Nor was the blessing GOD gave to His servant a small one. During this
time of affliction, which, perhaps, was not very prolonged, Job
learned lessons, which all his life of prosperity had been unable to
teach him. The mistakes he made in the hastiness of his spirit were
corrected; his knowledge of GOD was deepened and increased; he had
learned to know Him better than he could have done in any other way.
He exclaimed that he had heard of Him previously, by the hearing of
the ear, and knew GOD by hearsay only; but that now his eye saw Him,
and that his acquaintance with GOD had become that which was the
result of personal knowledge, and not of mere report. All his
self-righteousness was gone: he abhorred himself in dust and ashes.
Then, when he prayed for his friends, the LORD removed the sorrow,
restored to him the love and friendship of those who previously were
for the time alienated, and blessed the latter end of Job more than
the beginning. His sheep, his camels, his oxen, and his asses, were
doubled. Again seven sons and three daughters were granted to him,
and thus the number of his children also was doubled; for those who
were dead were not lost, they had only gone before. And after all
this, Job lived 140 years, and saw his children, and grandchildren,
to the fourth generation; and finally died, being old and full of
days.
May we not well say that if Job's prosperity was blessed prosperity,
his adversity, likewise, was blessed adversity? "Weeping may endure
for a night, but joy cometh in the morning;" and the night of weeping
will bear a fruit more rich and permanent than any day of rejoicing
could produce. "The evening and the morning were the first day."
Light out of darkness is GOD'S order, and if sometimes our Heavenly
FATHER can trust us with a trial, it is a sure presage that, if by
grace the trial is accepted, He will ere long trust us with a
blessing.
In this day, when material causes are so much dwelt upon that there
is danger of forgetting the unseen agencies, let us not lose sight of
the existence and reality of our unseen spiritual foes. Many a child
of GOD knows what it is to have sore conflict with flesh and blood;
and yet, as says the Apostle, "We wrestle not against flesh and
blood, but against ... wicked spirits in heavenly places" (margin).
It would be comparatively easy to deal with our visible foes, if the
invisible foes were not behind them. With foes so mighty and, apart
from GOD'S protecting care, so utterly irresistible, we should be
helpless indeed if unprotected and unarmed.
We need to put on the whole armor of GOD, and to be not ignorant of
Satan's devices. Let us not, on the other hand, lose sight of the
precious truth that GOD alone is Almighty; that GOD is our Helper,
our Protector, and our Shield, as well as our exceeding great Reward.
"If GOD be for us, who can be against us?" Let us always be on His
side, seeking to carry out His purposes; then the power of GOD will
always be with us, and we shall be made more than conquerors through
Him that loved us.
Coming to the King.
"And King Solomon gave unto the Queen of Sheba all her desire,
whatsoever she asked, beside that which Solomon gave her of his royal
bounty."--1 Kings x. 13.
The beautiful history recorded in the chapter from which the above
words are quoted is deeply instructive to those who have learned to
recognise CHRIST in the Scriptures. The reference to this narrative
by our LORD Himself was surely designed to draw our attention to it,
and gives it an added interest. The blessings, too, received by the
Queen of Sheba were of no ordinary kind. She was not only pleased
with her reception, and with what she saw, but all her difficulties
were removed, all her petitions were granted, all her desire was
fulfilled. She was satisfied--so satisfied that, with glad and
thankful heart, she turned and went away to her own country to fulfil
the duties which, in the providence of GOD, devolved upon her.
If we may learn from this narrative how to approach the Antitype of
King Solomon, and to receive from Him blessings as much greater than
those received by the Queen of Sheba as CHRIST is greater than
Solomon, we shall not meditate without profit on this portion of
Scripture.
