Refrain:

When overwhelmed my heart — I cry,
Lead to the Rock higher than I.
I’ve known His saving grace and power,
And I can trust Him every hour;
I’m sheltered safe within His hand;
His promises forever stand.
His blood has washed my sins away;
His grace preserves me every day:
He lives for me to supplicate —
My Great High Priest and Advocate.
There is a place where I can hide,
When troubles press on every side;
But oh how quickly I forget,
And in distress, struggle and fret.
And when I take my eyes from Thee,
And sink beneath the raging sea,
Recall my heart — and let me fly
Back to the Rock, higher than I.
Soon all the trials will be past,
And I shall reach the goal at last;
Beyond the tears and fears and grief,
Glorious departing, sweet relief.
Refrain:
Then I shall praise Him in the sky;
Jesus, the Rock, higher than I.
Let us, then, consider these portions of the Word of Life, and may they so speak to us that, as a result of our meditation, we would have a fresh glimpse of our Lord Jesus Christ. And too, may we have an increased desire to press on for our Saviour’s glory the few moments left before He comes to call us to Himself.
Above all, may …
We See Jesus.
Empty Without Jesus
“If one look unto the land, behold darkness and sorrow” (Isaiah 5:30).
This warning spoken by God to His people Israel, in the Old Testament, is very applicable to His people today.
Of course, for the lost who reject the Saviour of sinners and refuse God’s offer of eternal salvation, there is no hope. Sorrow and frustration follow them here in this life, and when they leave this sad world, they will have “the blackness of darkness forever” (Jude 13). For them, we are plainly told: “There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8:12). It is a solemn thing to consider the fact that not only will hell be a place of sorrow and torment, but there will be no hope — no hope of release from its confinement and no hope of relief from its agony. Forever, no hope!
However, this Scripture is not only a warning to the lost, but also an admonition to those who belong to the Lord Jesus. There is a great deal in this sin-sick world to discourage and cast us down, plenty to distract us from following Christ, and plenty to occupy our minds, our hearts and our time. But there is nothing in this world to satisfy! We read in 1 Peter 5:8, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.”
Is there not a danger, too, of looking around at our circumstances and forgetting the One who, in love, has ordered those circumstances? Wasn’t this the difficulty with the children of Israel when they were crossing the wilderness?
Let’s look up! Look up into the opened heavens — up at the One who is seated at the right hand of God — the place of exaltation and power. And remember …
We See Jesus.
Seeing the Unseen
“We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18).
This is a day of ever-increasing materialism. The natural man places utmost importance on the present and on the tangible. What a disappointment it is when the things of this world and what he has trusted in pass away and leave him empty — not filling the longing of his weary soul.
As Christians we are given several exhortations in the Word as to lifting our eyes above the horizons of this earth and its hopes, goals, allurements and aspirations. Here are just a few:
“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:19-21).
“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth” (Colossians 3:1-2).
In 1 Peter 1:4 we are reminded that we have “an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven.”
What a sad commentary we have concerning Lot, for we read, “Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere. … Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan” (Genesis 13:10-11).
Poor Lot lived to see the day when all that he chose and all that he worked for came under the judgment of God, as He rained fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah. All that we build for down here in this world is going to be left behind. This globe is “reserved unto fire.” Indeed, the “elements shall melt with fervent heat” (2 Peter 3:7,10).
Grant me grace, Lord Jesus,
Just to rest in Thee;
Fix my heart and mind and soul
Steadfastly on Thee.
We have been blessed “with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3). All is in Him, through Him, and by Him!
We See Jesus.
Saved, Sustained and Restored
“Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else” (Isaiah 45:22).
Salvation for the believer in this dispensation is presented in at least three different aspects in the New Testament. There is, of course, first of all, the salvation of the soul. That is the result of putting our trust in the Lord Jesus and resting fully on the finished work of the cross. “Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him” (Romans 5:9).
For Israel in the wilderness there was the serpent of brass on the pole. “Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived” (Numbers 21:9).
For us it is “Jesus Christ, and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2).
However, there is also the day-to-day preservation needed as we live in this world. The very next verse in Romans 5 tells us, “We shall be saved by His life.” This is His present intercession for us now as a living man in the glory.