It is at once refreshing, edifying, and encouraging to look back over the whole course along which the faithful hand of our G.o.d has conducted us; to trace His wise and gracious dealings with us; to call to mind His many marvelous interpositions on our behalf; how He delivered us out of this strait and that difficulty; how, ofttimes, when we were at our wits" end, He appeared for our help, and opened the way before us, rebuking our fears and filling our hearts with songs of praise and thanksgiving.
We must not, by any means, confound this delightful exercise with the miserable habit of looking back at _our_ ways, our attainments, our progress, our service, what we have been able to do, even though we are ready to admit, in a general way, that it was only by the grace of G.o.d that we were enabled to do any little work for Him. All this only ministers to self-complacency, which is destructive of all true spirituality of mind. Self-retrospection, if we may be allowed to use such a term, is quite as injurious in its moral effect as self-introspection. In short, self-occupation, in any of its multiplied phases, is most pernicious; it is, in so far as it is allowed to operate, the death-blow to fellowship. Any thing that tends to bring self before the mind must be judged and refused, with stern decision; it brings in barrenness, darkness, and feebleness. For a person to sit down to look back at his attainments or his doings, is about as wretched an occupation as any one could engage in. We may be sure it was not to any such thing as this that Moses exhorted the people when he charged them to "remember all the way by which the Lord their G.o.d had led them."
We may here recur, for a moment, to the memorable words of the apostle in Philippians iii.--"Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended; but this one thing I do, _forgetting those things which are behind_, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of G.o.d in Christ Jesus."
Now, the question is, what were the "things" of which the blessed apostle speaks? Did he forget the precious dealings of G.o.d with his soul throughout the whole of his wilderness-journey? Impossible!--indeed we have the very fullest and clearest evidence to the contrary. Hear his touching words before Agrippa--"Having therefore obtained help of G.o.d, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great." So also, in writing to his beloved son and fellow-laborer, Timothy, he reviews the past, and speaks of the persecutions and afflictions which he had endured; "but," he adds, "out of them all the Lord delivered me." And again, "At my first answer no man stood with me, but all forsook me; I pray G.o.d that it may not be laid to their charge.
Notwithstanding, the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear; and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion."
To what then does the apostle refer when he speaks of "forgetting those things which are behind"? We believe he refers to all those things which had no connection with Christ--things in which the heart might rest, and nature might glory--things which might act as weights and hindrances,--all these were to be forgotten in the ardent pursuit of those grand and glorious realities which lay before him. We do not believe that Paul, or any other child of G.o.d or servant of Christ, could ever desire to forget a single scene or circ.u.mstance in his whole earthly career in any way ill.u.s.trative of the goodness, the loving-kindness, the tender mercy, the faithfulness of G.o.d. On the contrary, we believe it will ever be one of our very sweetest exercises to dwell upon the blessed memory of all our Father"s ways with us while pa.s.sing across the desert, home to our everlasting rest.
"There with what joy reviewing Past conflicts, dangers, fears, Thy hand our foes subduing, And drying all our tears.
Our hearts with rapture burning, The path we shall retrace, Where now our souls are learning The riches of Thy grace."
But let us not be misunderstood. We do not, by any means, wish to give countenance to the habit of dwelling merely upon our own experience.
This is often very poor work, and resolves itself into self-occupation.
We have to guard against this as one of the many things which tend to lower our spiritual tone and draw our hearts away from Christ. But we need never be afraid of the result of dwelling upon the record of the Lord"s dealings and ways with us. This is a blessed habit, tending ever to lift us out of ourselves, and fill us with praise and thanksgiving.
Why, we may ask, were Israel charged to "remember _all_ the way" by which the Lord their G.o.d had led them? a.s.suredly, to draw out their hearts in praise for the past, and to strengthen their confidence in G.o.d for the future. Thus it must ever be.
"We"ll praise Him for all that is past, And trust Him for all that"s to come."
May we do so more and more. May we just move on, day by day, praising and trusting, trusting and praising. These are the two things which redound to the glory of G.o.d, and to our peace and joy in Him. When the eye rests on the "Ebenezers" which lie all along the way, the heart must give forth its sweet "halleluiahs" to Him who has helped us. .h.i.therto, and will help us right on to the end. He _hath_ delivered, and He _doth_ deliver, and He _will_ deliver. Blessed chain! Its every link is divine deliverance.
