Help These Women

by Jarvie, G. | Category: General | Mar 1954

"I exhort Euodia, and I exhort Syntyche,

to be of the same mind in the Lord." (Philippians 4.2).

It did not seem much! It was only a disagreement between two sisters. But it was much in Paul's sight, because it was much in the Lord's sight! What a faithful servant of Christ Paul was to write about this, and how thoughtful he was for these sisters! They were good women. They had been Paul's helpers in the gospel, and he never forgot their faithful service.

What was at the root of this difference between them? We are not told, but many lose the joy of the Lord's presence in their lives, the real cause of their trouble. Perhaps little by little it has departed from them, and Satan has come with his whispered doubts. He knows only too well when the Master is not with us! Possibly some words have been spoken unwisely, and a disagreement has come in, and neither is willing to take the lowly place and pray for the other. This happens often among the children of God, among brethren as well as sisters. When the adversary overcomes us in this way, he robs us of all joy and peace in our lives.

It is a great shame when we allow the adversary to rob us of our love for one another. We know that the LORD loves us, and that He longs to see us loving one another from the heart. We should remember the words of David:

As for the saints that are in the earth,

They are the excellent in whom is all My delight" (Psalm 16. 3).

With all their imperfections-and they have many-the saints are the excellent of the earth. Oh, my brother, my sister, I know you have your weaknesses and failures, as I have mine, but may the Lord keep us-not looking at these, but at what we are in Him. May the Lord deliver us in the hour of temptation, when Satan would whisper his lies to us, against each other! May the Lord enable us in that hour, when the tempter is near, to weep over each other, and to pray one for another.

What a victory it is when we get together with softened and prayerful hearts, and when we kneel together, and the Lord Himself draws near and binds our hearts together again! Yes, that is a great victory for us. The lowly in heart never know defeat. You may have laboured well in the past, when the joy of the Lord filled your soul. But the tempter came in the hour when your soul was lean, when Christ was not so precious to you as He had been. Perhaps you thought you could see all the fault in your brother or your sister, and you forgot the unconfessed failure in your own life. But the Lord is near to forgive you, and to heal you; to revive you again by the spirit of grace and of supplication. Lovely combination!

Do not let the estrangement last any longer. Even if there be no wise counsellor to help you, go yourself, and tell all you know of your own failure, and seek the forgiveness, and the prayers of your friend.

"Far more for others' sins to grieve, Than any wrongs that we receive."

Yes, that is the way of victory.

Jarvie, G. | Mar 1954
General