In many respects we resemble the Queen of Sheba. Though of royal
birth, she was doubtless, like the bride in the Song of Solomon,
black, because the sun had looked upon her. The post which she was
called to occupy was no easy one; in her own life, and in her duty
towards others, she found many hard questions to which she saw no
solution. She heard of one reigning in the power of the LORD, whose
wisdom exceeded that of the wisest of men, and who, if any one could,
might afford her the help that she needed. She felt sure that the
reports that she heard of his wisdom and of his acts were
exaggerated; yet, even allowing for this, she was prepared to take a
long and difficult journey that she might see his face and prove for
herself how far her difficulties could be solved by him. And she came
not empty-handed; she came not only to receive, but also to give,
"with a very great train, with camels that bare spices, and very much
gold, and precious stones," not because she thought Solomon poor and
needy, but because she knew of his magnificence she sought to bring
gifts worthy of his royal dignity, and so coming she was not
disappointed.
Her long journey accomplished, she reached Jerusalem, and was granted
the audience with the great king which her soul craved. She not only
unburdened her camels, she unburdened her own heart, and found that
her difficult questions were no difficulty to him. "Solomon told her
all her questions: there was not any thing hid from the king, which
he told her not." And so gracious was he that, without restraint,
"she communed with him of all that was in her heart." Surely this
utter opening of the heart implies a great deal. To none but the true
Solomon can we give such confidence, but to Him we may lay bare the
innermost recesses of our souls, and bring the questions, difficult,
perplexing, or sad, which we could breathe into no human ear.
We know what came of the questionings, in the case of the Queen of
Sheba, as to whether Solomon really could be all that some
enthusiasts had reported. When she had seen his wisdom, and the house
that he had built, his state and his magnificence, and his ascent by
which he went up into the house of the LORD, there was no more spirit
in her; and she said to the king, "It was a true report that I heard
in mine own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom. Howbeit I believed
not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it; and, behold,
the half was not told me: thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the
fame which I heard. Happy are thy men, happy are these thy servants,
which stand continually before thee, and that hear thy wisdom.
Blessed be the LORD thy GOD, which delighteth in thee, to set thee on
the throne of Israel: because the LORD loved Israel for ever,
therefore made He thee king, to do judgment and justice."
Was there not the true spirit of prophecy in these words? Solomon has
passed away, and all his magnificence; the pleasant land is to this
day desolate under the power of the Turk; but the LORD has loved
Israel for ever, and soon a King shall reign in Mount Zion "before
His ancients gloriously." But meanwhile this KING, all unseen to
human sense, is reigning, and to those who come to Him in no sordid
spirit, but gladly consecrating the wealth of their heart's affection
and the most worthy gifts they possess--to those who feel enriched by
His acceptance of their gifts, and find pleasure in bestowing on Him
for His service the best they can offer--to such there is still given
the opening of heart and opening of eye to behold the KING in His
beauty, and to find all needed present solution of every hard
question.
Do we not often give to a poor CHRIST rather than to a rich one? Are
we not sometimes unwilling to give until we know His work to be in
straits, and sometimes its very existence imperilled? Are not our
hearts oft times more moved by the recital of human needs than by
CHRIST'S claim for the prosecution of the one work for which He has
left His Church on earth? A famine in India, a flood in China, is
more potent to bring temporal relief than the continual famine of the
bread of life and of the increasing floods of heathen ungodliness. It
is well, it is CHRIST-like, to minister temporal relief to suffering
humanity, but shall the deep longings and thirstings of His soul, and
the impressiveness of His last command ere He ascended on high, be
less urgent? How many of the parents who refuse to let son or
daughter go into the mission-field would refuse the Queen of England
were she to confer the honour of a mission on their beloved children?
Do we recognize the majesty of the King of Glory, and the immortal
honor that appertains to His service? To those who do, the glad
exclamations of the Queen of Sheba afford well-suited expressions:
Happy are Thy subjects, happy are Thy servants which stand
continually before Thee and hear Thy wisdom.
To the Queen of Sheba, however, more was given than to those happy
subjects or to those servants who served the king in their own land.