Nor is it merely upon the signal mercies and gracious deliverances of our Father"s hand that we are to dwell, with devout thankfulness, but also upon the "humblings" and the "provings" of His wise, faithful, and holy love. All these things are full of richest blessing to our souls. They are not, as people sometimes call them, "mercies in disguise," but plain, palpable, unmistakable mercies, for which we shall have to praise our G.o.d throughout the golden ages of that bright eternity which lies before us.
"Thou shalt remember _all_ the way"--every stage of the journey, every scene of wilderness-life, all the dealings of G.o.d, from first to last, with the special object thereof, "to humble thee, and to prove thee, _to know what was in thine heart_."
How wonderful to think of G.o.d"s patient grace and painstaking love with His people in the wilderness! What precious instruction for us!
With what intense interest and spiritual delight we can hang over the record of the divine dealings with Israel in all their desert-wanderings!
How much we can learn from the marvelous history! We, too, have to be humbled and proved, and made to know what is in our hearts. It is very profitable and morally wholesome.
On our first setting out to follow the Lord, we know but little of the depths of evil and folly in our hearts. Indeed, we are superficial in every thing. It is as we get on in our practical career that we begin to prove the reality of things; we find out the depths of evil in ourselves, the utter hollowness and worthlessness of all that is in the world, and the urgent need of the most complete dependence upon the grace of G.o.d every moment. All this is very good; it makes us humble and self-distrusting; it delivers us from pride and self-sufficiency, and leads us to cling, in childlike simplicity, to the One who alone is able to keep us from falling. Thus, as we grow in self-knowledge, we get a deeper sense of grace, a more profound acquaintance with the wondrous love of the heart of G.o.d, His tenderness toward us, His marvelous patience in bearing with all our infirmities and failings, His rich mercy in having taken us up at all, His loving ministry to all our varied need, His numberless interpositions on our behalf, the exercises through which He has seen fit to lead us for our souls" deep and permanent profit.
The practical effect of all this is invaluable; it imparts depth, solidity, and mellowness to the character; it cures us of all our crude notions and vain theories; it delivers us from one-sidedness and wild extremes; it makes us tender, thoughtful, patient, and considerate toward others; it corrects our harsh judgments and gives a gracious desire to put the best possible construction upon the actions of others, and a readiness to attribute the best motives in cases which may seem to us equivocal. These are precious fruits of wilderness-experience which we may all earnestly covet.
"And He humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know, that He might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live." (Ver 3.)
This pa.s.sage derives special interest and importance from the fact that it is the first of our Lord"s quotations from the book of Deuteronomy in His conflict with the adversary in the wilderness. Let us ponder this deeply; it demands our earnest attention. Why did our Lord quote from Deuteronomy? Because that was the book which, above all others, specially applied to the condition of Israel at the moment. Israel had utterly failed, and this weighty fact is a.s.sumed in the book of Deuteronomy from beginning to end. But notwithstanding the failure of the nation, the path of obedience lay open to every faithful Israelite. It was the privilege and duty of every one who loved G.o.d to abide by His Word under all circ.u.mstances and in all places.
Now, our blessed Lord was divinely true to the position of the Israel of G.o.d. Israel after the flesh had failed and forfeited every thing; He was there, in the wilderness, as the true Israel of G.o.d, to meet the enemy by the simple authority of the Word of G.o.d. "And Jesus, being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days He did eat nothing; and when they were ended, He afterward hungered. And the devil said unto Him, "If Thou be the Son of G.o.d, command this stone that it be made bread." And Jesus answered Him, saying, "_It is written_, that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of G.o.d."" (Luke iv.)
Here, then, is something for us to ponder. The perfect Man, the true Israel, in the wilderness, surrounded by the wild beasts, fasting for forty days, in the presence of the great adversary of G.o.d, of man, of Israel. There was not a single feature in the scene to speak for G.o.d.
It was not with the second Man as it was with the first; He was not surrounded with all the delights of Eden, but with all the dreariness and desolation of a desert--there in loneliness and hunger, but there for G.o.d!
Yes, blessed be His name, and there for man,--there to show man how to meet the enemy in all his varied temptations, there to show man how to live. We must not suppose for a moment that our adorable Lord met the adversary as G.o.d over all. True, He was G.o.d, but if it were only as such that He stood in the conflict, it could not afford any example for us. Besides, it would be needless to tell us that G.o.d was able to vanquish and put to flight a creature which His own hand had formed.
But to see One who was, in every respect, a man, and in all the circ.u.mstances of humanity, sin excepted,--to see Him there in weakness, in hunger, standing amid the consequences of man"s fall, and to find Him triumphing completely over the terrible foe, it is this which is so full of comfort, consolation, strength, and encouragement for us.
