The Good Man's Peace

A Study In Christian Peace

Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God. Psalm 42:11


David's soul is bowed down under the weight of some heavy burden.
He uses two remedies to counter the discouragement he feels:
Self-rebuke and
Self-instruction.
1. He tells himself off for his distrust of God;
2. He instructs himself to wait upon and hope in God.

Why?

a. Because he will be set free: "For I shall yet praise Him."
b. Because salvation belongs to God alone.
c. Because He has an agreement with me: He is my God and I am His child.

There are three matters to consider:

First: There is an inward peace of soul which the people of God have as an ordinary attribute.

Second: It is possible that this peace may be disrupted, and God's people can be very discouraged and cast down at time.

Third: The people of God have no reason for their discouragements whatever their condition is.

Let us examine the first point: that there is an inward peace that is part of a Christian's spiritual life.

When David asked, "Why are you cast down, O my soul? It seems that his present state was not always like that.
Usually, he had peace within himself.
His discouraged state was something unusual for him, which caused him to question it.

"Great peace have they that love your law", says the Psalmist, "and nothing shall offend them."
"But glory, honour and peace to every man who works good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile." Rom 2:10.

This is the way for people of God who walk with God, talk with God and fellowship with God. "Acquaint now yourself with him, and be at peace." Job 22:21.
They have a special acquaintance with God, and they have peace because they walk with God and have fellowship with Him.
They also have fellowship with the Spirit, the comforter that Jesus said would replace Him on earth.
The people of God believe the Gospel, which is the word of peace.
These are why the usual state of the people of God is inner peace and rest.

We need to look more closely at how the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are working together to support the inner peace that Christians have.

A. The Father is involved in the Christian's Peace

1. The Father has the right to maintain the Christian's peace.

"I create the fruit of the lips, peace, peace." Isaiah 57:19.
He is called the God of peace,
The God of consolations.
Like any other king, He has the right to give peace to His people.

2. He is involved by virtue of His commandment.
He commands his prophets to preach comfort: "comfort ye, comfort ye my people says your God; speak comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry to her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, for she has received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins." Isa 40:1,2.

For most people, the soft word of comfort is all that is needed to bring assurance of God's forgiveness and fellowship in times of discouragement.
But there are some people who are so tempted and discouraged, that the soft word will not be enough for them, therefore there is the instruction to cry out in a loud voice.
This gets the discouraged person's attention and induces extra attention to God's message of comfort.

What is the context of the message?

a. The warfare is finished: affliction and temptations is at an end.
b. Their sins are forgiven fully and freely.
c. They are receiving compensation from the Lord.

God no longer has an issue with them.
No quarrel or punishment.

3. He is involved also, by virtue of His promise.
Look at Psalm 29:11:
"The Lord will give strength to His people; the Lord will bless his people with peace."
Also Isa 26:3: "You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you."

4. Christ has purchased peace for God's people.
Read about the purchase in Ephesians 2:13,14:
"But now in Christ Jesus, you who sometimes were far off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of partition between us; having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for to make in himself of twain, one new man, so making peace."

Also verse 16: "And that he might reconcile both to God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby; and came and preached peace to you that were afar off, and to them that were nigh."

Therefore God is obligated to give that peace, that Christ has purchased by his own blood, to His people.


B. The Son is also involved in the Christian's peace

He has the qualifications to give peace to the people of God.
These were received from God the Father for this purpose:
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me and he has anointed me".
Why?
"That I might comfort those that mourn." Isa 41.
That is one purpose.

Here is another purpose:
"The Lord God has given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary; he wakens morning by morning, he wakens my ear to hear as the learned." Isa 50:4.
This is so that he can speak as a learned person to bring words of comfort to distressed people, and those troubled in conscience, and to help poor worried souls.

Jesus is sharing what he has learned through his fellowship with the Father throughout eternity.
He has had plenty of time to learn that the Father's great desire is to bring peace to His people.

The Son is also involved because of his own nature and disposition.
Jesus himself is a peaceful, affirming and loving person.
"My peace I give unto you; my peace I leave with you; not as the world gives peace, but my peace I give to you." John 20:19

He is also involved through his office as our great High Priest.


C. The Holy Spirit is also involved in bringing us peace

The Holy Spirit is the person of the trinity who puts the policies of the Father into practice.
Jesus sent him to the church as the great Comforter.

We actually have two advocates supporting our case in Heaven.
Jesus in Heaven
and the Holy Spirit in our own hearts.

When a person sins, and asks forgiveness, Satan accuses the person before God.
Jesus acts as our defence lawyer, and the Holy Spirit gives us an internal witness that God has been faithful and just and has forgiven our sin.

