The old song says,”We’ll understand it better by and by”, but more importantly the scriptures say, “thou shalt know hereafter“! And that is one of those exceeding great and precious promises of which the Bible speaks (2 Pet. 1:4)

“Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.”–Matt.10: 29-31

After yesterday’s message ( “Tiny Things”) with the quote by Mary Winslow, I discovered these thoughts by Charles Spurgeon, that he entitles “The Littles”. So,let’s look at “the littles” and think about what a big God we serve.

“I would, with special earnestness, beg you to believe that God is in little things.

It is the little troubles of life that annoy us the most. A man can put up with the loss of a dear friend sometimes, better than he can with the burning of his fingers with a coal, or some little accident that may occur to him. The little stones in the sandal make the traveler limp; while great stones do him little hurt, for he soon leaps over them.

Believe that God arranges the littles. Take the little troubles as they come and bring them to your God, because they come from God. Believe that nothing is little to God, which concerns His people. To Him, indeed, your greatest concerns may be said to be little; and your little anxieties are not too small for His notice.

The very hairs of your head are all numbered; you may, therefore, pray to him about your smallest griefs. If not a sparrow hops upon the ground without your Father — you have reason to see that the smallest events in your career are arranged by Him, and it should be your joy to accept them as they come, and not make them causes of irritation, either to others or to yourselves.

This is a truth on which you may rely implicitly, and exercise yourselves continually, until you . . .
lull the sharpest pains,
calm the most feverish excitements, and
obtain the sweetest repose that a Christian can indulge in.

Everything in the future is appointed by God. All is in the hand of the great King. The Lord is King; let his people rejoice!”

Here we see tremendous truths about tiny things. Our dear Lord wants us to know that He knows about all our troubles, regardless of the size or sort! He knows, He cares, and He helps. Mary Winslow wrote, “What a mercy it is to have an Almighty Friend–powerful and willing to help in every time of need!

There are no commandments in the Bible more devastating than the two that Jesus said are the greatest:

“Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”  (Matthew 22:37–-39)

If I ever thought I was a pretty good person, these commandments destroy that delusion.

I have never once kept even the first clause of the foremost commandment: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart.” At the very best moments of my life, when my affections for God have been the highest and my devotion the strongest, my heart has been polluted with the indwelling sin of selfishness. And I am rarely at my highest and strongest.

When added to all my heart is all my soul (everything that animates my physical and emotional being) and all my mind (every thought and intellectual desire), I am thrice condemned. Heart, soul, and mind overlap to cover my entire self. I have never, ever loved God entirely.

And then, if one impossible command wasn’t enough, Jesus adds to Deuteronomy 6:5 the impossible command of Leviticus 19:18: “you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” I have never once loved my neighbor as myself. The pathological selfishness resident in me makes loving even those I love the most impossible to love as myself. I have to repent daily for some way I sinfully put myself before around me.

When held to the standard of these commandments, I see that, “For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?”–(Romans 7:22–24)

A Hope Almost too Good to Be True

Who will deliver me from my wretchedness? The answer is almost too good to be true:“I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.” (Romans 7:25)

God himself saves me — and you — from the condemnation of the two greatest commandments that he himself commanded! For,“For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” (Romans 8:3–4)

The Great Commandments show me I am not a good person. The cross is my only hope of ever becoming one.

Jesus loved the Father with all his heart, all his soul, and all his mind on our behalf. And he loved us, his neighbors, even while we were still sinful enemies (Romans 5:8), as he loved himself — truly as he loved himself. He became sin for us that we might become his righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21). This made us no longer just neighbors, but actually part of himself —

Outside of Christ, we are only wretched. The two greatest commandments reveal just how wretched we are. But in Christ, united to him, we are completely forgiven of our constant failure to keep them and his constant and perfect keeping of them is credited to us. And one day, “when freed from sinning,” we too will have the joy of keeping them constantly and perfectly just as Christ does. One day we will know the thrill of loving God with our entire being and the delightful, pure freedom of loving others as ourselves.–Jon Bloom (Revised to KJV)

“He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water“—John 7:38

David Brainerd, missionary to Native Americans, was a frail young man, sickly and easily depressed. His work in 1743 and 1744 saw little success. On January 3, 1745, Brainerd set aside the entire day for fasting and prayer, pleading for an outpouring of spiritual power. He claimed our Lord’s promise in John 7, that those who believe in Him will experience rivers of living water flowing from within them. Brainerd began preaching from John 7, and the unfolding year proved very fruitful. Though he passed away at the age of 29, “his story moved his generation—Henry Martyn, William Carey, Adoniram Judson—toward missions. His diary became one of the most powerful Christian books in early American history . ”

When we believe in Christ, we experience rivers of living waters—the Holy Spirit—flowing from within us to a dry and parched culture. In His power, we’ll have courage to keep going, to persevere in the work of God, and to stand against the evils of our day.

As you walk by faith in Him today, rivers of living water will flow through you to a waiting world.(Turning Point)

Here am I, send me; send me to the ends of the earth; send me to the rough, the savage pagans of the wilderness . . . to promote Thy kingdom.–David Brainerd