The Tupelo journal., 1904-01-15

snail again swing open.
D UT perhaps, like Caleb and Joshua
y and Moses, you are In the wilderness
not because of your W failure, or un-
belief, or rebellion. You are the inno-
cent sufferer for others wrong doing.
Does 1t not seem hard that these three
great men Of faith and obedience should
have had to suffer so? 1t may seem
hard and unreasonable to you to have to
suffer because of what others have done,
but Moses and Caleb and Joshua were
needed in the wilderness, and so, too.
there may be a mission for you in the
wilderness. There are two reasons. I
believe, why these three men were glad
to go back into the wilderness: First
of all, because the Lord led the way and
vas to be found only in that place, and
second, because it vas the place where
they were needed most. Think you that
these three faithful servants of God
were idle during those forty years OF
wandering? They had to encourage and
help and strengthen the people all about
them who had not SO much faith as they
had, who had not the patience which
they possessed, who had not the cour-
age and perseverance with which they
were endowed. And you. dear Christian.
may be in the wilderness with weaker
Christians all about you with a similar
mission to perform. The plan of God
is larger than any two or three Chris
tians. 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 as a nation, and Moses and his
two faithful compatriots must remain
with Israel and wait until the nation was
ready to move forward and take possess
sion of the Promised Land. And does
not this explain why so many times the
child of God is shut I'D in the wilder
ness? He must wait until the large plan
of God which includes alLof 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 inthe
wilderness, for the Lord is there.
THE wilderness discipline delays but
cannot thwart the plans and pur-
poses of God. God forgive us as Chris
tians because we so often by our con-
duct, by our lack of faith, by our will
f%ulness, by our disobeGience, delay the
working out of Gods plans. The devil
is responsible for a 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 it's friends. Christians
hinder the Gospel. They delay the pur-
poses and plans of God. 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-
sistent in our rebellion that He will
have to set us aside as He did Saul and
choose a 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
filth 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 sufl-
cient to nullify those promises, or short
en- the mighty arm of God. What God
had promised came to pass, even though
it took forty years longer to dc, 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.
GOD 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
cipline? Has delay come? Then look
not in Encouragement 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
boundaries 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
wilderness" 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 TURF them
back into the wilderness in disgrace: