GRACE AND THE TRUTH - DAILY INSPIRATION

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"RESTING IN HIS REST"
By M. Stanford




"Now the just shall live by faith" (Heb. 10:38.).


Until we grow beyond the childish realm of sight and feelings we cannot go forward; up and down, and sideways, but not forward.

"Our Father wants us in the place where we do not depend upon feelings; where, though we do not behold Him, though we do not sense Him, we shall 'endure as beholding Him who is invisible.' He wants us where we can trust Him through darkness and apparent separation, as unflinchingly as in light and fellowship; where we know that His banner, Love, is always floating over us, though it is so dark that we cannot see it.

"There is no grace in delighting in the presence and favor of the Father when they are resting consciously and continuously upon us; for this rejoicing comes from sight and feelings. But there is precious grace in that delight which is not dependent upon His favors, nor upon our enjoyment of them; but which is wholly dependent and has its source in the Father's explicit Word, and His eternal faithfulness." --C.H.Macl.

"When circumstances seem impossible, when all signs of grace in you seem at their lowest ebb, when temptation is fiercest, when love and joy and hope seem well nigh extinguished in your heart, then rest, without feeling and without emotion, in the Father's faithfullness; abide in the fact that He loves you infinitely, and even now is working in you faithfully; and honor Him, and put the enemy to flight by taking to yourself the words of Job: 'Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.' 'I have prayed for thee' (says the One who ever lives to make intercession for us) 'that thy faith fail not.' " --D.T.

"Cast not away, therefore, your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward" (Heb. 10:35).

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EFFORTLESS GRACE
By M. Stanford



"God. . , called me by His grace, to reveal His
Son in me" (Gal. 1 :15, 16).


Just think! Our Father has placed us in eternal and living union with His Son, that He, not we, may "be." Moreover, He has placed His Holy Spirit eternally within us that He, not we, may "do." Further, He has given us the necessary faith and Scripture that we may rest in this wonderful reality, trusting Him "to will and to do of His good pleasure." This is a far cry from futile struggle and frustrating Self-effort!

"Christians in the main groan and strive and struggle largely on the basis of human effort where the grace of God, though acknowledged, is scarcely operative - only to come to grief. Even at their best, they find the purpose of the Lord Jesus remains an ideal infinitely beyond their reach. The trouble lies in the fact that they are proceeding on the wrong basis.

"God does not expect them, as a result of their own endeavors, to be like the Lord Jesus. He expects them to realize the utter impossibility of such a thing (as in Romans Seven, where Paul comes to the end of himself). He expects them to know the Lord Jesus as their very life, disowning any other. He expects them to realize their position of absolute oneness with Christ, for He 'has blessed them with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places .in Christ' (Eph. 1:3)." -F.J.H.


"Be strengthened in the grace that is in Christ Jesus" (II Tim. 2:1, ASV).

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THREE TIMES WHEN THE LORD WOULDN'T ANSWER
by C. R. Stam

    In the various accounts of our Lord's earthly ministry we find three occasions when He declined to answer those who appealed to Him or questioned Him.

First there is the Gentile woman of Matthew 15:21-28. Her daughter was possessed of a demon and in her trouble she appealed to the Lord to help her, "but He answered her not a word." Finally, in His grace He did help her, but not until He had taught her the lesson that as a Gentile she had no claim on Him. As Romans 1:28 tells us, the Gentiles had been "given up" because "they did not like to retain God in their knowledge." In this connection we Gentiles should read carefully Ephesians 2:11,12 and see how utterly without hope we are apart from the grace of God.

Next there was a Jewess, in trouble of a different kind. She had been caught in adultery and was brought to him for judgment (John 8:1-11). Unlike the Gentile woman, she belonged to the chosen race and possessed God's holy Law, a distinct advantage -- unless you are a law-breaker. Our Lord also helped her in grace, but not until He had demonstrated that the law is the great leveler of mankind, bringing all guilty before God (Rom. 3:19).

But finally we find how it was that our Lord could show grace -- and do it justly -- to both Jew and Gentile, for in the third instance we find the Lord Himself in trouble. On trial for His life before the representatives of Hebrew and Roman law, He is accused of all sorts of wicked crimes. But on this occasion too, He declines to answer.

First Caiaphas, the High Priest, said to Him: "Answerest Thou nothing? What is it which these witness against Thee? But Jesus held His peace..." (Matt. 26:62,63).

Next Pilate, the Gentile judge, said: "Hearest Thou not how many things they witness against Thee? And He answered him to never a word; insomuch that the governor marveled greatly" (Matt. 27:13-14).

Why did our Lord not answer and defend Himself? Because He had come into the world specially to die for man's sins. Had the sinners of all ages been there to accuse Him of their sins, He would still have remained speechless for He stood there as man's representative, so that we might be "justified freely by God's grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 3:24).

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FREEDOM'S FOUNDATION
By Miles Sanford


"I have been crucified with Christ, and I myself no longer live" (Gal. 2:20, Wms.).

Upon conversion, the new believer feels that every opposition to a joyous, fruitful Christian life has been overcome once for all. Later, when the world and self begin to insinuate themselves once again, he thinks that determination and self-effort will keep him free. Finally, after a seemingly endless struggle, the defeated believer is brought back to the Cross. Here is the source of liberation from the power of self and the  world.

"Sinners are not saved until they trust the Saviour, and saints are not delivered until they trust the Deliverer. God has made both possible through the Cross of His Son." ---L.S.C.

"The believer can never overcome the 'old man' even by the power of' the 'new' apart from the work of the Cross, and therefore the death of Christ is indispensable, and unless the Cross is made the basis upon which he overcomes the 'old nature,' he only drops into another form of morality; in other words, he is seeking by self-effort to overcome sin and self, and the struggle is a hopeless one." - C.U.

"Just as the Lord Jesus came into this world where this old humanity was and came into it not to ally Himself with it but to take it into death by the Cross, even so He now by the Holy Spirit, in regeneration, comes into us where there is this old fallen life and not to ally Himself with it, but to hold it in the place of death by the same means - His Cross." - N.D.

"But may it never be mine to boast of anything but the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world!" (Gal. 6:14, Wms.).

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THE RESURRECTION DAY
by C. R. Stam


In Psalm 2:7 we find the prophetic words: "I will declare the decree: The Lord hath said unto Me, Thou art My Son: THIS DAY have I begotten Thee."

Should we ask: "What day?" or "When was Christ officially declared to be the Son of God?" We will find the answer in Acts 13:33:

"God hath fulfilled the same [promises] unto us... in that He hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second Psalm: Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee."

So it was at Christ’s resurrection that the "decree" was made and He was "declared" to be the Son of God -- "begotten" in the larger sense of the word.

This agrees with what we find in the first chapter of Romans, where St. Paul speaks of God’s good news,

"Concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; and declared to be the Son of God with power... by the resurrection from the dead" (Rom. 1:3,4).

This is a wonderful truth. It was Christ’s resurrection from the dead in power that proved that He was indeed God the Son. And more wonderful still: it was our death He died at Calvary, so that He might impart to us this everlasting resurrection life. In Eph. 2:2,3, we are all declared to have been "the children of disobedience" and therefore "by nature the children of wrath," but see how this passage continues:

"But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ (by grace ye are saved), and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2:4-6).

Thus, because of Christ’s finished work of salvation, those who place their trust in Him are given His resurrection life and "blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ" (Eph. 1:3). This is their RESURRECTION DAY!

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WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS
by C. R. Stam


Strange, is it not, that when men are successful, they generally credit themselves liberally for their success but when things go wrong they begin to blame others -- even God.