To her was given, as an eye-witness of the majesty of the king, as a
glad participant of his bounty, to return to the far-off land, and to
testify to those to whom, if they had heard at all, the half had not
been told. Not as she came did she return, with a longing, yearning,
unsatisfied heart, with duties to discharge for which she had not the
wisdom;--with a royal dignity indeed, but one which brought not rest
to her own spirit. Now she had seen the king, now all her desire was
met; and the glorious king, after thus marvelously satisfying her,
had further overwhelmed her with unthought-of gifts of his own royal
bounty!
Do we know much of this, beloved friends? Has CHRIST become to us
such a living bright reality that no post of duty shall be irksome,
that as His witnesses we can return to the quiet home side, or to the
distant service among the heathen, with hearts more than glad, more
than satisfied; and most glad, most satisfied, when most sad and most
stripped, it may be, of earthly friends and treasures? Let us put all
our treasures into His hand; then He will never need to take them
from us on account of heart idolatry; and if in wisdom and love He
remove them for a time, He will leave no vacuum, but Himself will
fill the void, Himself wipe away the tear.
There is yet more for us than it was possible to give to the Queen of
Sheba. King Solomon had to send her away, he could not go with her;
while, though we have to leave the conference or convention, or the
early hour of holy closet communion with our LORD, for the ordinary
duties of daily life, our Solomon goes with us, nay, dwells in us, to
meet each fresh need and to solve each fresh perplexity as it arises.
We have His word, "I will never leave thee, never fail thee, never
forsake thee." Satisfied and filled to begin with, we have the
SATISFIER, the FILLER, with us and in us. When He says, "Whom shall
We send and who will go for Us?" He means to send us on no lonely
errand, but on one which will give to Him a better opportunity of
revealing Himself, and to us of "finding out the greatness of His
loving heart." Who will not answer Him, "Here am I, send me;" or,
"Here are mine, send them"?
A Full Reward.
"It hath fully been shewed me, all that thou hast done ... and how
thou hast left they father and thy mother, and the land of thy
nativity, and art come unto a people which thou knewest not
heretofore. The LORD recompense thy work, and a full reward be given
thee of the LORD GOD of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to
trust" (Ruth ii. 11, 12).
In this interesting narrative we have another instance of the way in
which the HOLY GHOST teaches by typical lives. We have dwelt on some
precious lessons taught us of our KING by the account of the coming
of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon. There we were specially taught
how our hard questions are to be solved, and our hearts to be fully
satisfied. Here a still higher lesson is give us: How to serve so as
to obtain "a full reward," while as to the nature of that full reward
no little light is given us.
To us these lessons are of special interest, as bearing on missions
to foreign nations, and perhaps they somewhat explain why He who
delights to bless, and is able to bless the obedient soul, said so
emphatically, "Go, teach all nations;" "Go ye into all the world."
The service of GOD is a delightful privilege anywhere. Those who stay
at home, however, need to become strangers and pilgrims there. This
is not always easy to do in the present day; and many fail, and
forget their true position. To those who are permitted to labour in
foreign lands, there is a lessened danger in this respect; and hence
many obtain a fuller joy in present service, and look forward to a
fuller reward by-and-by, than they anticipated ere they left all for
JESUS' sake.
Ruth was by nature a "stranger to the commonwealth of Israel," but by
marriage with an Israelite was brought amongst that people. On the
death of her husband, she still clave to her mother-in-law and to her
GOD, the GOD of Israel. She so esteemed her privileged position that
for it she left her native land and all its enjoyments; left parents,
relatives and friends, and all those attractions that led Orpah to
return to Moab. To her it was better to be the companion of her
mother-in-law, poor and desolate as she was, than to enjoy for a
season what in Moab might have been hers.
This sacrifice was so real that Naomi, much as she loved her
daughter-in-law, and desolate as she would be without her, felt she
could not wish it for her own sake merely; but when Ruth said, "Thy
people shall by my people, and thy GOD my GOD," she had no further
doubt to suggest, and no further obstacle to put in her way. If
companionship with one of GOD'S poor servants is so precious, what
shall we say to Him who exhorts us, "Go! ... and, lo, I am with you"?
