“The myrtle trees that were in the bottom.”

“The myrtle trees that were in the bottom.”

Zechariah 1:8

The vision in this chapter describes the condition of Israel in Zechariah’s day; but being interpreted in its aspect towards us, it describes the Church of God as we find it now in the world.

The Church is compared to a myrtle grove flourishing in a valley. It is hidden, unobserved, secreted; courting no honour and attracting no observation from the careless gazer.

The Church, like her head, has a glory, but it is concealed from carnal eyes, for the time of her breaking forth in all her splendour is not yet come.

The idea of tranquil security is also suggested to us: for the myrtle grove in the valley is still and calm, while the storm sweeps over the mountain summits.

Tempests spend their force upon the craggy peaks of the Alps, but down yonder where flows the stream which maketh glad the city of our God, the myrtles flourish by the still waters, all unshaken by the impetuous wind.

How great is the inward tranquility of God’s Church! Even when opposed and persecuted, she has a peace which the world gives not, and which, therefore, it cannot take away: the peace of God which passeth all understanding keeps the hearts and minds of God’s people.

Does not the metaphor forcibly picture the peaceful, perpetual growth of the saints? The myrtle sheds not her leaves, she is always green; and the Church in her worst time still hath a blessed verdure of grace about her; nay, she has sometimes exhibited most verdure when her winter has been sharpest.

She has prospered most when her adversities

have been most severe.

Hence the text hints at victory.

The myrtle is the emblem of peace, and a significant token of triumph.

The brows of conquerors were bound with myrtle and with laurel; and is not the Church ever victorious?

Is not every Christian more than a conqueror through him that loved him? Living in peace, do not the saints fall asleep in the arms of victory?

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Reflection and inspiration 

from the "Prince of Preachers," 

Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

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"I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour .

"Yea, thou heardest not; yea, thou knewest not; yea, from that time that thine ear was not opened."—Isaiah 48:8.

IT is painful to remember that, in a certain degree, this accusation may be laid at the door of believers, who too often are in a measure spiritually insensible.

We may well bewail ourselves that we do not hear the voice of God as we ought, "Yea, thou heardest not." There are gentle motions of the Holy Spirit in the soul which are unheeded by us: there are whisperings of divine command and of heavenly love which are alike unobserved by our leaden intellects.

Alas! we have been carelessly ignorant—"Yea, thou knewest not." There are matters within which we ought to have seen, corruptions which have made headway unnoticed; sweet affections which are being blighted like flowers in the frost, untended by us; glimpses of the divine face which might be perceived if we did not wall up the windows of our soul.

But we "have not known." As we think of it we are humbled in the deepest self-abasement.

How must we adore the grace of God as we learn from the context that all this folly and ignorance, on our part, was foreknown by God, and, notwithstanding that foreknowledge, He yet has been pleased to deal with us in a way of mercy!

Admire the marvellous sovereign grace which could have chosen us in the sight of all this! Wonder at the price that was paid for us when Christ knew what we should be!

He who hung upon the cross foresaw us as unbelieving, backsliding, cold of heart, indifferent, careless, lax in prayer, and yet He said, "I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour . . .

 Since thou wast precious in My sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life"!

O redemption, how wondrously resplendent dost thou shine when we think how black we are!

O Holy Spirit, give us henceforth the hearing ear, the understanding heart!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Reflection and inspiration 

from the "Prince of Preachers," 

Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

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A Greater Honor !!!

It is a greater honor to serve Christ in the most menial capacity than to occupy the throne of the Caesars.

I speak of honor, I may also dilate [i.e., expand] upon the happiness of the service of Jesus!

 It is the purest of pleasures.

We long to express our affection for Jesus by acts of zeal.

Love pants for expression, and is not obedience the tongue of love? That love is feigned which does not declare itself in some practical form or other, by deeds of kindness, or gifts, or sacrifices, or patient endurance, or hearty praise.

Beloved, let us count it an unrivalled honor and an unsurpassed delight to do anything for Jesus. 

For this service let us be insatiably ambitious, resolved at all costs to show our loyalty to our Prince. 

To serve us he laid aside his glorious array, and girt about him the garments of a servant; for us he took a basin and towel and stooped to wash his disciples’ feet; for us he became obedient to death, even the death of the cross: now, therefore, in our turn, by all the shame he bore, by all the labor he endured, by all the agonies he suffered, let us serve him and him alone for ever.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "All For Jesus," delivered November 29, 1874.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Reflection and inspiration 

from the "Prince of Preachers," 

Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

Copyright Statement

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Orpah kissed her mother-in-law; but Ruth clave unto her."

Orpah kissed her mother-in-law; but Ruth clave unto her."—Ruth 1:14.

BOTH of them had an affection for Naomi, and therefore set out with her upon her return to the land of Judah. But the hour of test came; Naomi most unselfishly set before each of them the trials which awaited them, and bade them if they cared for ease and comfort to return to their Moabitish friends.