The writer does not have up-to-date information about two particular plots of ground in Moscow, but some years ago one of these was a beautiful garden, the other a patch of weeds. Above each there was a sign. Over the one: "This plot is cared for by the United Soviet Socialist Republic," over the other: "This plot is cared for by God"!

Evidently the atheistic Soviets who hatched this "bright idea" did not stop to think that only God could produce the beautiful flowers in the USSR plot. All their watering and cultivating would have been in vain except for the God they deny.

As to the other plot, they probably did not even know that even in Eden God put the garden in man’s charge "to dress it and to keep it" (Gen. 2:15), and later, when man sinned, God said to Adam, "Cursed is the ground for thy sake" (Gen. 3:17). This is why the Soviets must employ a gardener to control the weeds in even their garden! How wrong and foolish, then, for man ever to blame God for anything that goes wrong for him or causes him trouble!

Actually, when I have been asked: "If God is a God of love, why does He allow all this trouble and misery, and all this wickedness?" I have replied: "That’s easy. When God sent His Son into this world offering peace and righteousness and prosperity they cried: 'Away with Him' and nailed Him to a cross. If the Bible is true, and in this case it has surely proved to be true, how can this world expect peace while they still reject the Prince of Peace?"

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WHAT IS THE CHRISTIAN LIFE?



   Is the Christian life just a process of believing the Christian doctrines, going to church, doing our "bit" for the church and Jesus? Is that it?

    Sad to say, that is about all that "it" is for many. Is this what God had in mind when He gave His only Son to die on a cross? If it is, then all the facts which we believe with incredible tenacity are nothing more than evangelical fiction.

    Jesus didn't die on a cross to give us facts of history, or His story, as some have said. He gave us the facts concerning Himself in order that the facts would function within and through us. The question that looms large in my mind is, "How do these facts function?" How can I as a believer have the fact of His indwelling function within me?

    Ready? Here's how! Paul, the apostle, writing to the Thessalonians in his first epistle, chapter 5, verse 18 says, "In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." This is not a suggestion of something we might think about as a good idea. This is an imperative, a command.

    How can we possibly "Give thanks in every situation," you ask? I know of only one way. In the knowledge that He, the Lord Jesus, is in absolute control of every circumstance with which we will ever be confronted.

    We have the privilege of thanking Him in advance for what He is going to do. We can rest in His ability in response to our availability.

    There is a catch. Verse 19 of 1 Thessalonians 5, "Quench not the Spirit." Ominous words. Within the context, how does one "quench the Spirit?" Quite simply, by not giving thanks. Another way to put it is to grumble and complain. We cannot give thanks and whine at the same time. It is impossible. If we want the activity of God to cease in our life, all we need to do is grumble and complain.

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MADE NIGH IN CHRIST
By RUSSELL S. MILLER,




Scripture Reading: Ephesians 2:13

God gave up the Gentiles in Genesis eleven when He saved Abraham (Gen. 12:1-3). The vile affections wherein they sinned wickedly against themselves were, and still are today, an abomination to the Lord. These impure and unnatural sins brought God's wrath upon Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 19), and the Lord is no less displeased with such sinners today.

But He chose Abraham through whom to bless the world.
"Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness" (Rom. 4:3). Remarkable difference!

When our Lord Jesus Christ came upon this earthly scene He found His own people as far from God as the Gentiles. In the temple He quoted Isaiah 56:7 regarding the deplorable conditions there: "My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves" (Mark 11:17).

And because this attitude toward the Messiah continued, God set the nation aside to raise up that other Apostle, who said to the saved Gentiles at Ephesians:
 "But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ" (Eph. 2:13).

It is because these Gentiles were saved, they had trusted in the finished work of Calvary's cross and were "made nigh by the blood of Christ", that they were "in Christ Jesus". It is this same "believing", upon which believers today are "baptized into Jesus Christ".

"In Whom, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace" (Eph. 1:7).

Perhaps now you'll believe.

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FIXED POSITION
By Miles Stanford


"And He said to them all, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me" (Luke 9:23).

