'Reflections' is a Christian meditation sent by Action Uganda Ministries and is meant to encourage, instruct and edify.

About Job 33:1-7

"But let us note first of all, that when God grants us the grace to speak in His name, it behooves us to give authority to His word and to commend it. If we are so distracted by looking at creatures that we do not speak as freely as we ought to, do we not dishonor God? If a man is sent from some earthly prince and lets other men scorn him and ducks his duty and dares not deliver the message that is committed to him, is it not unpardonable cowardice? God receives us to His service, even as we who are only dust before Him, who are altogether unprofitable; He gives us an honorable commission to carry His word, and He wishes to have it delivered with all authority and reverence. Then some man makes us tremble so that we disguise God's truth by turning it into a lie, or else we bear it in such a way that it will no longer have its natural right. I pray you, is not that as great a reproach as can be heaped upon God? So then, if God's word is not borne so openly and freely that men may honor it, it is no wonder that punishment is prepared such as Eliphaz describes. So we have a double lesson to gather from this passage.

(1) The one is for those who preach God's word, who are in office to teach as pastors. These must be so firmly resolved that they bend for nothing whatever, as it is said in Jeremiah that he must be as bold as brass in the fight; because the world will never be without great stubbornness, and those who are raised to some dignity or honorable estate cannot be captive to God's obedience, but do always raise their horns against Him. When men so forget themselves that they cannot subject themselves to Him Who has created and fashioned them, it behooves us to have an invincible constancy, and to reckon that we shall have enmity and displeasure when we do our duty; yet nevertheless let us go through it without bending. You see what we who are ordained as pastors to preach the word of God have to remember.

(2) It also behooves all people to receive a general instruction. Therefore when we come to hear a sermon, let us not bring here such haughtiness that we chafe against God when we are reproved for our sins. Let us not bring any bitterness so as to be angry when our itching backs are scraped; let us not be so foolish and presumptuous as to think that God ought to hold His peace for us; let us not ask to be spared under the pretext that there is some good quality in us. Even if we were as kings and princes, it would behoove us to bow down our necks to receive God's yoke; for all haughtiness must be cast down, as St. Paul says. For the gospel is preached in order that both great and small should submit themselves to God and allow themselves to be governed by Him. It cannot be done unless we put down our haughtiness (as St. Paul says in that place-2 Corinthians 10:5) which exalts itself against the majesty of our Lord Jesus Christ. We must not wait until we are forced or compelled to obey God, but every man must do it willingly. Let those who are of high estate know that, even if they were more than kings, they ought to humble themselves at the preaching of God's truth. And why? For they must be aware of this. From what our Lord or master is he sent whom preaches? Even from Him Who has sovereign dominion over all mankind and unto Whom all men ought to be in subjection. If we are of low estate, I pray you, is it not foolish rage to desire that men should support us and hide and cover our faults, indeed, that the word of God should be falsified in our favor? Can God be transfigured? No! He wills that His word should be His live image. Now if we seek to be flattered it is as if we required God to change His nature and disown Himself in order to please us. And is not that too devilish a rashness? Then let us learn to come to hear God's word with all humility and modesty, knowing that our obedience must be tested in this respect, and that no one should be spared, but faults exposed with straightforward liberty, as is proper."

-John Calvin from his sermons from Job; first printed in 1553. Reprinted in 1952 by Eerdmans Publishing Company  USA  Pages 244-246

See other Meditations Below:

"Behold the man!" A feeble reed is His rod of office; but with the scepter of Omnipotence, which He wielded from the beginning, He did not perform the wonders which He works with this mark of abasement and weakness. The scepter of His majesty did not menace the kingdom of darkness in its claim on fallen man, since retributive justice, the basis of God's throne, bounded His power with impassable limits. With the scepter of His lowliness, on the contrary, He overturns the seat of the prince of darkness, and hell itself dares not object to, nor call it in question.

It is not in the form of 'the Master in Israel', nor in that of the glorious Son of the Eternal Father, but in the form of the divine sufferer, that He inclines the hearts of those toward Him whom He purchased with His blood. No sooner does He display before them His suffering form, than they begin to be astonished, and feel attracted, as by a wondrous and magnetic power; and when they hear, as from His bleeding lips, that all He endured was for their sakes, it is His purple robe they first lay hold of, His crown of thorns to which they first pay homage, and His reed-scepter to which, in joyful obedience, they bow their necks, as to that of their rightful Lord. Yes, the sight of the suffering Savior is still the mighty power which silently changes lions into lambs, breaks and melts the stony heart, and prepares the way for His most glorious achievements.