And how did He triumph? This is the grand and all-important question for us,--a question demanding the most profound attention of every member of the Church of G.o.d--a question the magnitude and importance of which it would be utterly impossible to overstate. How, then, did the Man Christ Jesus vanquish Satan in the wilderness? Simply by the Word of G.o.d. He overcame, not as the almighty G.o.d, but as the humble, dependent, self-emptied, and obedient Man. We have before us the magnificent spectacle of a Man standing in the presence of the devil and utterly confounding him with no other weapon whatsoever save the Word of G.o.d. It was not by the display of divine power, for that could be no model for us; it was simply with the Word of G.o.d, in His heart and in His mouth, that the Second Man confounded the terrible enemy of G.o.d and man.
And let us carefully note that our blessed Lord does not reason with Satan. He does not appeal to any facts connected with Himself--facts with which the enemy was well acquainted. He does not say, I know I am the Son of G.o.d; the opened heavens, the descending Spirit, the Father"s voice, have all borne witness to the fact of My being the Son of G.o.d. No; this would not do; it would not and could not be an example for us. _The_ one special point for us to seize and learn from is, that our great Exemplar, when meeting all the temptations of the enemy, used only the weapon which we have in our possession, namely, the simple, precious, written, Word of G.o.d.
We say, "all the temptations," because in all the three instances our Lord"s unvarying reply is, "_It is written_." He does not say, "I know"--"I think"--"I feel"--"I believe" this, that, or the other; He simply appeals to the written Word of G.o.d--the book of Deuteronomy in particular,--that very book which infidels have dared to insult, but which is pre-eminently the book for every obedient man, in the face of total, universal, hopeless, wreck and ruin.
This is of unspeakable moment for us, beloved reader. It is as though our Lord Christ had said to the adversary, Whether I am the Son of G.o.d or not is not now the question, but how _man_ is to live, and the answer to this question is only to be found in holy Scripture; and it is to be found there as clear as a sunbeam, quite irrespective of all questions respecting Me. Whoever I am, the Scripture is the same: "man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord."
Here we have the only true, the only safe, the only happy att.i.tude for man, namely, hanging in earnest dependence upon "every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord." Blessed att.i.tude! We may well say there is nothing like it in all this world. It brings the soul into direct, living, personal contact with the Lord Himself, by means of His Word. It makes the Word so absolutely essential to us, in every thing; we cannot do without it. As the natural life is sustained by bread, so the spiritual life is sustained by the Word of G.o.d. It is not merely going to the Bible to find doctrines there, or to have our opinions or views confirmed; it is very much more than this; it is going to the Bible for the staple commodity of life--the life of the new man; it is going there for food, for light, for guidance, for comfort, for authority, for strength--for all, in short, that the soul can possibly need, from first to last.
And let us specially note the force and value of the expression, "_every_ word." How fully it shows that we cannot afford to dispense with a single word that has proceeded out of the mouth of the Lord. We want it all. We cannot tell the moment in which some exigence may present itself for which Scripture has already provided. We may not perhaps have specially noticed the scripture before, but when the difficulty arises, if we are in a right condition of soul--the true posture of heart, the Spirit of G.o.d will furnish us with the needed scripture, and we shall see a force, beauty, depth, and moral adaptation in the pa.s.sage which we had never seen before. Scripture is a divine and therefore exhaustless treasury, in which G.o.d has made ample provision for all the need of His people, and for each believer in particular, right on to the end. Hence we should study it all, ponder it, dig deeply into it, and have it treasured up in our hearts, ready for use when the demand arises.
There is not a single crisis occurring in the entire history of the Church of G.o.d, not a single difficulty in the entire path of any individual believer, from beginning to end, which has not been perfectly provided for in the Bible. We have all we want in that blessed volume, and hence we should be ever seeking to make ourselves more and more acquainted with what that volume contains, so as to be "thoroughly furnished" for whatever may arise, whether it be a temptation of the devil, an allurement of the world, or a l.u.s.t of the flesh; or, on the other hand, for equipment for that path of good works which G.o.d has afore prepared that we should walk in it.
And we should, further, give special attention to the expression, "_Out of the mouth of the Lord_." This is unspeakably precious. It brings the Lord so very near to us, and gives us such a sense of the reality of feeding upon His every word--yea, of hanging upon it as something absolutely essential and indispensable. It sets forth the blessed fact that our souls can no more exist without the Word than our bodies could without food. In a word, we are taught by this pa.s.sage that _man"s_ true position, his proper att.i.tude, his only place of strength, safety, rest, and blessing, is to be found in habitual dependence upon the Word of G.o.d.
