God's Abundance

by G. Jarvie, Burma | Category: General | Oct 1962

"The river of God is full of water " (Psalm 85.9)

This psalm gives a wonderful description of the fulness of God in His dealings with men. He crowns the year with His goodness and His paths drop fatness. It is not the desire of God that there should be any lack among His creatures, but sin has wrought devastation on the earth, and more than half of the world's population are undernourished and sad. Even among those who have plenty there is no peace, they do not enjoy the abundance they have.

The material blessings of the Old Testament have given way to the spiritual blessings of the New, and it is the will of God that His people should be a full and abundant people. Spiritual poverty is a sad appreciation on our part of the abundance of our God. It is still true that" the river of God is full of water." If there is poverty in our souls, then do not let us think that this comes from our material circumstances, or that God is withholding anything from us needlessly. It comes either from our own inward condition, or from a lack of faith in accepting the promises of God, that" the river of God is full of water."

Do we preach and the word has no power or effect? That is poverty! Do we pray and it touches no heart? That also is poverty! Do we have no word from the Lord to cheer and gladden others? That too is poverty! It is barrenness, when the river of God flows full of water. We are to blame! But we may have become so long used to this poverty, that we may think it is the normal Christian life. Nothing could be further from the truth! We are failing to draw from the river of God which is full of water. Powerlessness and joylessness have their source in little faith. The Laodicean saints thought themselves to be rich, when the Lord said they were poor (Revelation 3.17). They had probably been so long poor spiritually, that they had accepted such poverty as the normal experience.

We read of Stephen, the early martyr, that he was "full of faith and of the Holy Spirit," and again, "full of grace and power" (Acts 6.5 and 8). Where did he get all this fulness ? He got it from the river of God that is full of water! His was the abundant life, and out from him flowed the rivers of living water to others.

He is poor indeed who is satisfied to live in spiritual poverty, when the fulness of God is offered to him. We may feel that such poverty is common, and that ordinary people like ourselves cannot hope to rise above it. This surely is wrong when the river of God is flowing full of water, and we may drink of its fulness. Psalm 65 begins with praise and prayer, and these are among the secrets of this fulness.

"Praise waiteth for Thee, 0 God, in Zion:

And unto Thee shall the vow be performed."

Are we lacking in praise? Then we shall lack the fulness! Are we fault-finding and critical? Do we think much about the failures of others ? or do we dwell on the excellencies of Christ? Are we inclined to moroseness? Do we give thanks for all things? Do we rise in the morning to give praise to God? Do we begin and end the day with praise? If so then we shall know the fulness of God. We shall drink at the river that is full of water.

And what about our vows? We often sing, "I am Thine, 0 Lord, I have heard Thy voice." Have we performed our vows? or have we slipped back to live for ourselves? Do we give the Lord His portion of our substance? or are we withholding? Do we increase it as He increases our substance? Do we think the tithe too much? or do we delight to give? The Lord loves a cheerful giver! It is important that we perform our vows if we wish to drink of the river of God that is full of water.

0 Thou that hearest prayer,

Unto Thee shall all flesh come" (Psalm 65.2).

God is the One who hears prayer. He is our Maker and we are His creatures. Not only is He our Maker, He is our Redeemer, He hears our prayer. How much time do we spend in prayer? How much joy do we have in prayer? We often sing

"Oh! the pure delight of a single hour, That before Thy throne I spend."

Is that true? Do we ever spend an hour before Him? All alone? And is it a pure delight to do so? Let us be honest about it, for we want to drink of the river of God that is full of water. Do we enjoy the prayer meeting? Are we always there, " hail, rain, or snow" ? Do we take part from our hearts, fervently? Do we say the" Amen"? Do we pray for all men, as the word commands us (1 Timothy 2.1)? Are we concerned chiefly with our own things, and the things that are near? Do we pray with supplication, intercession and thanksgiving for others? Do our eyes ever fill with tears as we plead with God? All these things count when we come near to the Throne of the Majesty in the heavens. Do we pray with reverence and the bowing of our spirits? We should not speak to God as we speak to men, for that is irreverent. Have we any kind of grudge, or bitterness or jealousy in our hearts towards any others? Are we pure in this, yet faithful and true? This is important.

"Blessed is the man whom Thou choosest, and causest to approach unto Thee" (Psalm 65.4).

The great Searcher of hearts knows our hearts as we come near before Him in supplication and prayer. To those who seek Him in reverence and godly fear, in faith and love, He will satisfy them with the goodness of His house, the holy place of His temple.

A church of God should be a place of fulness and blessing; and if it is not so, then it is entirely due to the failure of those who compose it, for the river of God is full of water. The church in Sardis was well-nigh dead (Revelation 3.1-6); it was their own fault. But even there, there were a few names, those who were pure, and they were promised that they would walk with the Lord in white.

If there are poverty and powerlessness in the church where you are, then do not look around to see whom you can blame. This is a mistake. Betake yourself to your knees and pour out your heart before God about it. Let your own robes be white, and then beseech God for others. Reviving will come. Do not fear. And it will come first to you, for the river of God is full of water.

Someone has written thus, "There has never been a revival that has not begun in united prayer, and no revival has ever continued beyond the duration of those prayer meetings. " So then, let us give ourselves to praise and prayer, and let our vows be performed, and God will grant us to drink of the river that is full of water.

G. Jarvie, Burma | Oct 1962
General