But even though we have all this in our favour, there are many Christians who do not have a sense of peace and rest,
but are full of doubts and fears about the state of their soul and everlasting condition.

This is the second doctrine then:

It is possible that the peace that God gives us can be interrupted.

Some have ever had peace all their life.
This is what one person may say:

"I have been a long time afflicted with trouble; two, four, six years, and never yet had peace and quiet withinme. Either this teaching is not true, or else I am not godly."

It is quite possible for a person to have this experience, while the teaching remains true.

General rules always have some exceptions.
Where most Christians go around in white clothing (signifying their purity and peace of heart), some may be wearing black, and may persists in this for a long while.

So that some will not stumble and fall over this, there are some distinctions which need to be discussed:

1. There is a fundamental peace which the people of God have; and there is an additional peace.

The fundamental peace flows from their salvation and forgiveness from God when they acknowledged Jesus Christ as their Saviour.
"Being justified by faith, we have peace with God." Rom 5:1

And then there is an additional peace which comes from the assurance of their salvation.
Perhaps a person may lose the latter, but the former will never be lost.

The example of this is of a woman who shares her billionaire husband's estate and wealth. She goes travelling, and a thief steals her purse containing all her available money for the trip. But she is not greatly upset, because although they have taken her spending money, they cannot rob her of the rest of the billions of dollars available to her.

Applying this to Christians: We might lose the particular sense of peace that comes with an assurance of our fellwship with God, which is the equivalent of our spending money; but we have not lost the great inheritance that we received from God; and this is the great peace that we received when we were first saved.

2. There is a great difference between peace, comfort and joy.

A person may have peace when there is no comfort.
Another person may have comfort, but no joy.

In the same way, it can be daylight, but no sun in the sky.
And the sun can be in the sky, but it is not yet noon.

Some distressed Christians may think that because they have no joy, they have no comfort.
And because they have no comfort, that they have lost their peace with God.
We need to know the difference between them.


3. There is a peace which is in opposition to what a person has once been, and there is a peace which is opposed to what a person would be.

A godly person, a Christian, when considering what he/she could be and what could be achieved and gained may be disturbed and agitated by his/her shortcomings.
But if you come to that person and said "remember the wicked life that you once had (say an alcoholic, a gambler, or a person with loose morals), would you want to go back to that?"
"Oh, no!" he says, "I would not be in that condition for all the world."
This shows that the person has peace in opposition to what he has been, even though he does not have peace in what he wants to be.


4. There is a secret, dormant peace: and there is an awakened, obnvious peace: peace in the seed, and peace in the flower.

With many godless people, there is present comfort and assurance.
But when affliction comes and the day of death comes, then he/she is in trouble because of sin.

Why is this?
Because sin and guilt was in the heart:
But it was only sleeping there, but now it has woken up to torment the person.

See this in regard to the godly person.
For the present he/she is in strife and trouble,
But when affliction comes or the day of death arrives,
then peace and comfort wakes up and takes over.

It was there all the time, but it was at the bottom, and there was no awareness of it.
If you showed one of these weak Christians an alcoholic, or an adulterer, or a profane person and said "Would you want to live that sort of life?"
The reply would certainly be in the negative, because there is a foundation of peace and rest in his life, even though there is no present awareness of it.
It comes to the fore in those times when the person is reminded of the alternatives to Christianity.
Then the person is adamant that the Christian life is the only alternative.
This certainty comes from that inner dormant peace.

The issue in this is that it is a blessed thing for the people of God to have inner peace and rest.
This is the most important place to have peace.
If you have this inner peace, even though you lack the outward peace that you desire, you will be able to bear the burdens that you have.

"The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a wounded spirit who can bear?" Prov 18:14.

Some Christians are able to bear all sorts of sicknesses, disabilities, reversals of fortune, bereavements, you name it.
But who can bear a wounded spirit?

In our day and age, we cannot promise ourselves lasting outward peace and rest.
Suddenly a cloud may arise, and all your dreams and comforts go up in smoke.
It is a good thing to have inner peace then.
What if you have conflicts with your friends?
You still have inner peace.
What if you are reproached?
Your inner peace will sustain you.

It is like going out on a rainy day with a raincoat on.
It may get wet, but your inner clothing and skin remains dry.

"Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted." Matt 5:4.
Even though some are not blessed right now, there is the promise that they will receive future comfort and assurance.

What is our attitude to be to all this?

We are to praise God for the inner peace that we have received.
If we have the outward peace and rest, we should give God additional praise for His goodness to us.


