Barnabas Ministries UK

                                                     

Rev. A. Linford

RUN SAFE

 

“When thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble”                                         Prov 4:10-13

 

When we walk in God’s way we not only benefit ourselves we also leave footprints to guide others. And so a track becomes a bridle path a bridle path a road, a road a highway. Let us consider seven propositions drawn from this passage.

 

An intelligent teacher makes a good pupil. “I have taught thee” – a wise teacher directs his pupil into wise ways, not only imparting facts but also inciting feeling for truth. “I have led thee” – this is true education, to educe, or lead out the potentialities latent in the one who is taught. One cannot lead unless is ahead; one cannot lead unless he practices the principles he inculcates; one cannot lead unless he makes the path attractive so that others are happy to follow

 

A good pupil listens well to the words of the wise, and profits thereby. “The years of thy life shall be many”, for the development of good habits and sound moral principles makes life worth living. He who walks in God’s way lives under the protection of the Almighty.

 

The words of the wise guide us in right paths. The word “path” means the furrow made by a wagon – here, it is God’s wagon of wisdom that leads to Glory. Some call it a rut, but God’s ruts are the highway to Heaven. Thus he guides us through the trackless ways of life to Himself.

 

Right paths extend and enhance our days. The road of wisdom gives room for godly activity: they walk widely who walk with God. We may run and not trip up for God removes the stumbling blocks.

 

Enhanced days enlarge our vision. The way of wisdom is bright with Heaven’s sunshine, the paths of righteousness are straight. As Andrew Maclaren puts it: “A crooked way is a long road, and an up-and-down road is a tiring road. Wisdom’s way is straight, level, and steadily approaches its aim”.

 

An enlarged vision preserves our going.  With clear sight we can look back, and praise God for leading us; we can look around, and thank God for blessing us; we can look forward and trust God for caring for us.

 

Preserved progress gives quality to life. “She is thy life”: wisdom gives depth to living, adding God’s dimension to our earthly existence.

 

PRAYER;  

Let me run safe in thy pathway, 0 Lord.

 

LONELINESS

 

Is it not remarkable that with all our modern means of communication there are still many lonely people around! And loneliness can be destructive of personality; loss of sympathetic contact with fellow-humans shrivels the soul, cramps the mind and starves the emotions.

 

There are different kinds of loneliness. There is self-inflicted loneliness. Some people are so selfish, testy or erratic that what friends they have are driven away. Such should remember the proverb: “He that hath friends should show himself friendly”. Then there is temperamental loneliness. Shy, retiring, introspective people often find adventures into friendship difficult. How a kindly, unsought attention is appreciated by those imprisoned in their own reticence! There is the loneliness of greatness, when a man is so far beyond his contemporaries as to create a fellowship-gap. Few of us suffer from this: Jesus must have done so. On the other hand, leadership loneliness is something many know. An officer must be apart; a manager is in a different category from his men; a pastor cannot confide in his flock. There is the loneliness of depression, when, like Elijah, we feel alone in a hostile world. Juniper trees still flourish: but God continues to be gracious.

 

Circumstantial loneliness is a hazard most of us face. God sometimes takes away our props to see if we can rely on Him alone. The first flight of a newly-fledged eagle must be a lonely, terrifying experience. There is also the loneliness of desertion. when friends let us down. “All men forsook me,” said Paul. When he needed them most, they were absent. There is vocational loneliness. “I called him alone,” said God of Abraham. And often our Christian calling cuts us off from the world into a loneliness of alienation and even persecution. There is a loneliness of old age, when one’s friends in Heaven far outnumber one’s friends on earth. But to such comes the assurance from God: “In your old age I shall still be the same, when your hair is grey I shall still support you” – Isaiah 46 :4. J.B.. Finally, there is God-forsaken loneliness. How lonely was King Saul! Mistrusted by men, forsaken by God, he was in a self-inflicted limbo. And what of Jesus, who, when offering His soul for our sins, cried out, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” This cry of dereliction echoes the vast depths of suffering He bore for us.

 

But to all lonely people there is relief in fellowship with God:

 

Come, ye disconsolate, where’er ye languish,

Come to the mercy seat, fervently kneel.

Here bring your wounded hearts, here tell your anguish;

Earth has no sorrows that heaven cannot heal.