'Behold the man!' Yes, keep your eyes fixed on Him. Even as He is the judge and Conqueror, so He is also the Benefactor of the world. We know that He no longer stands on Gabbatha. He has long ago ascended the throne of glory, in a different robe and in a different diadem from that in which we there beheld Him. But He left us His thorn-crowned image in the gospel; and oh, the wonders it has wrought in the world, and continues to perform, whenever the Holy Spirit illumines it! He appears in this form to those who are grievously afflicted, and scarcely do they behold Him than they breathe more freely, and exultingly. In this form He approaches His children when rejected and despised by the world, and when they see Him they already feel fresh courage. In this form He restores those to His flock who had let themselves be seduced from Him by the allurements of the world.

O may He thus appear to us, likewise when our day declines, and the darkness of night surrounds us! May He then unveil His suffering form before us, when the gloomy path presents itself to our view, which we must tread alone! When the consolation of human affection no longer reaches the heart, O may He then accompany us in our solitary paths, in His purple robe and crown of thorns and all that is dark around us will be changed into heavenly light and glory! For it is in this form above every other, that the great truth is expressed, that the sentence of death, and the curse are removed from our heads to His, in order that free access to the throne of grace may be granted us, when clothed in the robe of His righteousness."

-F W Krummacher from Suffering Savior First English edition, Edinburgh, 1856  First Banner of Truth edition 2004  Carlisle, PA  Pages 293-294

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"I have been particularly acquainted with many persons that have been the subjects of the high and extraordinary transports of the present day; and in the highest transports of any of the instances that I have been acquainted with, and where the affections of admiration, love and joy, so far as another could judge, have been raised to a higher pitch than in any other instances I have observed or been informed of, the following things have been united: viz. a  very frequent dwelling, for some considerable time together, in such views of the glory of the divine perfections, and Christ's excellencies, that the soul meantime has been as it were perfectly overwhelmed, and swallowed up with light and love and a sweet solace, rest and joy of soul, that was altogether unspeakable; and more than once continuing for five or six hours together, without any interruption, in that clear and lively view or sense of the infinite beauty and amiableness of Christ's person, and the heavenly sweetness of his excellent and transcendent love; so that (to use the person's own expressions) the soul remained in a kind of heavenly Elysium, and did as it were swim in the rays of  Christ's love, like a little mote swimming in the beams of the sun, or streams of his light that come in at a window; and the heart was swallowed up in a kind of glow of Christ's love, coming down from Christ's heart in heaven as a constant stream of sweet light, at the same time the soul all flowing out in love to him; so that there seemed to be a constant flowing and reflowing from heart to heart. The soul dwelt on high, and was lost in God, and seemed almost to leave the body; dwelling in a pure delight that fed and satisfied the soul; enjoying pleasure without the least sting, or any interruption, a sweetness that the soul was lost in; so that (so far as the judgment and word of a person of discretion may be taken, speaking upon the most deliberate consideration) what was enjoyed in each single minute of the whole space, which was many hours, was undoubtedly worth more than all the outward comfort and pleasure of the whole life put together; and this without being in a trance, or being at all deprived of the exercise of the bodily senses; and the like heavenly delight and unspeakable joy of soul, enjoyed from time to time, for years together; though not frequently so long together, to such an height: extraordinary views of divine things, and religious affections, being frequently attended with the very great effects on the body, nature often sinking under the weight of divine discoveries, the strength of the body taken away, so as to deprive of all ability to stand or speak; sometime the hands clinched, and the flesh cold, but senses still remaining; animal nature often in a great emotion and agitation, and the soul very often, of late, so overcome with great admiration and a kind of omnipotent joy, as to cause the person (wholly unavoidably) to leap with all the might, with joy and mighty exultation of soul; the soul at the same time being so strongly drawn towards God and Christ in heaven, that it seemed to the person as though soul and body would, as it were of themselves, of necessity mount up, leave the earth and ascend thither.”

-From “Some Thoughts on the Late Revival of Religion in New England” by Jonathan Edwards from the 1740’s.

Edwards here describes the effects of that reviving work of God upon people as they were spiritually, emotionally and physically touched by the Spirit.