A further problem:

Someone comes to you and says "It is the duty of all those who have rest, peace and quiet within, to be very thankful, but there is one thing that hinders my thankfulness and keeps me from praising the Lord for the peace and quiet that I have, and that is, I fear my peace is not right; for there are many that have a counterfeit and a false peace, and I fear that my peace is such, that therefore I cannot praise the Lord or be thankful for it."

It is acknowledged that there is a counterfeit peace, even an inner peace.
Read Deut 29:19:
"And it came to pass when he hears the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of my heart, to add drunkenness to thirst."

There is a peace in security, in sleep, and in health.
A person in serious pain does not feel it when he/she is asleep.

But there is also a peace that is the fruit of the Spirit: "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace." Gal 5:22.

So there is a false and a true peace.

Does that mean that because there is some counterfeit money in circulation, that the money in my pocket is also funny?

True saving peace is a child of God's grace.
There is a peace that arises from the understanding of God's special favour and free grace.
True peace is the daughter of that grace.
It is like a nurse:
"The peace of God, that passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds." Phi; 4:7.

So, as false peace is a guard to our sins, so true peace is a guard to all our graces.

True saving peace is wrought by faith.
"Being justified by faith, we have peace." Rom 5:1.
"The Lord give you peace in believing." Rom 13:13.

False peace is born with us and was never interrupted, because it was the offspring of nature only; or the product of a natural conscience.
Holy Spirit conviction of sin can threaten this peace.

True peace can stand in the sight of sin.
False peace cannot endure the sight of sin.

A godly man, the more he sees his sin, the more peace he has.
A wicked man, the more he sees his sin, the less peace he has,
because all his peace arises from the concealment of his sin.

True saving peace loves to be examined -
It loves the light.
False peace will not endure examination -
It runs away from the light.

True saving peace is spoken by God: "I will hear what God the Lord will speak for he will speak peace." Psalm 85:8.
God usually speaks peace to a soul under or after temptation.
When God speaks peace, it is a peace beyond all expression.

Though a wicked person has peace, it has not been spoken by God.
This peace may come through the pleasures and contentment of the world.
It is not a peace that passes understanding.
It is a low peace which you can easily give expression to.

To those people who had trouble and distress, and who have now received God's peace, remember what you were like before.
If a minister or a gospel worker came to you and spoke words of comfort, would you have been able to receive them?
You would say no, because you would not have been able to receive words of comfort from any person until God had spoken them to your heart.

Are you now willing to have your peace examined?
Yes, indeed, because unless I were willing to have it examined and tested, I could not have any assurance that my peace is true.

And do you find that you have peace, even though you see your sins?
And the more you see your sins laid on Christ, the more peace you have?

Do you find that your peace came by way of believing,
when you saw that Christ died for your sins,
laying hold on the promises of God for your salvation?

"Yes, I must say so, because if I did not have a promise to hold onto,
or I did not have a good sight of the free grace of God,
or if I had not seen the Lord Jesus on the cross dying for my sin,
I would never have had any peace in my soul.
But I received my peace through these things.

Well, then, be of good comfort because of this, because you have true peace with God.

There is a danger of speaking peace where there is none,
but if you received your peace through these things,
I can say in the name of the Lord, go in peace,
and the God of peace will tread Satan down under your feet.

Another Problem

Another person may come and say "I am afraid that my peace, my inner peace, is not right because it does not last and continue."

This is answered by the second major doctrine:

That a godly person's peace may be interrupted.

"But one thing, " you say, "yet troubles me, and makes me fear that my peace and quiet is not good, and that is because I got it so easily. I see how it has been and is with others of the people of God. Some that have been long afflicted and wounded and have remained troubled a long while, and then they have had peace: but as for me, it is not so. I received my peace easily, and therefore I am fraid that the Lord did not, in fact, actually speak peace to my soul."

Did you say easily?
How easily?
Did you steal it?
Did others buy their peace?
Did they purchase it from the hand of Christ,
or did He give it freely?

"No." you answer. "They did not buy it. They received it as a free gift."
So, if Christ gave them peace after all their trouble, why should Christ not give it to you after less trouble?

There is the parable about the workers who were hired early in the morning,
and they received one penny after working right through the day.
Other workers were hired late in the afternoon,
and at dusk they were also paid one penny.

The ones who had worked right through the day, and put up with the heat of the day complained about those who were paid the same as them,
yet they did not bear the heat of the day.
But the men who received their penny after only working a short time of the day did not complain at all.
Their penny was just as good to them as those of the ones who had worked right through day day.
They did not say that their penny was false or useless because they had not worked the whole day for it.
They were thankful for the penny.

Is it appropriate for a person who has received the peace of God easily then say that their peace is false or not right because they did not go through a whole lot of troubles first?

You know that some children are born into the world with a lot of pain.
But what about a baby that had an easy birth?
Is that child illegitimate because of that?

When some people came to Christ, they endured a lot of pain and trouble before they came to a peaceful assurance of their salvation.
Others came to Christ without any of the pain and torment.
Does this mean that the latter are any less truly Christian than the former?

See the comparison between Paul the Apostle and Zacchaeus.
Christ came to the house of Zacchaeus, who said "This day, salvation has come to this house."
He had assurance on the first day.

Paul, however, stareted his Christian life with three days of confusion and blindness.
Does this mean that Zaccheaus should now say "I am not converted after all, because I didn't go through that sort of suffering before I received assurance of my salvation,
because I did not endure three days of suffering in the same way as Paul?

It is important that we do not compare ourselves with the experience of others.
God does unique things with individual people.
A person's conversion is a personal thing between that person and God.
It is not measured by someone else's experience.

There is a danger in the insistence of some Christian groups to prescribe to their followers exactly what the conversion experience should be,
and how it should take place.
They run the risk of promoting false conversions, and/or robbing those with true conversions of their assurance of salvation.

This is what you need to do:
Look at your own peace itself.
Do you have this peace and quietness in your soul?
Then praise the Lord for that peace, and praise the Lord that you received it so easily, and by His free grace.
If there is anything you should be trouble about, is that a reason why you should devalue the peace of God and call your peace little or false?

Christ calls it free, and you call it false.
So be humbled by this, and thank God that you have received it from Him.

But someone else will say:

"All this does not apply to me, because I have neither peace nor quiet in my soul to be thankful for. There are some that have peace definitely and they, no doubt, ought to be very thankful for it; but my poor soul has been afflicted and troubled for a long time, and I never yet had assurance of God's love in Christ. I don't have this peace and quiet inside me. What shall I do to achieve it?
Or what should a poor soul do to get and retain this inner peace and quiet?

But what does the Lord say in His Word?

1. He wills you to study much about the death, sufferings and the fullness of the redemption made by Jesus Christ. Christ's blood is the object of faith, and faith brings peace.

Unbelief is a painful sin, and faith is an easing and quieting grace.
The more you see the free and infinite love of God,
the more will your heart be at rest and quiet within you.

And where will you see the love of God, except in the death of Christ?
By seeing Christ on the cross, you see divine love in triumph.

2. You must not only study the death of Christ and go into his grave, but you you must go into Christ Himself for peace.
He is the great peacemaker to resolve conflicts within us.
Go to Him in prayer and make definite requests for peace.
Go armed with His own words to hold up as promises to you.

But go with the right attitude.
Seek peace as a help to maintaining the other graces that God has for you,
and not just for outward comfort.

"He will give grace and glory; no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly." Psa;m 84:11

Good men seek peace for grace sake.
Hypocrites seek peace for peace sake.

When you go to Christ, take the promise with you.
Go and wait on Him and keep His way.
Some say they are waiting on Him,
but they are not keeping His way.
They throw aside their duty if they don't have comfort at once.
If you desire peace, keep waiting on Him until you receive it.
Don't give up too soon.

Do we need to be humbled for sin in order to receive peace?

Make sure that in your humiliation that you take Christ along with you.

When you go to mourn for sin, begin with Christ above it, and then with your humiliation, fall down upon your sin.

You might say that you have to be humbled before you go to Christ.

But can you be really humbled, unless you see your sin in the death of Christ?

Is there anything else that can show you the misery, ugliness and damning nature of sin as the death of Christ?

If you begin with Christ, you will surely come down to your sin and be humbled for it.

But if you begin with sin, you will not certainly come up to Christ.

A person can be so weighed down in the legalism of sin, that he might never come to Christ for salvation.

Therefore it is important that you begin your quest for peace with Christ.

Make sure that you combine your will with the will of God.

This means that you need to put your own desires and aspirations to death and submit yourself to God’s will for your life.

When you come to God saying “I desire peace from you, but not my will but Yours be done”,  you will find rest at once.

If you want true peace, then it is wise to stay away from unbelieving and doubting company.

It is far better for a weak and doubting Christian to be allied with a strong Christian.

That way, the weak is supported by the stronger.

When there are two weak people trying to hold each other up, both will fall over because there is no support for them.

There is the story of a woman who was under temptation, and meeting with another in the same condition, she said to her, “I am afraid I shall be damned.”  “So am I, too.”  Said the other.  “Oh, but”, she said again, “I am not only afraid but I am sure of it, certainly I shall be damned.”  “Yes,” said the other, but my condition is worse because I am damned already.”

What sort of support and fellowship is this?

Can these two build each other up?

Can either of these find peace and comfort?

The answer is pretty well obvious.

Do you actually want peace of soul?

Whenever the Lord even just begins to speak peace to your heart,  be careful not to refuse it, but rather put it to good use and stir up your faith.

Praise God for every smile, and rejoice in the least morsel of peace that comes to you.

If a bent dollar coin is sent to you from Heaven, treat it as a treasure.

Then Christ will give you more.

This is the way it was with Nathaniel.  When he believed what Christ had spoken, Christ said to him, “You believed because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree?  I will show you greater things;  you shall see the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”  John 1:50,51.

The Lord will say the same thing to a poor soul.  “I have spoken a word to you, and I gave you a little peace, and do you believe because of the word I have spoken to you?  You shall see greater things and I will give you abundance of peace.”

Look into Isa 48:18, and this is what the Lord is saying there:  “Oh that you had hearkened to my commandments!  Then had your peace been as a river, and your righteousness as the waves of the sea.”

When the Lord speaks and calls upon people to believe, if they then hearken to Him, then their peace will be like a river.

When does the Lord all in a special manner upon people to believe?

When He gives out a word, and when He gives them a little peace.

This was the experience of Elijah:  When they lacked rain, and lacked it for a long time, Elijah went his servant toward the sea to see if he could see any rain coming.  Meanwhile, Elijah falls on his face in prayer.  His servant goes but sees no rain.  He goes again and sees no sign of rain, and the seventh time the servant returns and reports that he has seen a cloud the size of a man’s hand.  Elijah stops praying and says “Come, let us up.  I hear the noise of many waters.”

So you have been on your face, and been very discouraged, and while praying you have received a little refreshment from the Lord.  You can stop praying and believe that there is more rain coming.

Come, O my soul, why are you cast down?  And why are you disquieted within me?  Hope in God and wait upon Him.  I hear the abundance of rain coming.

When the Lord Jesus Christ sometimes speaks peace, at first he speaks by a small word, and if good use of made of that, He speaks more.

Mary was by the sepulcher, and had been enquiring after her Lord, and she says to the angels, “They have taken away my Lord”; and the angels talked to her but could not comfort her.  But at last the Saviour arrives, and He speaks to her, and then she was comforted.  But what does He say to her?

Only one word: “Mary.”

So when a person is in trouble, the Lord sometimes comes and speaks only a word.  He takes a promise and communicates it to the soul.  The soul responds, “My Lord!”

If the Lord speaks just one word to you, stir up your faith and hearken to Him, because He will then speak more fully and plainly.  But when He speaks listen.  Make good use of what He says to you.  Then your peace will be like a river, and your righteousness like the ocean.

TRUE PEACE MY BE INTERRUPTED

It is possible that a person who usually has peace and quietness with God can suffer interruptions to this peace at times.

This is shown in the text where the two words cast-down and disquieted are mentioned. 

And there are three occasions in this psalm where David says his soul was cast down within him;  yet David was a man of great peace and comfort usually.

In the same way that David was cast down and discouraged, other people of God will experience the same thing.

This is so ordinary, that there is a purposely written psalm for those who have this condition:  Psalm 102.  It has the title:  A Prayer or Psalm Of The Afflicted, When he is Overwhelmed, and Pours Out his Complaint Before the Lord.

Here are some supporting readings:

Psalm 119:25: “My belly cleaves to the dust.”

Verse 28: “My soul melts for heaviness.”

Song of Sol 5:6: The spouse says, “Her heart was gone.”  Or “My soul failed within me.”

Psalm 143:4:  “My spirit is overwhelmed, and my heart within me is desolate.”

These expressions support the truth of the experience.

This idea will be extended by showing:

First:  How far it is possible for a good man to be discouraged, or cast down.

Secondly:  How it comes to pass that he is so discouraged.

Thirdly:  How those discouragements can stand with his grace and goodness.

Fourthly:  How they can be healed and cured.

A.   When we ask how far the discouragements of Christians may reach, some will say “I know it is possible for the most gracious, holy man to be much discouraged, but not with the type of discouragements I have.

This is answered below:

1. What are your discouragements?

Are you so far down in discouragement that you are refusing to accept  the word, promise or consolation that is brought to you?

This is how far some can go: “I remembered God and was troubled.” Psalm 77:3.  He does not say “I remembered my sin and was troubled.”

Yes, I was not only troubled but “I did complain and my spirit was overwhelmed.”  But when the promise came, and mercy came, and comfort came, did he refuse that too?  Yes.  Verse 2: “My soul refused to be comforted.”

