On My Way To Heaven

We are enjoying the reading of the book, The Bruised Reed by Richard Sibbes in a community @ Challies. {You can also download or listen it here for free}

8. Duties and Discouragements

In this chapter, Sibbes, known also as The Heavenly Doctor in the seventeenth century, deals with in an infirmity that afflicts the Christian soul: discouragement.

But as a good doctor he addresses  the causes of the infirmity, which in this case are from “ourselves and from Satan, who labours to fasten on us loathing of duty”

At the same time he gives us the medicine:

1. Weaknesses do not break covenant with God.

2. Weaknesses do not debar us from mercy.

3. If Christ should not be merciful to our weaknesses, he should not have a people to serve Him.

The key here is not really about being discouraged at times for we know we have a Father that remembers our weaknesses and has mercy on us, and holds us, and gives us promises to stand firm. The true problem is “to allow ourselves in weaknesses is more than a weakness. The justification of evil shuts our mouths, so that the soul cannot call God Father with childlike liberty, or enjoy sweet communion with Him, until peace be made by shamming ourselves, and renewing our faith”

So we should be working diligently, not to allow discouragement have dominion of our souls.

It is our duty.

But there is hope for you, for me, if we are under the threaten of this great illness, for “those that have ever been bruised for sin, if they fall, are soon recovered.”, it only takes a “gracious look from our Master” {remember how Christ looked graciously to Peter after his great sin?}

Please, my friend, if you are reading this and you see symptoms of this illness in your soul, take heed of this words, and come to Christ, the sin is not the weakness itself but not coming to Christ. Sibbes reminds us that we must yield to our Lord,  and in some cases even to good counsel.

Let us examine ourselves and if we find that we are already pampering our weaknesses, and we have therefore, lost our peace, remember this words, “they  must  condemn themselves sharply, and yet cast themselves upon God’s mercy in Christ, as at their first conversion. And now they most embrace Christ the more firmly, as they see more need in themselves; and let them remember the mildness of Christ here, that he will not quench the smoking flax”

This quote from Ryle, about Christ's Tender Mercy falls here just right.

9. Believe Christ, not Satan

“Let us not believe Satan representations of Him {our Lord}”, we know well, that in our weaknesses Satan presents Christ to us as “a most sever judge armed with justice against us. But then let us present him {Christ} to our souls as offered to our view by God himself, holding out a sceptre of mercy and spreading arms to receive us”

Let us remember that even in our weaknesses, in our  trials He does not forsake us. He does not leave us. He holds us. He is our Christ, our Mediator.

And doubts arise, and hard times come, but if we keep in mind that we are like a smoking flax, we must believe Christ., we must  do as Sibbes says, “cast yourself into the arms of Christ, and if you perish, perish there. If you do not, you are sure to perish. If mercy is to be found anywhere, it is there”

Yes, I want to be there in the arms of Christ, where  discouragements and doubts find no place.

You may also want to read the great reviews that Deek, Lisa, Audrey and Kevin wrote on these chapters.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 13, 2010 at 7:59 AM and is filed under Read This with tags Books, Devotions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.