True spiritual experience will result from our standing immovable in our position "in Christ." All too often believers allow certain "experiences" to move them from the faith-ground of their objective position, and they are soon adrift on the sea of subjective feelings and unscriptural influences.

"The Christian life is essentially a continuous dying, and a continuous living. Of course, there may come a particular crisis in experience where the Spirit of God brings the soul face to face with a definite issue as to a willingness for the Cross, and a yielding of the life to God. Yes, the first revelation of the secret of victory also may constitute a real crisis in the life of the believer, but that crisis or experience can never, in itself, avail for the future.

"There is a subtle danger in relying upon some isolated experience of 'sanctification,' so-called. The victorious Christian life is a Person, not an experience. Following the crisis, whatever phase or landmark in the life that may represent, there must be the daily reckoning, the moment-by-moment abiding and the control of the Holy Spirit. Whatever may have been our experience of holiness, and the measure of spiritual attainment in the past, we can never get beyond the need of abiding in Christ and the continuous reckoning of faith." - R.W.

"For we, alive though we are, are continually surrendering ourselves to death for the sake of Jesus" (II Cor. 4:11, Wey.).

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There is so much confusion in Christendom

The problem is that people read their Bible too superstitiously, thinking that "wherever" they read and "whatever" they read is what God is saying to them; but that is not so. Confusion begins by not paying attention to "Who" is being addressed in a passage of the Bible; and then, not believing that when God addresses "Israel," He means Israel.

There is a portion of the Bible that specifically addresses US - Gentiles and Jews of this age. It is the books of Romans through Philemon. Now let's see how knowing this fact clears up much confusion.

It is commonly taught that there is only one gospel in the Bible. (I'm not speaking of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John which are sometimes called the four Gospels.) I'm talking about the proclamation of the gospel in the Bible. Many--in fact most--believe that all the New Testament preachers (John the Baptist, Jesus Christ, the Twelve Apostles, and the Apostle Paul) preached the same gospel. This is totally unscriptural! The Bible speaks of several gospels: "THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM," "THE GOSPEL OF THE GRACE OF GOD," THE GOSPEL OF PEACE," "THE EVERLASTING GOSPEL," "THE GOSPEL OF THE CIRCUMCISION," "THE GOSPEL OF THE UNCIRCUMCISION," etc. These are not all synonymous terms for the gospel.

The "GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM" is what our Lord Jesus Christ preached during his earthly ministry, according to Matthew 4:23. By comparing this verse with Matthew 4:17, we know that the "GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM" is the preaching of the good news that the "KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND." This was the "Kingdom" Jesus Christ taught his disciples to pray for in Matthew 6:10:

"THY KINGDOM COME. THY WILL BE DONE IN EARTH, AS IT IS IN HEAVEN."

God promised in the Old Testament to set up a Kingdom here on Earth through the nation Israel, in which Jesus Christ would reign as King! Christ was here; and the good news proclaimed was that the Kingdom was at hand. In Matthew 10:7 we find this to be the same gospel the Twelve Apostles were sent to preach. Also, in Matthew 10:5,6 we learn that this gospel was good news for the Nation of Israel. It is amazing, yet true, that even after the Twelve Apostles had been preaching this gospel for some time, they still did not know about Christ's purpose to go to the cross and die for their sins. We know this is true because when Jesus Christ began later to tell his Apostles that he was going to Jerusalem to die, they did not believe him, nor did they understand hat he was talking about. The reason they didn't understand was because they were preaching the good news about the Kingdom and to take the throne as their King - see Matthew 16:21,22; Luke 18:31-34; and Luke 19:11.

How, then, could the Twelve Apostles have been preaching the same gospel as the Apostle Paul later preached, when they did not know nor understand anything about the Cross at that time? Yet Paul says he preached (I Corinthians 1:18,23)

"THE CROSS" and "CHRIST CRUCIFIED"!