2. Are you so far discouraged, cast down, that your actual body feels the pain of your discouragements?

That you not only refuse the promise, and all comfort for your soul, but also for your body?

Psalm 102 parallels your condition:

Verse 4: “My heart is smitten, and withered kike grass, so that I forget to eat my bread.”

Verse 5:  “By reason of the voice of my groaning, my bones cleave to my skin.”

Verse 6: “I am like a pelican of the wilderness;  I am like an owl of the desert.”

Verse 9: “I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping.”

Verse 10: “Because of thine indignation and thy wrath;  for thou hast lifted me up and cast me down.”

Verse 11:  “My days are like a shadow that declineth;   and I am withered like grass.”

“Oh”, you might say, “but I am not only so far discouraged as to refuse comfort for soul and body, but my soul refuses my spiritual duties, and they are cast off for the meantime.”

3. Therefore it is possible that a good person’s discouragements may extend this far too.  See Jer 20:7-9:

“God’s word was as fire in my bones, and I could not forbear.”  But for a while he did forbear preaching in the name of God, even though it was his duty and commission.  “I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name.”

This holy man was under great stress.  He was very discouraged, and therefore he said what he said.

Yet in verse 13, he says: “Sing unto the Lord, praise ye the Lord:  for he has delivered the soul of the poor from the hand of evildoers.”

Now mark the next words:  “Cursed be the day wherein I was born;  let not the day wherein my mother bore me be blessed.  Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying a man child is born to thee.”

What a sudden change there is from being very encouraged to being discouraged.

“Oh,” says someone, “but I have not only cursed the day of my birth, as Jeremiah, and wished that I had never been born, but I am weary of my life, and have sought after my own death;  and was there ever any godly person who was discouraged and cast down like that?”

Yes!  What do you think of Job?

“My soul is weary of my life.”  Job 10:1

He also says in chapter 3, verse 10,11:  “Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life to the bitter in soul?  Which long for death, but it comes not, and digs for it more than for hid treasures.”

You know that people who dig for gold and treasures put an enormous effort into that.  Well, this is what it is like for me, says Job.

So this shows clearly that the people of God can fall into very deep discouragements and still remain godly and truly Christian.

B.    But why does God permit His own people and dearest children to be discouraged to that extent, and their peace to be interrupted?

Some will say that all our present joy and comfort is merely natural and can easily be eclipsed, and that Satan is near to the best of God’s children, pushing and thrusting them into these discouragements, so that they can be like himself – a discouraged spirit.  By why does God allow this?

In general, it is for their good.

For their good they have peace and comfort.

For their good they lack peace and comfort.

When Jesus stayed behind in the Temple, and his mother came earnestly looking for him, his absence and his presence, and her fear and comfort were for her good.

His absence increased and drew out her desires.

And his presence increased and drew out her joy.

When God is absent from us, we have testimonies of our love to Him.

When He is present, we have testimonies of His love to us.

So,  this means that whether God is with us, or not with us, and whether we have comfort or not, it is for our good.

This is the general idea of this teaching.

What follows now are the particular points which extend the thoughts and ideas:

1. It is God’s way and manner to deal with us according to our various personalities, to stoop to our weaknesses and shortcomings.

This is what the prophet Hosea says:  “I drew the with cords of a man.”  Hosea 11:4.

It is man’s nature to come to God as a secondary measure.

When he can find complete satisfaction in something else other than God, he will go there.

But when he finds emptiness and dissatisfaction in the world’s ways of doing things, including church activities, he will say to himself: “There is a greater satisfaction in God Himself, in Christ Himself.”

“The widow that is desolate trusteth in God.”  1Tim5:5.

Even though she is a widow, she might not be so lonely as to come to God for help and satisfaction.  God may introduce an emptiness, a loneliness into her life so she is motivated to find fulfillment in the person of God, or of Christ.

When David’s men took up stones to have stoned him, “He encouraged himself in the Lord his God.”  1 Sam 30:6.

Therefore, as long as people can find their encouragement elsewhere, they will not come to God for it.

Because this is human nature, and God having a loving plan for His people, He will permit a damp and discouragement to pass upon all their comforts.  Their peace is interrupted, their hearts troubled, and their souls discouraged, so that they may encourage themselves in God alone.

2.     This inward peace of soul is so valuable that God raises the price of obtaining it.

Ordinary blessings, familiar to Christians take on a greater importance when they are lost and then found again.

It is an ordinary blessing for a person to be working at his/her employment and earning the weekly salary.  But if that person is sick for a while, and the sick leave runs out, and the sickness benefit is all that stands between the person and abject poverty, then he/she will see it as an extraordinary blessing to be able to get back to work again and earn sufficient money to once again meet the needs of life.

