God never intended, by His providence in brining Moses to Pharaohs’ court, to leave him there in worldly pomp and grandeur. A carnal heart would have reasoned that Moses could best help his people—slaves under Pharaoh—by using his potion and power to influence the king, or perhaps even by aspiring to the throne. But when Moses renounced his place of privilege, his faith and self-denial were made more eminently conspicuous. It is for this obedient faith that Moses is given such honorable mention in the New testament (Hebrews 11:24-25).
Sometimes God lavishes us with things, not so we can hang on to them, but so we will have something to let go of to show our love for Him. Was there anything better in the whole world Mary could have done with her precious oil than to anoint her Lord? What enterprise will pay more lasting dividends than to invest what you possess in the cause of Christ?
Christian, keep a loose grip on the material possessions you value most highly. Be ready at a moment’s notice to throw them overboard, rather than risk the shipwreck of your faith. You cannot labor for heavenly possessions if your hands and heart are loaded down with earthly pursuits. In the end, if you can save anything, it will be your soul, your interest in Christ and heaven. If you should lose al your worldly goods, you should still be able to say with Jacob, “I have enough [all things]” (Genesis 33:11).
—William Gurnall
All our heart and all our time are not too much to give to God; he gave them to us only to serve and love him. We cannot be doing great things all the time, but we can do the things that are suitable to our condition in life. We are already doing a great deal if we hold our tongues, suffer, and pray when we cannot do something outwardly.
We can enter the kingdom of God only through a hard struggle. We have to assault it as if we were laying siege to it. It has a narrow door. To get through that door, we have to put our sinful frames through discomfort by taking a low place, by submitting, by crawling, by making ourselves small.
In every believer’s heart there is a constant struggle between the old nature and the new. The old nature is very active, and loses no opportunity of plying all the weapons of its deadly armoury against newborn grace; while on the other hand, the new nature is ever on the watch to resist and destroy its enemy. Grace within us will employ prayer, and faith, and hope, and love, to cast out the evil; it takes unto it the “whole armour of God,” and wrestles earnestly. These two opposing natures will never cease to struggle so long as we are in this world. The battle of “Christian” with “Apollyon” lasted three hours, but the battle of Christian with himself lasted all the way from the Wicket Gate to the river Jordan. The enemy is so securely entrenched within us that he can never be driven out while we are in this body: but although we are closely beset, and often in sore conflict, we have an Almighty helper, even Jesus, the Captain of our salvation, who is ever with us, and who assures us that we shall eventually come off more than conquerors through Him. With such assistance the new-born nature is more than a match for its foes. Are you fighting with the adversary today? Are Satan, the world, and the flesh, all against you? Be not discouraged nor dismayed. “From strength to strength go on; Wrestle, and fight, and pray, Tread all the powers of darkness down, And win the well-fought day.”
Few of us realize how much our character owes to the stern discipline to which God subjects us. The only way to keep us healthy and vigorous is to send us many a nipping frost, many a keen northern blast. The bleak hillside breeds stronger natures than the warm sheltered valley. The difference between lands is largely wrought by temperature and soil. The campaign, with its strain on every power of endurance, trains better soldiers than the barracks. As David was a stronger, better man, when hunted like a coney in the rocks of Engedi, so are we braced to a nobler life, when all things seem against us.
Many persons spend time in fruitless labor, poring over past experiences and examining themselves by signs they hear outlined from the pulpit or read in books, when there is other work for them to do. They neglect important tasks for vain self-examination. Although self-examination is a duty of great use and importance that we should not neglect, it is not the principal means by which the saints gain confidence. Action brings more assurance than self-examination. The apostle Paul looked for assurance this way: I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. He obtained assurance of winning the prize more by running than by considering. The swiftness of his pace assured him more of a conquest than the strictness of his examination.
“And Amaziah said to the man of God, But what shall we do for the hundred talents which I have given to the army of Israel? And the man of God answered, The Lord is able to give thee much more than this.” (2 Chronicles 25:9)
Jesus, though He had all wisdom, only gave us a small number of moral teachings. This is because He knew that the desire of our hearts is focused on this world. Nothing can set us right but turning the desire of our hearts to God. Therefore He calls us to a total denial of ourselves and the life of this world. He calls us to a faith in Him as the one who gives a new birth and a new life. He teaches us every reason for renouncing ourselves and for loving our redemption as the greatest joy and desire of our heart.
When the mind, for want of being sufficiently reduced by recollection, at our first engaging in devotion, has contracted certain bad habits of wandering and dissipation, they are difficult to overcome, and commonly draw us, even against our wills, to the things of the earth.