This is the life of faith which we are called to live--the life of dependence--the life of obedience--the life that Jesus lived perfectly. That blessed One would not move a step, utter a word, or do a single thing save by the authority of the Word of G.o.d. No doubt He could have turned stone into bread, but He had no command from G.o.d to do that; and inasmuch as He had no command, He had no motive for action. Hence Satan"s temptations were perfectly powerless. He could do nothing with a man who would only act on the authority of the Word of G.o.d.
And we may also note, with very much interest and profit, that our blessed Lord does not quote Scripture for the purpose of silencing the adversary, but simply as authority for His position and conduct. Here is where we are so apt to fail; we do not sufficiently use the precious Word of G.o.d in this way; we quote it, at times, more for victory over the enemy than for power and authority for our own souls.
Thus it loses its power in our hearts. We want to use the Word as a hungry man uses bread, or as a mariner uses his chart and his compa.s.s; it is that on which we live, and by which we move and act and think and speak. Such it really is, and the more fully we prove it to be all this to us, the more we shall know of its infinite preciousness. Who is it that knows most of the real value of bread? Is it a chemist? No; but a hungry man. A chemist may a.n.a.lyze it, and discuss its component parts, but a hungry man proves its worth. Who knows most of the real value of a chart? is it the teacher of navigation? No; but the mariner as he sails along an unknown and dangerous coast.
These are but feeble figures to ill.u.s.trate what the Word of G.o.d is to the true Christian. He cannot do without it. It is absolutely indispensable, in every relationship of life and in every sphere of action. His hidden life is fed and sustained by it; his practical life is guided by it. In all the scenes and circ.u.mstances of his personal and domestic history, in the privacy of his closet, in the bosom of his family, in the management of his affairs, he is cast upon the Word of G.o.d for guidance and counsel.
And it never fails those who simply cleave to it and confide in it.
We may trust Scripture without a single shade of misgiving. Go to it when we will, we shall always find what we want. Are we in sorrow? is the poor heart bereaved, crushed, and desolate? What can soothe and comfort us like the balmy words which the Holy Spirit has penned for us? One sentence of holy Scripture can do more, in the way of comfort and consolation, than all the letters of condolence that ever were penned by human hand. Are we discouraged, faint-hearted, and cast down? The Word of G.o.d meets us with its bright and soul-stirring a.s.surances. Are we pressed by pinching poverty? The Holy Ghost brings home to our hearts some golden promise from the page of inspiration, recalling us to Him who is "the Possessor of heaven and earth," and who, in His infinite grace, has pledged Himself to "supply all _our need_ according to _His riches_ in glory by Christ Jesus." Are we perplexed and hara.s.sed by the conflicting opinions of men, by the dogmas of conflicting schools of divinity, by religious and theological difficulties? A few sentences of holy Scripture will pour in a flood of divine light upon the heart and conscience, and set us at perfect rest, answering every question, solving every difficulty, removing every doubt, chasing away every cloud, giving us to know the mind of G.o.d, putting an end to conflicting opinions by the one divinely competent authority.
What a boon, therefore, is holy Scripture! What a precious treasure we possess in the Word of G.o.d! How we should bless His holy name for having given it to us! Yes; and bless Him, too, for every thing that tends to make us more fully acquainted with the depth, fullness, and power of those words of our chapter, "Man shall not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live."
Truly precious are these words to the heart of the believer! And hardly less so are those that follow, in which the beloved and revered lawgiver refers, with touching sweetness, to Jehovah"s tender care throughout the whole of Israel"s desert-wanderings. "Thy raiment," he says, "waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years."
What marvelous grace shines out in these words! Only think, reader, of Jehovah looking after His people in such a manner, to see that their garments should not wax old or their foot swell! He not only fed them, but clothed them and cared for them in every way. He even stooped to look after their feet, that the sand of the desert might not injure them. Thus, for forty years, did He watch over them, with all the exquisite tenderness of a father"s heart. What will not love undertake to do for its object? Jehovah had set His love upon His people, and this one blessed fact secured every thing for them, had they only understood it. There was not a single thing within the range of Israel"s necessities, from Egypt to Canaan, which was not secured to them and included in the fact that Jehovah had undertaken to do for them. With infinite love and almighty power on their side, what could be lacking?
But then, as we know, love clothes itself in various forms. It has something more to do than to provide food and raiment for its objects.
It has not only to take account of their physical but also of their moral and spiritual wants. Of this the lawgiver does not fail to remind the people. "Thou shalt also consider," he says, "_in thine heart_"--the only true and effective way to consider--"that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy G.o.d chasteneth thee."
