"I the Lord do keep it; I will water it every
moment--lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day."--Isaiah 27:3 The Lord Jesus Christ, who lives at God's right hand, has
to send down supplies of his grace continually to keep your soul alive unto
himself. Without this life being kept up and maintained by these continual
supplies of his grace, you cannot pray, or read, or hear the word, or
meditate with any feeling or profit. You cannot love the Lord and his
blessed ways; you cannot submit to his righteous dealings; or hear the rod
and him who appointed it. You may approach his throne, but your heart is
cold, clouded, and unfeeling; your spirit sinks under the weight and burden
of the trials and difficulties that are spread in your path; nor are you
able to do anything that satisfies yourself, or that you think can satisfy
God. By these painful but profitable lessons, you are
experimentally taught that you need the life of Christ as well as the death
of Christ, the resurrection of Christ as much as the crucifixion of Christ;
Christ as an ever-living, ever-gracious, ever-glorious Mediator, to send
down supplies of his love and power into your soul, as much as you needed
him to die upon the cross for your redemption. |