At first both of them declared that they would cast in their lot with the Lord's people; but upon still further consideration Orpah with much grief and a respectful kiss left her mother in law, and her people, and her God, and went back to her idolatrous friends, while Ruth with all her heart gave herself up to the God of her mother in law.

 It is one thing to love the ways of the Lord when all is fair, and quite another to cleave to them under all discouragements and difficulties. The kiss of outward profession is very cheap and easy, but the practical cleaving to the Lord, which must show itself in holy decision for truth and holiness,
is not so small a matter.

 How stands the case with us, is our heart fixed upon Jesus, is the sacrifice bound with cords to the horns of the altar? Have we counted the cost, and are we solemnly ready to suffer all worldly loss for the Master's sake? The after gain will be an abundant recompense, for Egypt's treasures are not to be compared with the glory to be revealed.

 Orpah is heard of no more; in glorious ease and idolatrous pleasure her life melts into the gloom of death; but Ruth lives in history and in heaven, for grace has placed her in the noble line whence sprung the King of kings.

Blessed among women shall those be who for Christ's sake can renounce all; but forgotten and worse than forgotten shall those be who in the hour of temptation do violence to conscience and turn back unto the world.

O that this morning we may not be content with the form of devotion, which may be no better than Orpah's kiss, but may the Holy Spirit work in us a cleaving of our whole heart to our Lord Jesus.
♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ 

Reflection and inspiration 

from the "Prince of Preachers," 

Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

Copyright Statement

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"They go from strength to strength."—

"They go from strength to strength."—Psalm 84:7.

THEY go from strength to strength.
There are various renderings of these words, but all of them contain the idea of progress.

Our own good translation of the authorized version is enough for us this morning. "They go from strength to strength." That is, they grow stronger and stronger.

Usually, if we are walking, we go from strength to weakness; we start fresh and in good order for our journey, but by-and-by the road is rough, and the sun is hot, we sit down by the wayside, and then again painfully pursue our weary way.

But the Christian pilgrim having obtained fresh supplies of grace, is as vigorous after years of toilsome travel and struggle as when he first set out.

He may not be quite so elate and buoyant, nor perhaps quite so hot and hasty in his zeal as he once was, but he is much stronger in all that constitutes real power, and travels, if more slowly, far more surely.

Some gray-haired veterans have been as firm in their grasp of truth, and as zealous in diffusing it, as they were in their younger days; but, alas, it must be confessed it is often otherwise, for the love of many waxes cold and iniquity abounds, but this is their own sin and not the fault of the promise which still holds good: "The youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint."

Fretful spirits sit down and trouble themselves about the future. "Alas!" say they, "we go from affliction to affliction."

Very true, O thou of little faith, but then thou goest from strength to strength also.

Thou shalt never find a bundle of affliction which has not bound up in the midst of it sufficient grace. God will give the strength of ripe manhood with the burden allotted to full-grown shoulders.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ 

Reflection and inspiration 

from the "Prince of Preachers," 

Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

Copyright Statement

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"Salt without prescribing how much."

"Salt without prescribing how much."

—Ezra 7:22.

SALT was used in every offering made by fire unto the Lord, and from its preserving and purifying properties it was the grateful emblem of divine grace in the soul.

 It is worthy of our attentive regard that, when Artaxerxes gave salt to Ezra the priest, he set no limit to the quantity, and we may be quite certain that when the King of kings distributes grace among His royal priesthood, the supply is not cut short by Him.

Often are we straitened in ourselves, but never in the Lord.
 He who chooses to gather much manna will find that he may have as much as he desires.

There is no such famine in Jerusalem that the citizens should eat their bread by weight and drink their water by measure. Some things in the economy of grace are measured; for instance our vinegar and gall are given us with such exactness that we never have a single drop too much, but of the salt of grace no stint is made, "Ask what thou wilt and it shall be given unto thee."

Parents need to lock up the fruit cupboard, and the sweet jars, but there is no need to keep the salt-box under lock and key, for few children will eat too greedily from that.

 A man may have too much money, or too much honour, but he cannot have too much grace.
When Jeshurun waxed fat in the flesh, he kicked against God, but there is no fear of a man's becoming too full of grace: aplethora of grace is impossible.

 More wealth brings more care, but more grace brings more joy.
Increased wisdom is increased sorrow, but abundance of the Spirit is fulness of joy.

Believer, go to the throne for a large supply of heavenly salt.
It will season thine afflictions, which are unsavoury without salt; it will preserve thy heart which corrupts if salt be absent, and it will kill thy sins even as salt kills reptiles.

 Thou needest much; seek much, and have much.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ 

Reflection and inspiration 

from the "Prince of Preachers," 

Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

Copyright Statement

This resource was produced before 1923 and therefore is considered in the"Public Domain". 

Do you enjoy this blog ?

just click on links below. 

if you like to visit my others blogs 

God bless, your day !!!

ENGLISH

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SPANISH WITH TRANSLATOR TO ANY LANGUAGE

http://poderosoguerrerodejesus.blogspot..