"The master is come, and calleth for thee," - John 11:28
My soul, mark how gracious the Lord is to his people in the special and
distinguishing tokens of his grace. Jesus doth not barely send his
gospel to the church, or house, or family; but he speaketh by the soft,
but powerful whispers of his love, to the individual soul. "To thee is
the word of his salvation sent." Hence the soul who feels the
sovereignty of his word in the constraining influences with which it is
accompanied, cries out, I shall never forget thy word, for by it thou
hast quickened me. But besides the calls of his grace in his house of
prayer, in how many Ways, and by what a variety of methods, is the Lord
Jesus calling upon his people. My soul, I hope that thou art always
upon the look out, and art getting to thy watch-tower to hear what the
Lord thy God hath to say to thee, by his word, by his providences, his
chastisements in love, and in all the gracious manifestations of his
favour. Behold, he saith, "I stand at the door and knock." So Jesus
calleth, and so let my soul hear. Now, Lord, thou art calling me by thy
word and providence in a way of grace: by and by I shall hear thy voice
in the hour of death and judgment. And who shall say how very powerful,
sweet, and gracious, that call is, when Jesus cometh to take his people
home to himself, that where he is, there they may be also? ‘I hear my
Master's voice,' said a highly favoured servant of God in the moment of
his departure. Perhaps a loud voice, a glorious distinguishable voice,
to him that is called, when no stander by is at all conscious of the
sound. Hence another said, when he was dying, ‘I shall change my place,
but not my company.' Jesus, master, in that hour be it my happiness to
say, "let me hear thy voice, let me see thy countenance: for sweet is
thy voice, and thy countenance is comely."
No comments :
Post a Comment