Ever
Increasing Joy
By
Stanley H. Frodsham
There
is a promise in Isaiah 29:19: “The meek... shall increase their joy in the Lord.” What class? The meek. Who are
the meek? Those who find nothing in themselves and their all in the Lord.
Moses
was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. With his exceptional ability and power, surely, he could deliver the enslaved
Israelites from their great oppression. He tried. He failed. So we have tried many things. So have we failed.
Then
forty years of humiliation in the backside of the desert. Forty years of being emptied of all confidence in his own fleshly
efforts. Forty years of education to learn of great truth – to expect nothing from himself, to expect all from God.
David later learned this wholesome truth when he said, “My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from
Him.” Psalm 62:5.
The
Lord is a wonderful educator. He says, “Learn of Me.” Matthew 11:29. Remember His Word: “They shall be all
taught of God.” John 6:45. That all includes you and me. From Him we shall learn meekness.
Our
colleges are full of those who desire to acquire knowledge. The ambition of most could be expressed in the language of Ter
Steegen:
"To learn, and yet to learn, while life goes by,
So
pass the student's days;
And
thus be great, and do great things and die,
And
lie embalmed with praise."
Thus
was Moses, those first forty years. But in those second forty years he learned the truth expressed by Ter Steegen when he
further wrote:
"My
work is but to lose and to forget,
Thus
small, despised to be;
All
to unlearn – this task before me set;
Unlearn
all else but Thee."
The
result? We read that after those forty years of learning meekness from our very humble God, “Now the man Moses was very
meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.” Numbers 12:3.
We
find David learning the same lesson. Meditate much on those three precious verses of Psalm 131. We see him free from all confidence
in himself. And for us too there is deliverance from the haughty heart, from the lofty eyes, from exercising ourselves in
great matters and in things too high for us. We too can be instructed how to become still and quiet, weaned from all on which
we formerly relied. Then we learn to hope in the Lord, to expect all from Him. Like Job we are brought to the place where
we abhor ourselves. Like Job we begin to get a right estimate of ourselves and confess, “I am vile.” Job 40:4.
But we turn from ourselves to the Lord, from whom is all our expectation, and we know as we expect all from Him out expectations
will not be cut off.
That
is meekness. We are bidden, “Seek ye the Lord... seek meekness.” Zephaniah 2:3. Says the inspired prophet, “In
the Lord have I righteousness and strength.” Isaiah 45:24. Meekness is one phase of righteousness. In Him too is our
meekness, and as we partake of His meekness, our joy will be constantly increased.
There
is a false philosophy preached everywhere, which is specially shown forth in our modern literature. Wealth and fame are set
forth as the all-desirable goal in life. But God's thoughts are different. He loved Paul, and so He brought him to a place
in prison where he had nothing. Yet, having nothing visible, he possessed all – every spiritual blessing in Christ.
And these unseen things to him were very real. He was perfectly content and always rejoicing. Ever singing like Habakkuk when
all visible blessings were dried up: “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.”
Habakkuk 3:18.
We
too shall not find our true joy in the things of the earth, but only in Him. Like the Psalmist we should learn to cry: “O
send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles. Then will
I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy: yea, upon the harp I will praise thee, O God my God.” Psalm 43:3-4.
I
heard this story from a Spirit-filled Salvationist. One time she was visiting the slums. Climbing a rickety staircase she
suddenly heard a sound that her ears could hardly believe. Someone was praising the Lord. She was used to hearing the worst
of oaths in the slums so it was something entirely new to her to hear a voice saying, “O thank you, Jesus. I love you,
Lord. I praise you for your kindness. You are so very good to me. O Hallelujah!”
She
knocked at the door, opened it and peeked in. Before her eyes was a very bare room. In a corner, huddled up on a pile of rags,
was a wizened old woman. She was eating something out of a bowl, but with almost every mouthful she was expressing her thanksgiving
to God.
"Granny," said the Salvationist, “it surely does my heart good to hear you praising my Lord. Has someone
brought you something very nice?”
"Yes, praise the Lord," said the feeble old soul. “The Lord is sure good to me. You see, I has the rheumatis'
some, and so I can't go out and work no more. But my little granddaughter lives with me, and she sure is a treasure. Every
mornin' she goes out around the neighborhood a searchin' in the garbage cans, and sometimes she finds some awful good things
to eat. At times she finds some bacon rind and fries it and it sure does taste fine. Sometimes she finds some tea leaves and
she brings them home and puts some hot water on them, and I has a nice cup o' tea.
Somehow
or other, the last few days she ain't found much in the garbage cans. But today she come across a big lump o' bread. She cut
the mold off and has put some hot water on it and brought it to me in this bowl. I am enjoyin' it wonderfully, and thankin'
the dear Lord for His kindness in givin' it to me. Ain't He precious?”
Edison,
answering a reporter who questioned him on his eightieth birthday (at a time when Ford and Firestone were his honored guests
at his beautiful Florida home), said, “No, I am not happy, and I do not know any one that is.” The sister in the
slums, of whom my Salvationist friend told me, did not happen to be one of his acquaintances.
We
shall never find joy in fame or in wealth – but only in the Lord. And the meek, the lowly ones, who possess nothing
in themselves, they it is who learn to increase their joy in the Lord, and to offer daily in His tabernacle the sacrifice
of joy.
