June 8

Morning

There fell down many slain, because the war was of God. — 1 Chr 5:22

Warrior, fighting under the banner of the Lord Jesus, observe this verse with holy joy, for as it was in the days of old so is it now, if the war is of God—the victory is sure. The sons of Reuben, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh could barely muster forty-five thousand fighting men, and yet in their war with the Hagrites, they slew “a hundred thousand men,” “for they cried to God in the battle, and He was entreated of them, because they put their trust in Him.”

The Lord saves not by many nor by few; it is ours to go forth in Jehovah’s name if we be but a handful of men, for the Lord Almighty is with us for our Captain. They did not neglect shield, and sword, and bow, neither did they place their trust in these weapons; we must use all fitting means but our confidence must rest in the Lord alone, for He is the sword and the shield of His people.

The great reason of their extraordinary success lay in the fact that “God was fighting against them.” Beloved, in fighting with sin without and within, with error doctrinal or practical, with spiritual wickedness in high places or low places, with devils and the devil’s allies—you are waging Jehovah’s war, and unless He himself can be conquered, you need not fear defeat. Do not cringe before superior numbers, do not shrink from difficulties or impossibilities, do not flinch at wounds or death; smite with the two-edged sword of the Spirit, and the slain shall lie in heaps! The battle is the Lord’s and He will deliver His enemies into our hands. With steadfast foot, strong hand, dauntless heart, and flaming zeal—rush to the conflict, and the armies of evil shall fly like chaff before the gale.

Stand up! stand up for Jesus!
The strife will not be long;
This day the noise of battle,
The next the victor’s song—

To him who overcomes,
A crown of life shall be;
He with the King of glory
Shall reign eternally!

Evening

Thou shalt see now whether my word shall come to pass unto thee or not. — Num 11:23

God had made a positive promise to Moses— that for the space of a whole month He would feed the vast multitude in the wilderness with flesh. Moses, being overtaken by a fit of unbelief, looks to the outward means, and is at a loss to know how the promise can be fulfilled. He looked to the creature instead of the Creator. But does the Creator expect the creature to fulfill His promise for Him? No! He who makes the promise—ever fulfils it by His own unaided omnipotence. If He speaks, it is done—done by Himself. His promises do not depend for their fulfillment, upon the cooperation of the puny strength of man.

We can at once perceive the mistake which Moses made. And yet how commonly we do the same! God has promised to supply our needs, and we look to the creature to do what God has promised to do; and then, because we perceive the creature to be weak and feeble, we indulge in unbelief. Why do we look to that quarter at all? Will you look to the north pole to gather fruits ripened in the sun? Truly, you would act no more foolishly if you did this—than when you look to the weak for strength, and to the creature to do the Creator’s work.

Let us, then, put the question on the right footing. The ground of faith is not the sufficiency of the visible means for the performance of the promise but the all-sufficiency of the invisible God, who will most surely do as He has said. If after clearly seeing that the onus lies with the Lord and not with the creature, we dare to indulge in mistrust, the question of God comes home mightily to us, “Has the Lord’s hand waxed short?” May it happen, too, in His mercy, that with the question there may flash upon our souls that blessed declaration, “You shall see now whether My Word shall come to pass unto you or not.”