Daily Archives: November 2, 2011

The Slough of Dispond

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Slough

Image by born1945 via Flickr

The Lord has given me many words to the unsaved and the proud.  Yet there are many who will take heed from those words.  I write this post for them.

As we encounter the Truth of God regarding our sins, we often fall into a state of disrepair and despair (I take note of the similarity of those two words).   It will be expected that receiving Jesus’ gift of Life is going to become a heavy burden at first.  More weight will be pressed upon the one who receives His guidance.  For all we have done will surface for us to examine.  This is expected and will surely surprise the one who thought “The Way” would be an easy saunter, all the way to the Holy Throne of God.  “The Way” is both the hardest way for a man or woman to live and the easiest.  John Bunyan wrote of this in his book “Pilgrim’s Progress”.

“This miry Slough is such a place as cannot be mended; it is the descent whither the scum and filth that attends conviction for sin doth continually run, and therefore is it called the Slough of Despond: for still as the sinner is awakened about his lost condition, there ariseth in his soul many fears, and doubts, and discouraging apprehensions, which all of them get together, and settle in this place; and this is the reason of the badness of this ground.”

I do not want anyone to fall into hopelessness because of the burdens that will press upon them.  Keep your hope in Jesus and believe.  This place of horror will not last forever.  Yet it is a necessary part of accepting Jesus.

By His Grace.

No Legs to Stand

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You thought you were expected to right all wrongs.

You considered the power of God a “noneffect”.

It was written about you,

“They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly.”

Then you will stand and present yourself for inspection.

You will give account of yourself and all the things you thought you did with righteousness.

But what will be said?

Perhaps you will say that you gathered all information and stood your ground against wrongs.

Perhaps you will point to others and say that they did not allow you to perform godly actions.

Perhaps you will render all your deeds and realize that God was not part of any of them.

When you are asked to give account of yourself, what pocket will you reach into to draw proof?

What chance will you have to say, “May I have a moment to reflect?”

Your tongue will betray your fear and words will come regardless your desire to stem their tide.

Before Him you are standing, on that day.

He who has provided the power to accomplish God’s will.

But you decided here to do all things according to your own imagination.

You read the Bible and determined that you could obey the Holy Law of God.

How’s that working out for you?

You see social injustice and take it upon yourself to correct the flood of lawless men.

You made a “good” life for yourself and your family.

And it is your hands which have constructed the house you now live in.

Have you never heard the Gospel?

Will you recount, on that day, that everything you have to present to the Holy Father has been done by Jesus His Son?

Perhaps you have not heard this:

 Unless the LORD builds the house,
   the builders labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city,
   the guards stand watch in vain.
In vain you rise early
   and stay up late,
toiling for food to eat—
   for he grants sleep to those he loves.

May God grant you understanding before you stand before Him.