Is He not saying: The good SHEPHERD must seek the wandering sheep
until He find them. Go ye, too, and seek them, and in so doing you
shall find My companionship ensured? Shall we decline this fellowship
with Him, and leave Him, so far as we are concerned, to seek them
alone?
We next find Ruth toiling in the burning sun as a gleaner, and there
she meets for the first time the lord of the harvest. The beauty of
the narrative of Boaz saluting his reapers with, "Thy LORD be with
you," and their reply, "The LORD bless thee," must delight every
reader. And poor Ruth, too though not a reaper--only a gleaner--is
made most welcome, and encouraged to remain in the fields of Boaz
until all the reaping is done. With touching simplicity and humility
the grateful gleaner replies, "Why have I found grace in thine eyes,
that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger?"
Then the lord of the harvest responds in the words we have quoted at
the head of the paper, "It hath fully been showed me, all that thou
hast done," etc.
Let us then turn from Boaz to the true LORD of the Harvest. Does He
meet us there, toiling in the heat of the summer's sun? Knowing fully
all we have done, does that knowledge bring joy to His heart? and is
it a joy to us to know that He knows all? Our risen and glorious
LORD, so wonderfully described in Rev. i, still walks in the midst of
the golden candlesticks. Can He say to us, "I know thy works," with
no word of rebuke? or do we feel the blush of shame as the eye as "a
flame of fire" rests upon us? "And now, little children, abide in
Him; that, when He shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be
ashamed before Him at His coming."
Let us all leave the fatherland of the world, and at least become
strangers and pilgrims in it. Let us all toil in some way or other in
the great harvest-field, and if we may lawfully do so, let us not be
slow to obey the command to "go, teach all nations." Where the need
is greatest let us be found gladly obeying the MASTER'S command. For
it is in the harvest-field, it is among the reapers, that we shall
find Him.
There is no Christian service in which faith must not be in lively
exercise. At home, abroad, connected with this branch of GOD'S work
or that, without faith it is impossible to please Him. Paul may
plant, Apollos water; GOD only gives the increase. Every true
minister of GOD, every true missionary, every true Sunday-school
teacher and Christian worker is a faith-worker. But in the foreign
field workers are peculiarly cast on GOD. There are special dangers
and difficulties, special weaknesses and needs that bring GOD very
near--nearer than most of the workers realised Him to be while they
remained at home. And to those who have gone out without human
guarantee of support, who do not know when the next help may reach
them, not its amount, there is an additional link with the great
loving heart of our FATHER and our GOD that is unspeakably precious
and welcome.
May we not say that in ever position of life when we are weak in
ourselves, our friends, our circumstances, then are we strongest in
Him? And when in our great needs, for ourselves or for the souls
around us, we lay hold on GOD and say, "My soul, wait thou ONLY upon
GOD; for my expectation is from Him," what rest and security and
certainty come into the waiting soul. And ah! When labouring in this
spirit how words like those of our heavenly Boaz come home to the
heart. "The LORD recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee
of the LORD GOD of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust."
Happy toiler in China! Happy toiler at Home! If it is sometimes dark,
the shadow is but the shadow of His wing, under which thou art
abiding, under which thou art come to trust.
We will not prolong this meditation. He who comforted and blessed the
lonely gleaner while the harvest lasted, became her husband when the
harvest toil was past. It was thus the LORD recompensed her work.
Israel was not blessed apart from her, for David the deliverer, and
Solomon the glory of Israel, were born of the seed which Boaz had
through her. Soon shall come the glorious day of the espousals of
CHRIST and His Church. With her He will come to deliver Israel and to
judge the world and even the angels. Ruth little knew the honour and
happiness awaiting her when she left all for GOD and His people. We
know the purposes of GOD'S grace and the glories in store for us.
What manner of men, then, should we be; and how earnest and faithful
in the little time which awaits us before we are called to our
reward, and to meet Him in the air? When He says, Go! Shall we reply,
No? When He asks us to continue in His harvest till the reaping is
over, shall we say Him, Nay?
Under the Shepherd's Care.