While the person was healthy, he thought nothing of travelling here, or going there; but being confined to a sick bed, he thinks it’s a great thing to be able to move an arm, or a leg.  He might say “What a great blessing this is to do that!”

This is the same when we who once had peace and fellowship with God, and then gone through a desert experience when the heavens seemed like brass, and little satisfaction was gained through prayer, going to church or hearing the sermon.  Any little glimmer of understanding, or pleasure in fellowship then becomes a valuable respite and he blesses and praises God greatly for it.

This is why God permits the peace of His children to be interrupted at times.

3.     God is a tender Father, and He would have the love of all His children.

He would not have the children love the nanny or babysitter more than Himself.  Our joys and comforts are the babysitters of the good things that God has done for us and given to us.

When God sees that we have greater affection for the babysitter than for Himself, He removes the babysitter, and causes their peace to be suspended and interrupted.

4.     Sometimes God permits this cloud to arise upon the peace and comforts of His people, that He may train them up to more perfection.

Comfort is the children’s milk.

You may notice that weaker and younger Christians have sometimes more obvious and stronger sensations of comfort than stronger and more experienced Christians.

Why?

Because this inner joy and peace and comfort is milk and sweet honey, and this is used to attract people away from the pleasures of the world.

People are weaned off the comforts and pleasures of the world through the sensations and comforts of the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

But we have a need to be weaned from these weaners.

So God interrupts these comforts so the Christian can grow to greater perfection in discipleship.

5.     Sometimes again, God sees his children growing vain, light, frothy, wanton and secure under their peace and comfort, and then He withdraws Himself, hides His face so they lose their comfort.

See this verse from Song of Solomon 5, where the spouse says “My soul fails within me.”  Why?  “I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had withdrawn himself.”  Verse 6.

Why did he withdraw himself?

He comes and makes overtures to her of love and mercy (verse 2), but she would have none of it (verse 3) “I have put off my coat, how shall I put it on?  I have washed my feet, how shall I defile them?”  That is, I have prepared for sleep, and I don’t feel like getting up again.

Her words imply personal security.

Therefore he withdraws himself and interrupts her security.

Then her soul fails within her.

This is what happens to a lot of Christians.  When they become secure in the faith, they become too dependent upon that security, and when God comes to them to speak or teach them something new, they refuse it because they do not want to change or come out of their comfort zone.  God then withdraws Himself from them and they lose their security, and their peace fails.

6.     Our Lord and Saviour Christ is a tender surgeon who has set all our bones which we have broken through our sin.

A good surgeon, who has set a broken bone, and then seen that it has not knitted straight, will break it again and reset it so the final result is a good healing.

Christ does likewise.

If after getting us into the Christian life, He sees that our discipleship is going in a direction which will not bring the results He wants to see in us, and then will take away the peace and fulfillment that the person has in order for that person to come back to Christ Himself for the remedy and change of direction.

In the sowing of seed, although the seed is good, it must be own rightly, otherwise the very sowing of it could cause weeds.

Therefore it is the same for Christians.  The Word may be sown, but if it does not take root in the correct way, it may breed the seeds of fears and discouragements.

It may be quite obvious to many  experienced Christians that the direction of a certain person may certainly lead to future disillusionment and discouragement.

But then, it is difficult to say this with certainty.

Can we foretell someone’s discouragement in the time when he is encouraged and confident in his faith?

Who is there among all the people of God, who are living with strong encouragement now, that you can say will be severely discouraged later on?

When someone is depending on outward blessings as the basis for his comfort and confidence, you may say beforehand “This person’s comfort will never hold, but before long he/she will lose peace and be very troubled.

This is why so many Old Testament saints laboured under so much discouragement at times, because they depended so much on outward blessings to support their faith in God, and to measure His love for them.

Psalm 143:4:  Therefore my spirit is overwhelmed within me.”

Why?

He measured the love of God for him so much by outward blessings, that when the enemy attacked him, he thought that God did not love him, and so he was overwhelmed.

If you meet with someone who is depending on outward blessings to determine whether god loves him/her or not, you can say with confidence that it will not be long before this person is plunged into darkness and deep discouragement.

[Note:  this is a lesson that could be learned by some church groups which strongly depend on outward spiritual manifestations as a basis for Christian effectiveness, and evidence of God’s love for them, and His fellowship with them.]

When a person is unthankful for true peace, and unhumbled for false peace, he/she cannot hold onto his/her peace for long.

Before a person is converted, there is inner peace:  “For when the strong man keeps the house, all is at peace.”  Luke 11:21.  But it is false peace.

