The Grenada sentinel., 1904-01-09

tiana For Moses and Caleb and Joshua
to have gone into the Promised Land
would not have fulfilled the promises
and purposes Of God. These included
Israel AZ nation, and Moses and his
two faithful compatriots must remain
with israel and wait until the nation was
ready to move forward and take posses
sion OF the Promised Land. And does
not this explain why SO many times the
child or God is shut up in the wilder
ness? He must wait until the large plan
OF God which includes all of Gods chill
dren can be realized. And as he waits he
has a ministry to perform in behalf of
the weaker brother. 1t is blessed for
even the Calebs and the Joshuas in the
wilderness. for the Lord is there.
HE wilderness discipline delays but
! cannot thwart the plans and pur-
poses OF God. God forgive us as Chris
t1ans because we so often by our con-
duct, by our lack Of faith, by our will
fulness, by our disobedience, delay the
working out of Gods plans. The devil
Is responsible for good deal in this
world. He never lets a chance slip to
hinder and prevent the will of God being
done In the hearts of men. But the
slow progress of the Gospel in the world
is not due wholly to his activity. The
Kingdom Of Christ suffereth violence at
the hands of its friends. Christians
hinder the Gospel. They delay the pur-
poses and plans of God. l say, it is sad,
indeed, that such is the case, and our
hearts ought to breathe the prayer:
God forgive us! and help us to cease
such conduct But it is a blessed
thought. and full of encouragement.
that we cannot thwart Gods plans. We
may fail God. We may even be so per-
s1stent In our rebellion that He will
have to set us aside as He did Saul and
choose man after His own heart
through whom to fulfill His purposes,
but, blessed be God! not one jot or one
title shall pass from the purposes or
plans of God until all are fulfilled.
Forty years in the wilderness!-a long
delay. They might have been bet
ter spent in clearing the land
OF the enemies of God and
cleansing it from the foulness and
Nth OF idol worship. But after all
they were only years of delay. The
Lord was victorious in the end through
His people. They went in and possessed
the land as God said they should. An
entire. nation In rebellion, except the
two faith-inspired spies, was not sum-
cient to nullify those promises, or short
en- the mighty arm of God. What God
had promised came to pass, even though
1t took forty years longer to do it, and
the loss of every unbelieving and re-
bellious heart God cannot be thwarted
in the glorious unfolding OF His plans.
The wilderness discipline marks delay
but not defeat.
cOD has mighty and glorious pur-
- poses to fulfill through His chill
dren to-day. Not all the powers of hell,
or the faithlessness of Christians. can
defeat those purposes. All, the promised
land of realization of the infinite pur-
poses and plans of God always lies just
ahead. Are we as Christians, or is the
church of Jesus Christ, as made up of
the true believers everywhere, wander
ing about through the wilderness of dis
not in discouragement and doubt upon
the dreary wastes about you, think not
of the weary way and the uncertain path
before you, but lift up your eyes until
they rest upon the unfailing promises
Of God as they fill the distant horizon
with their glorious light and mark the
of that land of promise into
which God will lead when the discipline
Of the wilderness Is ended. Has God
said: Turn you. and get you into the
Ere long He will say to
you: "Go forward" The glorious
Gospel of Christ shall triumph. God
declared on the occasion when Israel
failed Him and He had to turn them
back into the wilderness in disgrace:
But as truly as live, all the earth
shall be filled with the glory of the
Lord.' The full realization of that
promise is yet In the future. The earth
shall be full of the knowledge of the
Lord, as the waters cover the sea-
I'm the dispensation of the fullness of
time (can you fathom all that means?)
in the dispensation of the fullness of
time, He shall gather together in one all
things in Christ, both which are in
Heaven, and which are on earth; even
IN Him." What glorious hope! When
vou get into the wilderness of disci-
pline keep your eye on the cloudy pill
lar of Gods presence, and wait pa
tiently. Has God turned you back into
The wilderness? Do not forget that
some day:
Jesus shall reign where'er the sun
Does his successive journeys run;
His Kingdom stretch from shore to shore
Till moons shall wax and wane no more"
Keeping Friends.
Friendship is worth taking trouble
bout. 1t is one of the things about
which we should remember the Apostles
command, Hold fast that which is
yood" Thoreau said: "The only danger
n friendship is that it will end" Cor