Now, we do not like chastening; it is not joyous, but grievous. It is all very well for a son to receive food and raiment from a father"s hand, and to have all his comforts provided by a father"s thoughtful love, but he does not like to see him taking down the rod. And yet that dreaded rod may be the very best thing for the son; it may do for him what no material benefits or earthly blessings could effect,--it may correct some bad habit, or deliver him from some wrong tendency, or save him from some evil influence, and thus prove a great moral and spiritual blessing for which he shall have to be forever thankful. The grand point for the son is, to see a father"s love and care in the discipline and chastening just as distinctly as in the various material benefits which strew his path from day to day.
Here is precisely where we so signally fail in reference to the disciplinary dealings of our Father. We rejoice in His benefits and blessings; we are filled with praise and thankfulness as we receive, day by day, from His liberal hand, the rich supply of all our need; we delight to dwell upon His marvelous interposition on our behalf in times of pressure and difficulty; it is a most precious exercise to look back over the path by which His good hand has led us, and mark those "Ebenezers" which tell of gracious help supplied all along the road.
All this is very good and very right and very precious, but then there is a great danger of our resting in the mercies, the blessings, and the benefits which flow, in such rich profusion, from our Father"s loving heart and liberal hand. We are apt to rest in these things, and say with the Psalmist, "In _my prosperity_ I said, "I shall never be moved. Lord, by Thy favor Thou hast made _my mountain_ to stand strong."" True, it is "by Thy favor," but yet we are p.r.o.ne to be occupied with _our_ mountain and _our_ prosperity; we allow these things to come in between our hearts and the Lord, and thus they become a snare to us. Hence the need of chastening. Our Father, in His faithful love and care, is watching over us; He sees the danger and He sends trial, in one shape or another. Perhaps a telegram comes announcing the death of a beloved child, or the crash of a bank involving the loss of our earthly all; or, it may be, we are laid on a bed of pain and sickness, or called to watch by the sick bed of a beloved relative.
In a word, we are called to wade through deep waters which seem, to our poor, feeble, coward hearts, absolutely overwhelming. The enemy suggests the question. Is this love? Faith replies, without hesitation and without reserve, Yes; it is all love--perfect love; the death of the child, the loss of the property, the long, heavy, painful illness, all the sorrow, all the pressure, all the exercise, the deep waters and dark shadows--all, all is love--perfect love and unerring wisdom. I feel a.s.sured of it, even now; I do not wait to know it by and by, when I shall look back on the path from amid the full light of the glory; I know it now, and delight to own it to the praise of that infinite grace which has taken me up from the depth of my ruin, and charged itself with all that concerns me, and which deigns to occupy itself with my very failures, follies, and sins, in order to deliver me from them, and to make me a partaker of divine holiness, and conform me to the image of that blessed One who "loved Me and gave Himself for me."
Christian reader, this is the way to answer Satan, and to hush the dark reasonings which may spring up in our hearts. We must always justify G.o.d. We must look at all His disciplinary dealings in the light of His love. "Thou shalt also consider in thine heart that, _as a man chasteneth his son_, so the Lord thy G.o.d chasteneth thee." Most surely we should not like to be without the blessed pledge and proof of sonship. "_My son_, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him; for _whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth_, and scourgeth _every son_ whom He receiveth. If ye endure chastening, G.o.d dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastis.e.m.e.nt, whereof all are partakers, then are ye b.a.s.t.a.r.ds, and not sons. Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence; shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but He for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness. Now, no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed." (Heb. xii.
5-13.)
It is at once interesting and profitable to mark the way in which Moses presses upon the congregation the varied motives of obedience arising from the past, the present, and the future. Every thing is brought to bear upon them to quicken and deepen their sense of Jehovah"s claims upon them. They were to "remember" the past, they were to "consider" the present, and they were to antic.i.p.ate the future; and all this was to act on their hearts, and lead them forth in holy obedience to that blessed and gracious One who had done, who was doing, and who would do such great things for them.
The thoughtful reader can hardly fail to observe in this constant presentation of moral motives a marked feature of this lovely book of Deuteronomy, and a striking proof that it is no mere attempt at a repet.i.tion of what we have in Exodus; but, on the contrary, that our book has a province, a range, a scope, and design entirely its own. To speak of mere repet.i.tion is absurd; to speak of contradiction is impious.
"Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy G.o.d, to walk in His ways, and to fear Him." The word "therefore" had a retrospective and prospective force. It was designed to lead the heart back over the past dealings of Jehovah, and forward into the future.