Jottings

by J. Miller | Category: Jottings | Jul 1953

The stubbornness of God's people in the days of Jeremiah is to be seen in almost the whole of his prophecy. It is stated clearly in Jeremiah 6.10,"Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways and see, and ask for the

old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls : but they said, We will not walk therein."

For sheer stubbornness and rebellion against the LORD this could not be beaten. But this attitude of mind is not unique by any means; it can be traced throughout all time, and is present with us to-day.

Manyhave responded to that word of the Lord,

"Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will

give you rest" (Matthew 11.28).

But a much fewer number have heeded the Lord's further words,

"Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and

lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light" (Matthew 11. 29, 30).

Here are two kinds of rest, rest from labour and rest in labour. Rest from our own sinful work and rest in the Lord's work: the one rest is given and the other rest is found. The one rest is rest in Christ Himself, and the other is rest in His service.

The Lord's yoke is to many as bondage. The nature of a yoke as placed on the necks of oxen shuts out the idea of the oxen doing their own wills, and going as and where they please. They have to learn from their driver. It is he who directs their footsteps and their energies. So is it with those who take the Lord's yoke upon themselves. It is not laid on them compulsorily. The word is, "Take My yoke upon you," and this is followed by-" and learn of Me," as a team of oxen learn from the driver.

"Take My yoke upon you" does not mean that we are yoked with the Lord, that He and we are yoked together. It means that we are to be yoked together and that He is our Driver, or our Lord and Master.

The same thought is in, "We are God's fellow-workers" (1 Corinthians 3.9). The A.V. wrongly renders this, " We are labourers together with God." We do not work with God, but God may be pleased graciously to use us as His servants, which is a very different thought from labouring with God. Of old, as Jeremiah 6.16 shows, if God's people had walked in the old paths, the way in which the godly of all ages had walked, then they would have found rest to their souls: but instead of rest, they found trouble and sorrow by their disobedience. This is clearly seen in the days of Jeremiah who lived through the harrowing experiences of Nebuchadnezzar coming again and again and removing the captives, such as had escaped the sword, to Babylon to be his servants, leaving only the poorest people in the land, and in Babylon the grief of those who remembered Zion was great. "We wept" said they, "when we remembered Zion" (Psalm 137. 1). No doubt many forgot about Zion, and settled down to a Babylonian life, well satisfied with both the place and the people, content to be as the Babylonians. But it was not so with others. Some thought on the old paths and the good way. Some thought of Zion and its ways. What had existed in days of sinful neglect prior to the Babylonish captivity,

"The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn assembly" (Lamentations 1. 4)

had been terribly true. The earlier words of Isaiah had been fulfilled, for cities ere waste without inhabitant, and houses without man, the land had become utterly waste, for the LORD had removed men far away (Isaiah 6.11, 12).

But even when things which God had spoken centuries before had come upon God's people, there were those who remembered Zion and her desolation.

There are a few, thank God, who remember Zion in our time, who seek after the old paths and the good way. To any such who are Zion-hearted, we say,

There is still hope of a remnant who will walk in the way of God finding themselves at ,Zion, where alone they may serve God acceptably.

In Leviticus 26.8-18 we have God describing what He would do for His people if they but walked in His statutes and kept His commandments.

"If ye walk in My statutes, and keep My commandments, and do them; ... I will give your rains in their season ... I will give peace in the land ... I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful ... I will set My tabernacle among you ... I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be My people."

what a wealth of blessing is contained in such promises, all contingent upon Israel's obedience! But in contrast to this we have the judgements which God would enact upon them, if they refused to hearken and to do His commandments. The list of calamities contained in Leviticus 26.14-48 that God would send upon Israel should have effect even upon ourselves, as we think of our responsibility to obey our God in a day of far greater light than they had. As we contemplate this dark cloud of calamity, which, alas, came upon God's people, there is to it a silver lining of Covenant mercy.

"And yet for all that, when they be in the land of their enemies, I will

not reject them, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break My covenant with them: for I am the LORD their God: but I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be' their God: I am the LORD" (Leviticus 26.44, 45).

God said that He would make them "few in number; and your ways shall become desolate" (verse 22). The high ways to Zion which once were filled with happy worshippers going to the hill of the LORD and to His house came to be deserted for none came to the solemn assembly. The holy Convocations of the Feasts of Jehovah were forgotten. God was robbed of His portion and His blessing was withheld.

Such a state of things existed in the days of Deborah.

"In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath,

In the days of Jael, the high ways were unoccupied,

And the travellers walked through byways" (or crooked ways)

(Judges 5.6).

This verse is set in contrast to the time of Israel's deliverance out of Egypt, when in mighty majesty God marched in triumph with His people. He laid proud Pharaoh low and led His people by a pillar of cloud and of fire. Men could march in confidence and in obedience under the leadership of such a Commander. But alas, in Deborah's time the travellers were afraid to keep to the high ways, for the men who should have seen to the protection of all lawful travellers had ceased in Israel.

"The rulers ceased in Israel, they ceased, Until that I Deborah arose,

That I arose a mother in Israel" (verse 7).

With the rise of this mother in Israel a new era was opened to God's people. Her song in Judges 5. bursts pleasantly on our ears.

"For that the leaders took the lead in Israel, For that the people offered themselves willingly, Bless ye the LORD" (verse 2).

Good leadership is of vital importance to any people and especially so to God's people.

But why the weakness in Israel till Deborah arose to infuse fresh life into God's leaders and people? The tale is one which is told and retold in the book of the Judges. It is tersely stated, "And the children of Israel again did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, when Ehud was dead" (Judges 4.1 )~ Here is the cause of weakness - sin, and it is ever the cause of weakness, and of sorrow and suffering. Sin allowed and toleration in the life of a child of God or among God's people will bring in its train weakness, sorrow, suffering and death, The high ways will become unoccupied and saints will be missed from their places in the meetings of the assembly, and in due time they will eat the bread of tears and the fruit that departure of heart from God ever brings.

J. Miller | Jul 1953
Jottings