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"Now, as the irreligion of our day is of much deeper root and stronger texture than that of former times, so must the means for removing it be more vigorous and decisive. Whatever might have formerly availed for effecting the cure, nothing now will be of service but the strongest measures. The disease is more malignant; the obstacles to be overcome are greater than ever; for "in the last days perilous times shall come": "Little children, it is the last time, and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now there are many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time" (2Tim 3:1; 1 John 2:18).

First, then, let me observe, the unbelief of our day is one of the most formidable obstacles which lie in our way. By unbelief, I do not mean that bold infidelity which has so extensively lifted its front amongst us. I speak of that subtlety of Satan whereby he has contrived to rob spiritual things of all their power and reality; and if not to lead us to doubt of their existence, at least to withdraw us from their close contact and immediate influence; to deprive them of their personality, and to present them to us as vague, airy abstractions, which float through both understanding, but which never close around the heart.

Unbelief is the opposite of faith; and faith is said by the apostle to be "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Unbelief, then, is that which reduces things hoped for to a shadow, and takes from us the demonstration of things not seen. It is this consummation of his hellish craft that Satan is now seeking to achieve. The world is not yet ripe for denying God with the open lip, and throwing off altogether the yoke of spiritual things. His object, therefore, is to remove the substance while he allows us to retain the shadow; to extract the jewels while he lets us keep the casket; to destroy "the power" while he suffers us to retain "the name." This is unbelief in its subtlest and most specious form-eating out the vitals of religion, while the skeleton stands entire in every joint and bone. He seems, at last, to have discovered wherein the mighty strength of Christianity lay;-even in the closeness of that contact with the world unseen into which it brings us, and the consequent influence which things spiritual thus possess over every manner of hope and joy. He is, therefore, now busied in removing these realities to a distance, that he may neutralize the power of the religion of Christ. Both heaven and hell is he seeking to convert into shadows; and even to hide himself from the eye of men; persuading them to doubt his own existence, and to deny his personality; pointing the jest against himself, and scoffing at men’s notions of his power and presence, as the dreams of the credulous, the dregs of a darker time, too gross and irrational for an enlightened age like this!

He is interposing a veil between things possessed and things hope for,-and that is unbelief. He is drawing an impassable gulf between things seen and unseen,-and that is unbelief. He is cutting off the communications between time and eternity, severing the link that bound the two together,-and that is unbelief. He is persuading us that the present is the only substantial reality, and the future but a dim and distant shadow,-a possibility, or, at the most, a probability, but not a certainty; and that is unbelief. The mighty work of unbelief, however, which he is especially striving to effect, is to draw a veil between us and Christ. This is the grand design which he seems especially to be laboring to effect in these last days. To separate Christ from the world, and the world form Christ, yea, to take Christ out of the world altogether, and to make us believe we can do well enough without Him-this, this is especially his aim! To take Christ out of religion, out of our theology, out of our education, out of our government, out of our thoughts and hearts,-this he labors by every agency to effect!"

-From Horatius Bonar's (1808-1889) sermon, The Cure for Unbelief, based on Mark 9:29.

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"The church would soon be healed of her sorrows, and delivered from her divisions, if she would for awhile be silent; but the voice of a favorite teacher is heard by some, and the voice of another master in Israel is listened to by others, and so God's voice is lost amid the clamor of sects and uproar of parties. Oh, that the church would sit at Jesus' feet, lay aside her prejudices, and take the Word in its simplicity and integrity, and accept what God the Lord, and he only, doth declare to be the truth. I invite members of this church to see this, that we cry unto the Lord for a blessed silence in his presence, till we sit like servants waiting for their Master's word, and stand like watchmen waiting for the Master's coming, ourselves quiet, restful, peaceful, resigned, nay, acquiescing in the divine will, all attent to hear each word that falls from him, and resolved with humble resolution that whatever the Lord shall speak that we will do; we will accept his word as law, and light, and life to our souls, and nothing else beside. The Lord send that solemn silence over all his people now.

II. In that silence LET US RENEW OUR STRENGTH. Noise wears us; silence feed us. To run upon Christ's errands is always well, but to sit at the Master's feet is quite as necessary; for, like the angels who excel in strength, our power to do his commandments arises out of our harkening to the voice of his word. If even for a human controversy quiet thought is a fit preparation, how much more is it needful in solemn pleadings with the Eternal One? Now let deep springs be unsealed; let the solemnities of eternity exercise their power while all is still within us.

But how happens it that such silence renews our strength? It does so, first, by giving space for the strengthening word to come into the soul, and the energy of the Holy Spirit to be really felt. Words, words, words; we have so many words, and they are but chaff, but where is THE WORD that in the beginning was God and was with God? That Word is the living and incorruptible seed, "What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the Lord." We want less of the words of man, and more of him who is the very Word of God. Be quiet, be quiet, and let Jesus speak. Let his wounds speak to you; let his death speak to you; let his resurrection speak to you; his ascension and his subsequent glory speak to you; and let the trumpet of the second advent ring in your ears. You cannot hear the music of these glorious things because of the rattle of the wheels of care and the vain jangle of disputatious self-wisdom.

Be silent, that you may hear the voice of Jesus, for when he speaks you will renew your strength. The eternal Spirit is with his people, but we often quite miss his power because we give more ear to other voices than to his, and quite as often our own voice is an injury to us, for it is heard when we have received no message from the Lord, and therefore gives an uncertain sound. If we will wait upon the blessed Spirit, his mysterious influence will sway us most divinely, and we shall be filled with all of the fullness of God. Even as we have seen the frost yield suddenly to the influence of the warm south wind, so shall our lethargy melt before his sovereign energy. How often have I felt in a moment my ice-locked spirit yield to the breath of the Holy Ghost. You have seen a cloud on high flying, as you thought, against the wind, driven on by some upper current of air which you did not feel below: even thus have we been carried on by upper currents which flesh and blood cannot understand. We sang as Dr. Watts does-

"Look how we grovel here below,

Fond of these trifling toys;

Our souls can neither fly nor go

To reach eternal joys."

But when the Holy Spirit came the lightening itself could not over take us; we rode upon a cherub and did fly, yea, we did ride upon the wings of the wind, for God the everlasting One had caught us up thus and filled us with his power. Be silent, then, that the Spirit may thus work upon you. Let other spirits be gone-let the spirit of this world, and the spirit of the flesh, and the spirit of self be banished, and let the spirit of the ever Blessed be heard speaking in your soul. Thus shall you renew your strength."

-From C.H. Spurgeon's sermon from 1875 entitled Solemn Pleadings For Revival

Based on Isaiah 41:1

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"Whosoever, then, will think of himself, will find himself blameworthy to be punished by God as grievously as those whom he sees hard-pressed; and so we ought to regard them in pity and compassion. So, our vices and our iniquities ought to make us humble. There is a poor, miserable fellow; I see that God persecutes him; it is a horrible thing. But what of it? There is cause enough for which God could also punish me; I must, then, be humble, and I must look at myself in the person of this one. That is one item. And then, when we shall see a man who will have been afflicted greatly as possible by the hand of God, may we know not only that he was created in the image of God, but also that he is a neighbor to us, and as it were one with us; we are all of one nature, we have one flesh, we are mankind, that is to say, we came out of one source. Since it is so, must we not think of one another,

"Furthermore, I see a poor soul who is going to perish; ought I not to have compassion to relieve him, if it is in me?" And though I may not have the means, I ought to aspire to do it. There are (I say) the two reasons which ought to move us to pity when we see that God afflicts those who are worthy of it. When then, we think of ourselves, it is certain that we must be very hard and stupid, or we shall have pitied those who are like us, as when we shall recognize, "Here is a man who is formed in the image of God, he is a soul which has been bought by the blood of the Son of God. If he perishes, ought we not to be touched by it?"

It is why Job says now, "Pity me, my friends, since the hand of God has struck me." To understand this still better, we must tale this sentence: "It is a horrible thing to fall into the hands of the Living God." When, then, we see some punishment which God sends, we must be moved with fright, even though He spares us. I shall be at rest, and God seemingly will not touch me at all, but I shall see how He strikes one, how He afflicts another; is it not something to be astonished at? Must we wait for God to strike our heads with great blows? It would be too base. But when we see that He wishes to instruct us at the expense of others, we must consider the cause why He punishes men so, as Saint Paul shows us (Ephesians 5:6). He does not say, "Fear ye, for the wrath of God will come upon you;" but he says, "My friends, you see how God punishes unbelievers, while He spares you; so that you must know that it is for your instruction when He gives some sign of His wrath upon men." Let us note then, this sentence of the Apostle, namely: it is a frightening thing to fall into the hands of God; and whenever He does some punishment, may we be moved. Now from this we shall be fully instructed to pity those who endure, by saying, "Alas! Here is a poor creature; if it were a mortal man who afflicted him, he could be given some alleviation; but God is against him; and ought we not to have pity as we see this?" If someone argues, "Is it not resisting God if we pity those who are chastised for their faults? Is it not as if we wished to set ourselves against the justice of God?" No; for we can surely have these two motives in us: (1) to approve the justice of God, giving Him glory and praise for what He does; and nevertheless (2) we allow ourselves to pity those who are punished, since we have deserved as much or more, since we ought to seek the salvation of all, whether those who are our near neighbor or whether there will be some bond that God will have placed between us; as we shall approve earthly justice which is only as it were a little mirror of the justice of God,"

