KenH
Well-Known Member
"And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat." Exodus 25:22
After a child of God has enjoyed something of the goodness and mercy of God revealed in the face of his dear Son, he may wander from his mercies, stray away from these choice gospel pastures, and get into a waste-howling wilderness where there is neither food nor water; and yet, though half-starved for poverty, has in himself no power to return. But what has brought him for the most part into this state? Forgetfulness of the mercy seat; and as the Lord meets his people only there, a gradual estrangement from him.
But in due time the Lord seeks out this wandering sheep, and the first place he brings him to is the mercy seat, confessing his sins and seeking mercy. Faithful to his own word, once more the Lord meets him there; and O what a meeting! A guilty wretch drowned in tears, and a loving Father falling upon his neck kissing him!
...
The Lord is pleased sometimes to show his dear people the evils of their heart, to remove by his Spirit and grace that veil of pride and self-righteousness which hides so much of sinful self from our eyes, and to discover what is really in us - the deep corruptions which lurk in our depraved nature, the filth and folly which is part and parcel of ourselves, the unutterable baseness and vileness so involved in our very being.
Now by itself this would drive us from the throne of grace. 'Can God dwell here?' is the sinner's question. 'Can I be possessed of the fear of God when such thoughts and feelings overflow my mind, and seem to fill me as if with the very dregs of hell?' Yet still he is drawn from time to time to the throne of grace to confess these sins before the mercy seat, for he cannot, dare not, stay away from it; and again God is true to his word--"There will I meet with thee." There once more he reveals a sense of his mercy and goodness that, whatever the sinner be in himself, he is faithful to his own promise.
- excerpt from J.C. Philpot's Through Baca's Vale, February 17
After a child of God has enjoyed something of the goodness and mercy of God revealed in the face of his dear Son, he may wander from his mercies, stray away from these choice gospel pastures, and get into a waste-howling wilderness where there is neither food nor water; and yet, though half-starved for poverty, has in himself no power to return. But what has brought him for the most part into this state? Forgetfulness of the mercy seat; and as the Lord meets his people only there, a gradual estrangement from him.
But in due time the Lord seeks out this wandering sheep, and the first place he brings him to is the mercy seat, confessing his sins and seeking mercy. Faithful to his own word, once more the Lord meets him there; and O what a meeting! A guilty wretch drowned in tears, and a loving Father falling upon his neck kissing him!
...
The Lord is pleased sometimes to show his dear people the evils of their heart, to remove by his Spirit and grace that veil of pride and self-righteousness which hides so much of sinful self from our eyes, and to discover what is really in us - the deep corruptions which lurk in our depraved nature, the filth and folly which is part and parcel of ourselves, the unutterable baseness and vileness so involved in our very being.
Now by itself this would drive us from the throne of grace. 'Can God dwell here?' is the sinner's question. 'Can I be possessed of the fear of God when such thoughts and feelings overflow my mind, and seem to fill me as if with the very dregs of hell?' Yet still he is drawn from time to time to the throne of grace to confess these sins before the mercy seat, for he cannot, dare not, stay away from it; and again God is true to his word--"There will I meet with thee." There once more he reveals a sense of his mercy and goodness that, whatever the sinner be in himself, he is faithful to his own promise.
- excerpt from J.C. Philpot's Through Baca's Vale, February 17