F.B. Meyer On The Purpose Of Obstacles

F.B. Meyer“God will make our obstacles serve His purposes. …

“The obstacles may be untruths told about us; a difficult occupation; ‘a thorn in the flesh’ (2 Corinthians 12:7); or our daily cross. And often we pray for their removal, for we tend to think that if only these were removed, we would live a more tender, pure, and holy life. … These are the very conditions we need for achievement, and they have been put in our lives as the means of producing the gifts and qualities for which we have been praying so long.

“We pray for patience for many years, and when something begins to test us beyond our endurance, we run from it. We try to avoid it, we see it as some insurmountable obstacle to our desired goal, and we believe that if it was removed, we would experience immediate deliverance and victory. This is not true! We would simply see the temptations to be impatient end. This would not be patience.

“The only way genuine patience can be acquired is by enduring the very trials that seem so unbearable today. Turn from your running and submit. … There is nothing in your life that distresses or concerns you that cannot become submissive to the highest purpose. Remember, they are God’s mountains. He puts them there for a reason, and we know He will never fail to keep His promise.” —F.B. Meyer

The Psychology Of Redemption (book review)

The Psychology Of RedemptionTo put psychology (a social science) and redemption (a decidedly theological term) together in the same title seems a bit paradoxical. Yet Oswald Chambers was such a well-rounded, well-studied man, that The Psychology Of Redemption seems like a perfect topic for him to tackle!

Chambers himself described these collection of thoughts this way: “Christian Psychology is based on the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, not on the knowledge of ourselves. It is not the study of human nature analyzed and expounded, but the study of the new life that is born in us through the Redemption of our Lord, and the only standard of that new life is our Lord Himself.”

Chambers goes on to explain in this outstanding work that our true self was marred when Adam sinned. We were made by God, so we can best understand ourselves (psychology) when we are reestablished in our original relationship with God (redemption). So the topics that Oswald Chambers goes into in this book are some of the deepest topics of any I have read to-date in his books. But he does it in such an accessible way, that anyone from a novice, to a trained psychologist, to a trained theologian will find value in his thoughts.

Editor David Lambert further advises us: “To profit by this book demands concentrated thought, with Bible in hand, and with a humble eagerness to ‘act on the Word, instead of merely listening to it and deluding yourselves’ (James 1:22).’”

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