The point is this: the gospel that the Twelve Apostles preached during the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ is not the same gospel the Apostle Paul was sent to preach later. According to I Corinthians 15:1-4, the gospel Paul preached was the GOOD NEWS of the DEATH, BURIAL, and RESURRECTION of Jesus Christ FOR OUR SINS.

Paul tells us where his gospel originated in Galatians 1:11,12. It was after the resurrection and ascension that the Lord Jesus Christ revealed to the Apostle Paul all that was accomplished on the Cross. In Acts 20:24, Paul calls this message "THE GOSPEL OF THE GRACE OF GOD." In Galatians 2:1,2, we see that this gospel is intended for the Gentiles as well as Jews; and in Galatians 2:6-10 we find that the Twelve Apostles learned of this gospel from Paul.

In this present age of "GRACE," God has set Israel as a nation aside, and the Kingdom promised them has been postponed until a future time. Therefore the "GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM" is NOT God's message of good news for today, but rather the good news of how the Cross saves Sinners of all nationalities. This is God's message for today!

This is why the first epistle of Paul, set forth in our Bible, is the book of Romans. The book of Romans teaches precisely how God saves sinners. Therefore the following is God's message of good news for YOU today!
By Bill Wittpenn


TRUTH WITHOUT COMPROMISE

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THE SPIRIT OF PROMISE
by C. R. Stam


"[Having] believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise"  (Eph. 1:13).

Of all the wonderful Scripture passages on the eternal security of the believer in Christ, this is perhaps the most blessed of all.

"[Having] heard the Word of truth you believed," says the Apostle, and "[having] believed, you were sealed."Now a seal speaks of finality and permanency, whether it be the official seal on an important document, the seal on an electric transformer or the seal on a jar of preserves. But the most blessed fact of all is that the believer in Christ is "sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise." Mark well, he is sealed not by the Spirit but with the Spirit; the Spirit Himself is the seal.

Here, let us say, is a woman sealing jars of preserves with wax. The jars are sealed by the woman, but with the wax. Thus the humblest believer is sealed with the Spirit. It is He Himself who keeps us safe in Christ through all eternity.

And this is but the "earnest," the first installment, "of our inheritance" (Ver. 14), for the Spirit keeps us secure in "this present evil age" so that "in the ages to come" God might show "the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus" (2:7).

Little wonder the Apostle closes this passage on our security with those appropriate words: "To the praise of His glory" (1:14).

What some theologians have called "the perseverance of saints" is not our perseverance at all, but God's faithfulness. We have not persevered; He has preserved us by His grace for His glory.

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CONTINUOUS CROSS
By Miles Stanford



"For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake" (2 Cor. 4:11).

The indwelling Lord Jesus is the source of our life of liberation; the Cross is the means to it. As we abide in Him and He in us, we are to reckon upon the finished work of Calvary to deal progressively with self. It is on this basis alone that the life of Jesus will be manifested in our mortal flesh (2 Cor. 4:11) .

"God has taken the old creation and has condemned it in Christ, and is now working on the new creation. There is no place in the plan of God for the betterment of the old creation. He does not bring about some kind of transformation of the old man so as to produce some kind of resemblance to Christ in Christian character and conduct. There is only one place for the old creation, and that is the Cross.

"But it is not enough for us to say it is there crucified with Christ. Crucifixion was a lingering death, and while we stand once for all upon the fact of God, which is eternal and unchangeable, when our Lord Jesus Christ went to the Cross He took more than our sins with Him; He took our old man and dealt with the source of all our sin, and dealt with it satisfactorily. While we stand on that fact, there has to be the daily working out of the victory which Christ has won for us; there has to be the daily dying to this old self. The Holy Spirit has to work into us the death of the Lord Jesus Christ in all its wonderful power and purpose." - G.W.

"Being made comfortable unto his death" (Phil. 3:10).

