Welcome, friends, to another
broadcast of Morsels for Zion's Poor. Much of the comfort of
the sons of God arises out of a knowledge of him whose hand
cannot be stained and who will perform his will in the army
of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. Sadly, in the present
day in which we live, it seems that the vast majority of those
who make some profession of being the followers of Christ more
intently follow the mindset of the world rather than casting
all of their care upon him. Not a one of us knows what tomorrow
holds for us. Yet we can know and take delight
in Him who directs the events of tomorrow as surely as He does
in the present time. For whether we live, we live
unto the Lord, and whether we die, we die unto the Lord. Whether
we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. We would certainly
never tell anyone to throw caution to the wind or to disregard a
prudent consideration of matters of our health and well-being.
We are told to be good stewards of all those things which the
Lord has given us, being wise as serpents and harmless as doves.
Yet we must not succumb to the wisdom of the flesh that would
have us to believe that we can by chance contract a deadly virus,
fall off a cliff, or die in a plane crash apart from the ordained
purpose of Him who has numbered our days even as He has the hairs
upon our heads. Man that is born of a woman is
a few days and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower
in his cut down. He fleeth also as a shatter and
continueth not. And dost thou open thine eyes
upon such a one, and bringest me into judgment with thee? Who
can bring a clean thing out of an unclean, not one? Seeing his
days are determined, the number of his months are with thee.
Thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass. Such knowledge
as this, when applied by the Spirit of God, must be of great
encouragement to the sons of God, as they stare into the uncertainty
which appears to the flesh and captures the imaginations of
the fretful who know not God. We will stand with David who
said, but our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased. When David had sinned against the Lord in numbering
the people, he sent the prophet Gad to give David three choices
of how he would deal with David's sin. David realized that even
a pestilence in the hand of the Lord is a demonstration of his
mercy, because David understood the depths of the wickedness
of his sin against the Lord. Even as Jeremiah declared, this
I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the Lord's
mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail
not. They are new every morning, great is thy faithfulness. The
Lord is my portion, saith my soul, therefore will I hope in
Him. When a man is brought to understand
the depths of his depravity and his worthiness to be destroyed,
then he can find no reason that he should not be ultimately and
immediately destroyed. That he should spare any of us
is but a testament to his everlasting love of that people which he
gave to Christ from before the foundation of the world, and
for whom Christ has shed his precious blood to redeem. The
Lord has plainly declared that he sends pestilence to accomplish
his purpose. He sent Moses into Pharaoh's
court to declare his very purpose for raising up Pharaoh to a place
of power. For I will at this time send
all my plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon
thy people, that thou mayest know that there is none like
me in all the earth. For now I will stretch out my
hand that I may smite thee, and thy people with pestilence, and
thou shalt be cut off from the earth. And in very deed for this
cause have I raised thee up, for to show in thee my power,
and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth. Paul
declares the same thing to the Romans. So then it is not of
him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that
showeth mercy. Therefore hath he mercy on whom
he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. The pestilence
which the Lord would send in the earth, whether it be in 2021
A.D. or 1400 B.C., is but a demonstration
of His purpose to manifest His glory in the redemption of that
people which He gave to Christ. Christ came as that one who would
set His people free from the curse forever, as He has borne
our griefs and carried our sorrows. He has made Himself an offering
for sin. making the sin of his people his own, carrying it away
as far as east is from the west, as he obtained eternal redemption
by the offering up of his own body and the shedding of his
own blood for sin. The Lord would show the rebellion
of men against himself according to his ordained purpose, as Christ
being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.
Men wickedly treated Christ, but the Lord meant it for good,
as by the means of His crucifixion and ultimate resurrection, He
has brought many sons to glory. Are you one of His? For a free
CD containing 15 of these radio broadcasts, send an email to
forthepoor at windstream.net.