met often with Hudson Taylor, the well-known missionary to China, and with George Muller, the orphanage founder.
• Spurgeon had two children-twin sons-and both became preachers. Thomas succeeded his father as pastor of the Tabernacle, and Charles, Jr., took charge of the orphanage his father had founded.
• Spurgeon's wife, Susannah, called him Tirshatha (a title used of the Judean governor under the Persian empire), meaning "Your Excellency."
• Spurgeon often worked 18 hours a day. Famous explorer and missionary David Livingstone once asked him, "How do you manage to do two men's work in a single day?" Spurgeon replied, "You have forgotten that there are two of us."
• Spurgeon spoke out so strongly against slavery that American publishers of his sermons began deleting his remarks on the subject.
• Occasionally Spurgeon asked members of his congregation not to attend the next Sunday's service, so that newcomers might find a seat. During one 1879 service, the regular congregation justify so that newcomers waiting outside might get in; the building immediately filled again.

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