Morning By Morning #193

The God of all grace…, after you have suffered a little while,
will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.

1 Peter 5:10

From the pen of Charles Spurgeon:

We have all seen the “arch of heaven” as it spans the meadows of earth with its glorious colors and hues. It is beautiful, but, alas, within minutes it vanishes and is no more. The lovely colors give way to fluffy clouds and the sky is no longer brilliant with the various tints of heaven. It is not permanent. How can it be? It is a glorious display but made of only momentary sunbeams and passing raindrops, so how can it survive?

The gifts of Christian character, however, must not resemble the rainbow in its passing beauty. On the contrary, they must be “strong, firm, and steadfast.” Believer, seek to solidly establish every gift you have. May your character not be as writing on the sand, but rather inscriptions chiseled into rock! May your faith not be like some ethereal veil of a vision, but made of building materials that would endure the fires of judgment that would easily consume the “wood, hay, or straw” (1 Cor. 3:12) of a hypocrite. May you be “rooted and established in love” (Eph. 3:17). May your convictions be deep, your love real, and your desires profound. May your entire life be so “firm and steadfast” that all the weapons of hell and all the storms of earth will never be able to move you.

Yet notice how this blessing of being “strengthened in the faith” (Col. 2:7) is accomplished. The apostle Paul points us to suffering as the means: “after you have suffered a little while.” It is useless to hope of being well rooted without stormy winds blowing across us. The old gnarled roots of the oak and its strange twisted branches all speak of the many storms that have swept over it and are indicators of the depth into which its roots have forced their way. In the same manner, Christians are made strong and are firmly rooted by all the trials and storms of life.

So never shrink from the tempestuous winds of trials. Instead, take comfort, believing that through their difficult discipline God is fulfilling this benediction in you: May “God…himself…make you strong, firm and steadfast.”

From the pen of Jim Reimann:

Yes, it is important for believers to be rooted, but in what are we to be rooted? Paul said, “Just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him” (Col. 2:6 – 7). Thus, we are to be rooted in Christ. In fact, the prophet Isaiah referred to the coming messiah as a root in the following verse: “The Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples…and his place of rest will be glorious” (Isa. 11:10). Of course “the Root of Jesse” refers to Jesus, who will be the descendant of David, Jesse’s son.

Then Jesus Himself said, “I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star” (Rev. 22:16). Previously He had told His disciples, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). And Paul told the Gentiles who had been “grafted in” to the Messiah, or the root of the olive tree of Israel, “You do not support the root, but the root supports you” (Rom. 11:17 – 18).

Father, I pray that I will be rooted in and “continue in [the] faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel” (Col. 1:23).