Good morning, John.
I read the print-out from this morning’s fireside chat, “The Reproach of His Glory”.* The scriptures there reminded me of an encouraging experience from Jesus that I cherish.
These are some of the scriptures from Luke 6: “Blessed are you when men hate you and when they exclude you, and revile and cast out your name as evil for the sake of the Son of man. Rejoice in that day, and dance! Behold, your reward is great in heaven!”
Here is the testimony. It was October, 2012. Tom & I were on our way to a get-together at your house. We had just moved here. A loved one of ours, who had the holy Ghost and had a place in the hearts of God’s people, had gone out into the world to marry a man who cared nothing for Jesus. This day was their wedding day. I felt the heaviness that often comes along with feeling the pain of a wayward soul, and I said to Tom; “I just can’t get a hold of that scripture about ‘rejoice and be glad.’ I wish I could feel that, but I just can’t grasp it.”
We then turned on the latest meeting music CD, dated September, 2012, and the first song began: “Do you have your wedding invitation….to that marriage supper in the sky!?” Quite suddenly, I laughed & said, “I got it!!” I was thrilled to have that special, outstanding feeling that I did not cause to happen. I could not cause that joy to come upon me! Jesus did it in his mercy & kindness. It was thrilling & quite memorable, even to this day. It is one more reminder of what Jesus can do. He rescues us from our own thoughts & feelings & gives us joy. Woohoo!
Suzi
===
The Reproach of His Glory
O sons of man, how long will my glory be a reproach? You love strife; you seek after a lie! Selah.
Psalm 4:2
When Israel’s prophet and king David, and “all the house of Israel”, brought the ark of God into Jerusalem, trumpets sounded and everyone was happy. David was so full of joy that he danced before all the people as the ark proceeded toward the tent he had prepared for it. David’s soul was absolutely thrilled at the prospect of having God’s ark with him in Jerusalem. With his whole body and soul, David was saying to all the people, “Praise Him with a blast of a shofar! Praise Him with harp and lyre! Praise Him with timbrel and dance! Praise Him with strings and flute! Praise Him with clashing cymbals! Praise Him with crashing cymbals! Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Hallelujah!”
Unfortunately, there was one that day who did not join the king in his joy, for David’s wife, “Michal, the daughter of Saul, looked down through the window and saw King David leaping and whirling before Jehovah, and she despised him in her heart.” The glory of God that David was feeling was contemptible to her, and she reproached him for it: “How the king of Israel was glorified today, who exposed himself today in the eyes of the handmaids of his slaves, like one of the worthless men who shamelessly expose themselves!”
When those who do not love God see the glory of God on His people, they despise it as if it is something shameful, and they will speak evil of both it and the people on whom that glory rests. But David’s response to his wife’s reproach is an example for us all. He did not back up an inch. He said to her, “Yes, I played before the Lord! And I will be more contemptible than this!”
Among the many riches of the kingdom of God is one which we often try to avoid, though we are exhorted to gladly receive it: the reproach of Christ. Are we rich in that? Moses “esteemed the reproach of Christ to be greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, for he looked ahead to the reward.”
Consider the value of the reproach of Christ, and do not flinch when God uses the world to heap it upon you. Be like David, and tell those who despise the glory of God, “I will be more contemptible than that!” In other words, “I will rejoice in the glory of God more than that!”
Luke 6
- “Blessed are you when men hate you and when they exclude you, and revile and cast out your name as evil for the sake of the Son of man.
- Rejoice in that day, and dance! Behold, your reward is great in heaven! For their fathers used to do such things to the prophets.”
Hebrews 13
- Wherefore, Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate.
- So then, let us go to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach.
1Peter 4
- If you are being reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part, he is blasphemed, but on your part, he is glorified.
jdc
Tell Us what you think: