Month: February 2012

  • seek meekness ~ Zephaniah 2:3 | “Lord, give me humility, or I perish”

     
    Zephaniah 2:3  Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the LORD’S anger.

    From Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary:

    “They must seek meekness. This is a grace they were so eminent for that they were denominated the meek of the land, and yet this they must seek. Note, Those that are ever so good must still strive to be better, those that have ever so much grace must be still praying and labouring for more. Nay, those that excel in any particular grace must still seek to excel yet more in that, because in that most assaults will be made upon them by their enemies, in that most is expected from them by their friends, and in that they are most apt to be themselves secure. Si dixisti, Sufficit, periisti–Say but, I am all that I ought to be, and you are undone. In the difficult trying times approaching, the meek will find exercise for all the meekness they have, and all little enough, and therefore should seek it earnestly, and pray that when God in his providence gives them occasion for it he would by his grace enable them to exercise it, to show all meekness to all men, in all instances, that, as the day is, so may the strength be.”

    O, for grace to continue to seek meekness, which is found only in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. My flesh continues to be puffed up and proud, lusting against the Spirit, and seeking to take the best and first place. As my days are, so shall my strength be through Jesus Christ. Apart from Him, I am nothing, and I can do nothing. May God’s Holy Spirit continue and complete His sanctifying work He has begun in me so I might be transformed into Christ’s image, becoming a weaned child (Psalm 131) who is meek and humble in heart like the Lord Jesus (Matthew 11:25-30), offering myself to follow and to dwell wherever the Lamb goes, so I might be a willing and obedient servant of the LORD who takes up the basin and towel and gladly takes the lowest place. There is neither peace, nor rest, nor life, nor joy nor blessing anywhere except as I take up the easy yoke and light burden of Christ.

    Philippians 2:4  Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. 5  Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6  Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7  But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8  And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.


    Matthew 11:25  At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. 26  Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight. 27  All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.

    28  Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

    “Lord, give me humility, or I perish.”
    (George Whitefield in “George Whitefield’s Journals,” Tuesday, July 17, 1739, 305)

    Forth in Thy Name
    (Charles Wesley, 1749)

    Forth in thy Name, O Lord, I go,
    my daily labor to pursue;
    thee, only thee, resolved to know
    in all I think or speak or do.

    The task thy wisdom hath assigned,
    O let me cheerfully fulfill;
    in all my works thy presence find,
    and prove thy good and perfect will.

    Thee may I set at my right hand,
    whose eyes mine inmost substance see,
    and labor on at thy command,
    and offer all my works to thee.

    Give me to bear thy easy yoke,
    and every moment watch and pray,
    and still to things eternal look,
    and hasten to thy glorious day.

    For thee delightfully employ
    whate’er thy bounteous grace hath given;
    and run my course with even joy,
    and closely walk with thee to heav’n.

    Work found at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jacopo_Tintoretto_-_Christ_Washing_the_Feet_of_His_Disciples_(detail)_-_WGA22428.jpg  / CC BY-SA 3.0 / {PD-Art|PD-old-100}

    Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Holy Bible.