February 10, 2012
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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.
Comments (4)
“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.”
This is very close to my heart – not that I know that heaven is so imminent for me in particular, but that I would be satisfied with my lot and use all of it joyfully because His grace is so bounteously given
(I did wonder at that first quotation which spoke of working for more of His grace…work for what cannot be earned?)
@quest4god@revelife - I loved that stanza. A friend of mine shared the first two lines of it today, and then I looked up the entire hymn, which was new to me. Each and every day is an opportunity for us to walk with God, just as Enoch walked with God, and he was not; for God took him. And this was his testimony: he pleased God. That must be our desire until the day God takes us, or returns to take all of us to Himself.
(I did wonder at that first quotation which spoke of working for more of His grace…work for what cannot be earned?) - No, grace isn’t earned – and we shouldn’t ever see our working for God as if it’s a sort of quid pro quo – and yet we can’t stand still in the Christian life. God is opposed to our thinking we can earn anything, but He isn’t opposed to our making every effort. I was just reading I Cor. 9: Paul sets the example for us: we’re to run, to strive, to be disciplined. All through the Bible we’re exhorted to press on, to run with perseverance, not to be sluggish, not to be lukewarm, and so on.
I know this may be misunderstood, but in John 14, there is a definite link between our obedience and God manifesting Himself to us, e.g. verses 21 and 23. A bit of a personal example, without going into the details, I was recently enabled by the Spirit to obey God, to humble myself in a way that my flesh balked at (hence this post). I’ve known from experience that after those times I’ve obeyed God, He has come to me and manifested Himself to me in wonderful ways. I did have joy and blessedness in the initial service (so there was grace not only in God working in me to will & to do His good pleasure but also grace as I obeyed as I shared in His pleasure as I was engaged in the work He had for me) – however, to add to all that – later on I was blessed with God’s manifest presence to my soul (grace upon grace upon grace!). As God strengthens us to walk in His ways, He will pour out more grace upon us. Of course, since His grace is sovereign, it’s also true that He can choose to pour grace upon us even as we persist in disobedience so our hearts might be broken and melted at His love for us, so we might be draw to repentance (e.g. – the prodigal son feeding swine, and Gomer pursuing her lovers).
@quest4god@revelife - “A friend of mine shared the first two lines of it today…” Oops! Actually it was the last two lines…
and run my course with even joy,
and closely walk with thee to heav’n.
@deerlife - One of my favorite songs to sing in the coffeehouse, “Just A Closer Walk With Thee” ….still is one I sing to the Lord.