-From John Calvin's sermon I Know My Redeemer Lives based on Job 19:17-25; first preached in 1533.  Published by Eerdmans Publishing Company  Grand Rapids, MI  1952 Pages 109-111.

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"Anxious Thoughts                         

Matthew 6:25

There is scarcely any one sin against which our Lord Jesus more largely and earnestly warns his disciples, or against which he arms them with more variety of arguments, than the sin of disquieting, distracting, distrustful cares about the things of this life, which are a bad sign that both the treasure and the heart are on the earth.

Here is (v.25) the prohibition laid down. It is the counsel and command of the Lord Jesus that we take no thought about the things of this world; I say unto you. He says it as our Lawgiver, and the Sovereign of our hearts; he says it as our Comforter, and the Helper of our joy.

What is it that he says? Take no thought for your life, not yet for your body (v.25). Take not thought, saying, what shall we eat? (v.31) and again (v.34), Take no thought-Be not in care. As against hypocrisy, so against worldly cares, the caution is thrice repeated, and yet no vain repetition: it is a sin which so easily besets us. It intimates how pleasing it is to Christ, and of how much concern it is to ourselves, that we should live without carefulness. It is the repeated command of the Lord Jesus to his disciples, that they should not divide and pull in pieces their own minds with care about the world.

There is a thought concerning the things of this life, which is not only lawful, but duty, but the thought here forbidden is a disquieting, tormenting thought, which hurries the mind hither and thither, and hangs it in suspense; which disturbs our joy in God, and is a damp upon our hope in him; which breaks the sleep, and hinders our enjoyment of ourselves, of our friends, and of what God has given us.

The thought here forbidden is also a distrustful, unbelieving thought. God has promised to provide for those that are his all things needful for life as well as godliness, the life that now is, food and a covering: not dainties, but necessaries. He never said, 'They shall be feasted,' but, 'Verily, they shall be fed.'

-From Martin Manse’s A Closer Walk With God  Daily Readings From Matthew Henry Daybreak Books  Grand Rapids, MI  1987  Page  19

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"Do not be led away with the error of the wicked but "grow in the grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 3:18).

Light is the chariot which carries the influence of the sun. So the knowledge of Christ brings with it influences of His grace into the heart. And how did Peter expect people to grow in the knowledge of Christ unless they read Scripture, the only book where it can be found? How wrong for teachers to want the people to learn this knowledge solely from their preaching, and not from the Bible! How can a congregation be sure they are hearing truth unless they have Scripture, the only touchstone to try the purity of the doctrine? God Himself directs His Word not to any one honored group-not to a select few-but to every man (Romans 1:7; 2 Corinthians 1:1). Why are laws made if they cannot be declared? And why was Scripture ever written if  not to be read and known of all men? By the same authority with which the apostle wrote his epistles, he commanded them to be read in the church. Did ministers of the early church hide God's word from the people instead of encouraging them to hide it in their hearts?

It is true that some men wrest Scripture to their own destruction, just as occasionally somebody chokes on a piece of bread if he is not careful when he eats. But must everyone starve for fear of getting choked? Some hurt themselves with sharp weapons; must the whole army then be disarmed, and only a few officers be allowed to wear the sword? If this argument were enough to seal up the Bible, we must deny it to intellectuals as well as to common men; for it is a known fact that the grossest heresies have bred in the finest minds. Whenever proud men insist on being wiser than God, their foolish minds get darker and darker until they become so accustomed to the blackness that they can no longer see His sovereignty."

-From The Christian In Complete Armour by William Gurnall  First Published in 1665  Published by Moody Press  Chicago, IL  1994