After a person is converted, there is inner peace, and it is true peace.

God expects that a person, once converted, is humbled because of his/her false peace, and thankful for his/her true peace.

When God does not see this, the Spirit of the Lord is grieved, and withdraws, and the soul is comfortless.

When a person draws his/her comfort only from something that he finds within himself, like the gifts and graces that are within him, and not from Christ who is outside of him, then his comfort will not hold up.

The attributes of Christ outside us is perpetual – in other words, they will go on without failing or being interrupted.

But the attributes even given to us by Christ within us are not perpetual and therefore will not perpetually comfort us.

There are three things which promote comfort in us:

a.      The attributes that we have within us, such as obedience, will give us peace and comfort, and we cannot have peace and comfort without them.

b.     There is another cause of comfort which is the removal of the things that hinder it;  namely our sin.

c.      There is a cause witnessing that we actually do have peace and comfort

d.      There is another cause which confirms, that through our obedience, we have justification and sanctification.

But the attribute of obedience is one of a number of causes that bring peace to us.  It may not even be the principal cause.  If we depend only upon obedience as the principal cause of our comfort, it will not be long before we fall into discouragement.  

When a good person depends for his comfort upon the impressions he gets from the Word, rather than from the Word itself, then his comfort will not hold.

For example, if a person uses the radom selection approach to the Bible, and picks an isolated verse (using closed eyes and a pin, or a promise box), he may be encouraged today from a positive scripture, but be discouraged by a negative verse tomrrow.

Or suppose that he does not read the Bible, but sits down and receives an impression in his mind of what a verse may say, he may be encoursed to say: "Now I am a child of God.  I know that God loves me, and I have a share in Christ."  

He certainly gets his encouragement from the Word itself through a remembered promise.  

But what if the Word does not come?  

Then he falls into discouragement.

Psalm 16: "He shall multiply sorrows that hastens after another."

This does not mean another god.  This means other things, even good things.

Look at verse 2: "Oh my soul, you have said to the Lord, Thou art my Lord:  my goodness (holiness, righeousness) is not for thee, but for the saints that are in the earth, and for the excellent in whom is all my delight."

What happens when we don't go to the Lord and depend on His goodness, holiness, and righteousness and depend on those things alone?

He answers: "Their sorrows shall be multiplied who hasten after another."

If people depend on impressions of scripture, don't  they hasten after things others than Christ Himself?

There is no mandate anywhere in the Bible that gives support for the random selection of verses of Scripture to obtain lasting peace and comfort from the Lord.

But, how can all this stand with grace?  Can a man be thus comforted and discouraged, discouraged and then comforted again, and yet judge himself to be in Christ and in a gracious and holy state?

The short answer to this is, Yes.

Though there is much evil in the swinging from one state to another, in Christians there is always a mixture of some grace, mixed up with their discouragements.

Even though they are cast down and discouraged, true Christians mourn after God.

And though they cannot wait so patiently as they would, yet they say honestly if they were certain that God would come eventually, they would wait all their lives.

This is the evidence of true grace in their lives.

Even though they cannot mourn for past sins, they would never willingly put their hand to present sin.  

There was a man who was so troubled and cast down that he said and thought: "I find so little comfort in my soul that I would willingly suffer my body to live in burning fire until Christ's coming so that I might but have the assurance of God's love and favour;  and though I am persuaded that I shall go to hell, yet my hope is that my pains here will be mitigated there."

His attitude was that no matter how much trouble he felt, nothing in the world would persuade him to do anything willingly displeasing to God.

This man was eventually comforted, and then he would often say: "The devil took advantage of my sorrow over evil things to make me unthankful for good things."

This goes to show that no matter how discouraged the people of God get, there is something of God's grace found in them - they dare not sin.

Although they are actually sinning through their unbelief.

But through their discouragements, they are kept from sinning against the Law.

These are people, who in the midst of their discouragements, they are all the more obedient to God, because they say that they would give anything to have the presence of God in their lives.

This is the mixture of grace:  therefore there is no marvel that good Christians can be deeply discouraged at times.

But I have a problem with this:  wouldn't there be evil in swinging so much between comfort and discouragement?  Isn't discouragement evil?

Definitely yes.  There is much evil in discouragement.

But how can they put to good use the attributes of Christ in this discouraged condition?

As long as the person's title to a property is in question, he will not make improvements to the buildings or land, nor will he sow seed for a future harvest.

He doesn't want to outlay any cost on land that might not belong to him.

If a man goes travelling, and he does not know where he is going or how to get there, he wastes a lot of his time trying to find out and get directions;  and therefore loses a lot of the satisfaction in taking the journey.

[continuing]