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ACCESS BY FAITH
By RUSSELL S. MILLER,

Scripture Reading: Romans 5:2

Everyone is invited, but everyone does not have access to God. God does not hear the "vain repetitions" (Matt. 6:7) of the heathen. Yet the true saint may enter the presence of God at his convenience; when and where he chooses. This, the president of the United States does not allow.

Our "great God and Saviour" does, however, allow the unsaved "access" into His presence "by faith" in the shed blood of Christ today. This is a privilege that those under the Law did not enjoy. Only the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies, once a year, with the blood of a lamb without blemish.

And Paul declares in Romans 5: 1, 2 that simply believing what God says today produces that initial "access by faith" into His presence. "Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By Whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God."

Consequently the Apostle explains to saints far and wide, "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, [not the old dead sacrificial way, but] BY A NEW AND LIVING WAY, which He hath consecrated for us .... And having an high priest over the house of God; [1.] Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith ... [2.] Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering ... [3.] And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching" (Heb. 10:19-25).

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CHRISTIAN LIBERTY
by C. R. Stam


    Christian liberty is a priceless possession. It can be abused, of  course, but legitimately used it is an overflowing source of spiritual joy and power.

    God's purpose with regard to the liberty of the believer in Christ is aptly summed up for us in one short verse in the Galatian letter:

   "For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another" (Gal. 5:13)."

    As the cause of spiritual decline in Israel was always their departure from God's Word to them through Moses, so the cause of spiritual decline among believers today is always their departure from God's Word to us through Paul, and if anything is made unmistakably clear in the Epistles of Paul, it is the fact that believers in this present dispensation of grace have been delivered from the Law and, as God's full-grown sons in Christ,have been "called unto liberty." The failure of God's people to appropriate and enjoy this liberty today results in spiritual decline as surely as did the failure of the people of Israel to observe the law of Moses in their day.

    Could anything be plainer than those passages in this same  Galatian epistle, where the Apostle says by the Spirit:

   "CHRIST HATH REDEEMED US FROM THE CURSE OF THE LAW, being made a  curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth  on a tree" (Gal. 3:13)."

   "But when the fulness of the time was come, GOD SENT FORTH HIS  SON, made of a woman, made under the law,  "TO REDEEM THEM THAT WERE UNDER THE LAW, THAT WE MIGHT RECEIVE THE ADOPTION OF SONS" (Gal. 4:4,5)."


    Thus, to reject our blood-bought liberty and go back to the servitude of the Law is to repudiate not only the Word of God, but  the Word of God to us, and this must necessarily result in spiritual decline.

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THE LIVING GOD
by C. R. Stam


"My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God" (Psa. 42:2).

The recent "God is dead" theory had little true comfort or satisfaction for men in trouble or sorrow.

For years we supposed that the term "the living God," in the above passage, had reference to God’s power to help, in contrast to the impotence of dead heathen idols. A careful examination of the context, however, leads us to believe that it has rather to do with His ability to respond. The gods of the heathen, by contrast, were like children’s dolls; they could not even change their countenance or respond in any way.

"The idols of the heathen are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.
"They have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not;
"They have ears, but they hear not, neither is there any breath in their mouths" (Psa. 135:15-17).

But the true God is a living God. He does see, hear and respond. The Psalmist, in Psalm 42, compares himself to a stag, panting with thirst. It is sometimes supposed that the scene is one of a stag pursued in the chase, but the passage says nothing of this. Palestine is a dry land and entirely apart from being hunted down, a deer might well pant for streams of running water.

Be this as it may, the stag, in this passage, is not seeking for help; he is thirsting for refreshment, and so did the Psalmist long for the refreshment of fellowship with God, the living God.

How wonderful it is that we may know the living God through faith in Christ! This is why the Apostle Paul declares in Heb. 10:19:

"Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus... a new and living way, which He hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, His flesh. "

By His death at Calvary our Lord tore away the veil that kept us from entering into God’s presence, and now in response to our need He says:

"Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need" (Heb. 4:16).

Yes, God is a living God!