03.05. Psalm 84:7
Psalms 84:7. "They go from strength to strength; every one of them in Zion appeareth before God." Blessed indeed is the way, rough or smooth, that leads to such a glorious end — before God, in Zion — the centre of grace and glory. But it seems strange, at first sight, that pilgrims should find strength for such a journey in the valley of tears — the place of self-mortification. And yet, we may say, they could find it, in like manner, nowhere else. We are strengthened through faith in the risen Christ and in reckoning our old nature as crucified by His cross. Never, until we enter into the great truth of the cross and a risen Christ, is the strength of God perfected in us. This is the blessed teaching, though crushing work of the valley. "When I am weak," as the apostle says, "then am I strong." We go, as it were, from weakness to weakness, and yet from strength to strength. It is not merely in Paul as the Lord’s servant that this grace so wonderfully shines forth, but in his felt, conscious weakness. This is carefully to be noted. It is worthy of thy deepest meditation, O my soul. There is no truth more practical in the Christian’s history and none, we fear, less understood or longer in being reached. "My strength," says the Lord, "is made perfect," not merely in my apostle, or in my servant, or in my disciple, but "in weakness." There must be acknowledged weakness before there can be known strength. But, oh! what a time we are in learning even a little of this lesson, though we have a divine Teacher. Mark the great hindrance to progress from the lowest form in the school of Christ.
Why does that newly-awakened soul refuse to believe God’s word, though weeping sore to know His mind? just because self is in the way and the work of the cross is not yet learnt. Self and its feelings are treated by the anxious one as of higher authority, and more to be trusted, than the word of God. What a place to give, we may well exclaim, to mere human feelings! But how often have we heard, from the lips of such, these words, "If I could feel that I am pardoned, I would believe it." This is vain, important, unjudged self. It sits on high and judges everything as below it. And this distrustful nature and opposition to God have not yet been detected by the awakened soul! And, of course, while this is the case, there can be no peace, no rest, no assurance of salvation enjoyed. Dark despair, oftentimes, seems near at hand; and the darkness and the despair will be in proportion to the reality of God’s work in the soul. The more real the work, the more real the distress if self be in the way. And this state of things must continue so long as the voice of self is listened to. It matters not what blessed things the Lord says to such in His word; they all go for nothing until self be set aside as an utterly condemned thing by the cross. This is the most subtle of Satan’s snares, both with young and old. The word of the Lord is before the soul in all its plainness and fulness. It meets every case, condition and state. The light of a cloudless sky shines on them all. But, no; it matters not. Self refuses to yield. It will readily acknowledge God’s word to be true; but still says, "It is not true to me yet, for I have not experienced the change within which warrants me to believe that it is true to me." This state of mind may seem humble, but it is really pride — it is unbroken self resisting God and His word. But the controversy must go on until self is subdued. God will never yield the point — the soul must. But that may not be until after many tears and sighs, and sleepless nights. Let us mark for a moment the struggle.
God says to the awakened, restless soul, "Believe my word and you shall be perfectly happy." "No," replies the soul, "first give me to feel an inward change that the word is true to me and then I will believe it." "What!" God again says, "is not my word true, whatever your feelings may be! Can any inward change make my word more true than it is! Why should you ask for any token that my word is true?" But again the soul will venture to say, "How can I believe unless I feel?" Once more God graciously replies, "How can you feel unless you believe?" Thus the sorrowful struggle goes on, until self is lost sight of and the word of God received as the answer of His love to the anxious soul. He waits patiently in His love until His word is believed without the feelings, for that is what it must come to in all, sooner or later. In some cases the struggle is short, in others it may last a life-time. This depends on the simplicity of faith; for the feelings so much desired can only be produced by means of the written word received into the heart. Oh! that we could persuade every weary one to have done with self and to rest entirely on the sure word of God; then would they have rest and peace and joy, and then, too, they would be strong for labour in the service of Christ. The practical importance of this point cannot be over-estimated. Thousands of true believers are kept in a state of uncertainty through looking to themselves in place of looking to Christ or through looking to their feelings instead of listening to His word. And the unhappy consequence is that they bear little testimony for Christ and do little service for Him; they are so much occupied with good-for-nothing self that the best things are lost sight of. Thus the enemy gains an advantage. Oh, that we may ever remember that all our blessing flows from the grace of God, and securely rests upon His word! And that word can never be truer or plainer that it is now. Of course, we shall, by-and-by, understand it better; but our knowledge of the word is the fruit of faith, not the ground of it. Faith bows to God’s word and sets to its seal that He is true. Sweetly entering into its depths or discovering its treasures comes afterwards. We must wait on God that He, by the Holy Spirit, may shed divine light on the infinite fulness of His own word.
"Thy faith hath saved thee," is the plain word of God to all, without exception, who come to Christ — who believe in Him. Having been brought to see our need as sinners and to trust in Jesus, the full blessing of God is ours. "Blessed are all they that put their trust in him." Faith believes it just because God says it and the feelings follow. The good news fills the soul with joy unspeakable and full of glory. When self has been silenced, and the word of God allowed its right place in the heart, the believer enters, in measure, into the very joys of heaven. The precious word of God will not be truer there. Therefore we ought to know our blessing now as perfectly, though not so fully, as we shall do when enthroned and crowned in glory. But before this happy condition of soul is enjoyed, self or the flesh must be judged, broken and mortified. This needed work of self-judgment must begin with conversion and never cease while we are here. It is founded on the work of the cross. There God judged the sin of our nature and our many actual sins. (Romans 8:3; Hebrews 9:28; 1 Peter 2:24) We should have the same thoughts of sin and self and Christ and the cross as He has. The valley of Baca sets forth the place of blessing through deep exercise of soul. When self is broken down and distrusted we go from strength to strength until we appear before God in Zion. When delivered from the galling bondage of self-occupation and the heart is happy in the liberty of Christ, we have made a fair start on our journey homewards and great blessing will be our daily portion. "Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them." (Psalms 84:5)